COUNCIL OKS PIPELINE DEAL : SETTLEMENT TO PERMIT OIL SHIPPING UNDER VALLEY.

Byline: Eric Wahlgren and Patrick McGreevy Daily News Staff Writers

Ending a seven-year legal battle, the Los Angeles City Council agreed Wednesday to a settlement that allows an oil pipeline linking Kern County to Wilmington refineries to be built through the northeast San Fernando Valley.

The council's 9-2 vote to settle with Pacific Pipeline System, Inc. was a major blow to many Valley residents, who had lobbied city officials to keep the hotly debated pipeline out of their neighborhoods.

``I feel like the fight was all in vain,'' said Carol G. McClure, president of the Pacoima Coordinating Council. ``Was this not all a big fat waste of time?''

Twenty-six miles of the 132-mile pipeline is planned to go through the city - 12 miles of that to stretch beneath Sylmar, San Fernando, Pacoima and Sun Valley.

Officials with Pacific Pipeline, which is owned by Anschutz Corp., said traffic will not be disturbed as crews will bore under city streets to build the pipeline.

Construction already has begun in some areas outside the city, but it will start in the city between June 1 and July 15 and will take about 10 months to complete.

Under the terms of the settlement, the city will drop all pending legal challenges blocking the $170 million pipeline's construction.

The city had lost previous court cases over the project and the City Attorney's Office had said it was unlikely to prevail in a legal maneuver intended to block construction through the Angeles National Forest.

Pacific Pipeline in turn has agreed to throw out its own lawsuit against the city and to install 72 fiber-optic lines from Sylmar to the harbor and six to Castaic, to improve the city's emergency communication system.

Sweetening the deal, Pacific Pipeline has pledged to buy about 150 computers for schools and community centers that lie near the pipeline's route, said Charles McClean, pipeline project manager.

McClean said the agreement was a long time coming, but hailed the council's decision as one that would make the city cleaner and safer for residents.

``It feels good because L.A. will experience a significant improvement in air quality because of the project,'' McClean said, adding that the pipeline will replace polluting trains, trucks and tankers that now ship the oil.

``The (environmental report) says that the pipeline will save 13 to 18 lives over the life of the project,'' McClean said.

But council members Mike Hernandez and Nate Holden, who voted against the settlement, said afterward that they still had questions about the project's impact on the safety of residents.

Hernandez said the company did not seriously consider alternative pipeline routes that might run through less-residential neighborhoods.

``It was the only route they considered,'' Hernandez said.

Councilman Richard Alarcon, who said he would have voted against the settlement but had to attend a Metropolitan Transportation Authority meeting, called the agreement disappointing.

``The city attorney obviously felt we were in a weak legal position, and that should we pursue the lawsuit, that as a bare minimum the city would lose the amenities provided in the settlement,'' Alarcon said.

Many of Alarcon's constituents, including McClure, fear that the pipeline - which will pump 130,000 barrels of oil a day through the 20-inch-wide conduit - could pose a risk to the community if it were to rupture, especially during an earthquake.

``I can't understand why anyone would want to put an oil pipeline through the most earthquake-prone state in the nation,'' McClure said. ``If we have a serious earthquake, who can promise us that it won't rupture? I call it a `pipe bomb.' ''

Jim Shamas, a vice president of Pacific Pipeline, said residents should be assured by the fact that the pipeline is the first brand new pipeline built in about 40 years and is ``the most modern pipeline ever designed.''

Shamas said the company carefully studied the seven faults across which the pipeline will run. The conduit will feature special valves in 44 different places that will enable crews to shut down specific segments of the pipeline if there ever is a rupture.

Fiber-optic cables will monitor the line. If they are severed during a temblor, a satellite system will take over, reporting on any possible leaks.

``We can discover where leaks are within one foot,'' Shamas said. ``According to statistics, the chances of a leak occurring is once every 11,000 years.''

Philip F. Anschutz, a Denver billionaire, who heads the Anschutz Corp., is also co-owner of the Los Angeles Kings hockey team.

Shamas said the pipeline settlement and a city effort to lure Anschutz into a joining a $240 million sports arena deal for the city's downtown are not linked.

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MAP: The Pacific Pipeline would carry crude oil from Kern County to refineries in Los Angeles. It would parallel San Fernando Road through the San Fernando Valley.