Court Ruling Boosts Oil Pipeline Plan

After a seven-year battle, the proposed Pacific Pipeline--which promoters hope to use to transport crude oil from offshore wells in Santa Barbara to Los Angeles, via the San Fernando Valley--is closer to reality with the release of a Superior Court judgment Thursday that grants builders permission to acquire underground rights of way.

Pipeline supporters say the ruling is a major victory that will allow construction to begin almost immediately on the planned 132-mile leg of the route from Kern County to refineries in Wilmington. A pipeline from Santa Barbara to Kern County already exists as part of a line that continues all the way to Texas.

“It is a very strong and detailed decision in which [the court] ruled in favor of Pacific Pipeline on all arguments,” said Charles M. McLean, spokesman for Pacific Pipeline System Inc. of Burbank, a private utility company that wants to build the project.

The proposed pipeline, which McLean said will carry up to 130,000 barrels of crude oil daily, could be completed by the end of the year.

Opponents, who contend the pipeline endangers residents and businesses along the route because of the possibility of explosions, vowed Thursday that they have not given up the fight. “We are certainly going to review all appeal options,” said City Councilman Richard Alarcon, who represents the northeast Valley.

“I think that these kinds of projects that dump into poor neighborhoods have all the cards stacked up in their favor.”

But Pacific Pipeline officials said they will ask opponents not to appeal the ruling.