Oil Pipeline Draws Ire as Groundbreaking Nears : Environment: Construction begins next week in Granada Hills. A lawsuit against the project is pending.

Mobil Oil will begin construction in Granada Hills next Tuesday on a $90-million crude oil pipeline despite a pending lawsuit by homeowners seeking to block the project, the company announced Monday.

Mobil’s plan to begin construction drew criticism Monday from the Coalition Against the Pipeline, a citizens group that filed a lawsuit earlier this year to block the 90-mile pipeline, designed to carry oil from the company’s Kern County fields to its Torrance refinery.

The coalition contends that the environmental report on the project is inadequate. The case is now being considered by a Los Angeles Superior Court judge, but Mobil can begin construction because the citizens group did not seek an injunction to block work.

Members of the coalition said they had hoped that Mobil would wait for the judge’s ruling. “You feel helpless,” said Mary Edwards, a Granada Hills resident whose house is two blocks west of the pipeline route. “When big money and the city want a project, there’s very little the people can do, except weep.”

Oil company spokesmen have said it is imperative to begin construction before more spills occur on the aging, leaky line that the new pipeline will replace. The existing line has ruptured eight times in the past five years, several times covering streets with gooey rivers of crude oil.

Granada Hills residents can expect that traffic will be slowed along sections of San Fernando Road, Balboa Boulevard, Rinaldi Street and Woodley Avenue because construction will take up one of each street’s four lanes during daylight hours for seven weeks.

After that, it will be the turn of residents of Mission Hills, North Hills and Van Nuys, as ditches are dug and huge sections of the 16-inch pipeline are buried four feet under city streets.

Earlier this month, Los Angeles city transportation engineers approved an 11-mile section of the pipeline route in the northern San Fernando Valley between San Fernando Road in Granada Hills and the intersection of Woodley Avenue and Victory Boulevard in Van Nuys.

The worst traffic tie-ups in that section are expected to occur at the intersections of Balboa Boulevard and Rinaldi Street, and Nordhoff Street and Woodley Avenue, said Tom Jones, a senior city transportation engineer. Motorists can expect traffic delays at both intersections during a two-day period, Jones said.

Mobil will dig trenches and install pipe only during hours approved by the city, Jones said. City traffic engineers have drawn up the schedules in an attempt to prevent construction from hindering rush-hour traffic.

The trenches will be covered by metal plates during non-working hours.

This week, Mobil employees will roam neighborhoods in Granada Hills, armed with flyers informing residents of the construction scheduled. The company will notify residents along each section of the route seven days before digging begins, said James Carbonetti, a Mobil spokesman.

Construction Schedule

Location: San Fernando Road to Balboa connector Estimated start: Sept. 3 Hours: 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Estimated completion: Sept. 19 Location: Balboa connector between San Fernando Road and Balboa Boulevard Estimated start: Sept. 3 Hours: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Estimated completion: Sept. 23 Location: Balboa Boulevard between Balboa connector and Woodley Avenue Estimated start: Sept. 3 Hours: 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Estimated completion: Sept. 19 Location: Balboa Boulevard between Woodley Avenue and Rinaldi Street Estimated start: Sept. 16 Hours: 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Estimated completion: Sept. 27 Location: Balboa Boulevard at Rinaldi Street Estimated start: Sept. 17 Hours: 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Estimated completion: Oct. 1 Location: Rinaldi Street between Balboa Boulevard and Woodley Avenue Estimated start: Sept. 26 Hours: 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Estimated completion: Oct. 4 Location: Rinaldi Street at Woodley Avenue Estimated start: Sept. 30 Hours: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Estimated completion: Oct. 7 Location: Woodley Avenue between Rinaldi Street and San Fernando Mission Boulevard Estimated start: Oct. 2 Hours: 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Estimated completion: Oct. 9 Location: Woodley Avenue at San Fernando Mission Boulevard Estimated start: Oct. 7 Hours: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Estimated completion: Oct. 11 Location: Woodley Avenue between San Fernando Mission Boulevard and Chatsworth Street Estimated start: Oct. 9 Hours: 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Estimated completion: Oct. 15 Location: Woodley Avenue at Chatsworth Street Estimated start: Oct. 11 Hours: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Estimated completion: Oct. 17 Location: Woodley Avenue between Chatsworth and Devonshire streets Estimated start: Oct. 14 Hours: 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Estimated completion: Oct. 19 Location: Woodley Avenue at Devonshire Street Estimated start: Oct. 17 Hours: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Estimated completion: Oct. 22 Location: Woodley Avenue between Devonshire and Lassen streets Estimated start: Oct. 21 Hours: 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Estimated completion: Oct. 24 Location: Woodley Avenue at Lassen Street Estimated start: Oct. 23 Hours: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Estimated completion: Oct. 28 Location: Woodley Avenue between Lassen and Plummer streets Estimated start: Oct. 25 Hours: 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Estimated completion: Oct. 31 Location: Woodley Avenue at Plummer Street Estimated start: Oct. 28 Hours: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Estimated completion: Nov. 4 Location: Woodley Avenue between Plummer and Nordhoff streets Estimated start: Oct. 31 Hours: 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Estimated completion: Nov. 7 Location: Woodley Avenue at Nordhoff Street Estimated start: Nov. 2 Hours: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Estimated completion: Nov. 9 Location: Woodley Avenue between Nordhoff and Parthenia streets Estimated start: Nov. 6 Hours: 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Estimated completion: Nov. 13 Location: Woodley Avenue at Parthenia Street Estimated start: Nov. 8 Hours: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Estimated completion: Nov. 15 Location: Woodley Avenue between Parthenia Street and Roscoe Boulevard Estimated start: Nov. 12 Hours: 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Estimated completion: Nov. 19 Location: Woodley Avenue at Roscoe Boulevard Estimated start: Nov. 14 Hours: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. / 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. Estimated completion: Nov. 21 Location: Woodley Avenue between Roscoe Boulevard and Saticoy Street Estimated start: Nov. 18 Hours: 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. Estimated completion: Nov. 25 Location: Woodley Avenue at Saticoy Street Estimated start: Nov. 20 Hours: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Estimated completion: Nov. 27 Location: Woodley Avenue between Saticoy Street and Sherman Way Estimated start: Nov. 22 Hours: 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Estimated completion: Nov. 29 Location: Woodley Avenue at Sherman Way Estimated start: Nov. 25 Hours: 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. / 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. Estimated completion: Dec. 2 Location: Woodley Avenue between Sherman Way and Vanowen Street Estimated start: Nov. 29 Hours: 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Estimated completion: Dec. 5 Location: Woodley Avenue at Vanowen Street Estimated start: Dec. 3 Hours: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Estimated completion: Dec. 7 Location: Woodley Avenue between Vanowen Street and Victory Boulevard Estimated start: Dec. 5 Hours: 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Estimated completion: Dec. 9 Source: Mobil Oil Corp.