Project Type: Energy

Aspen managed preparation of two major environmental documents for the Pacific Pipeline Project. The proposed 20-inch pipeline was to transport 130,000 barrels per day of crude oil produced offshore Santa Barbara, and would be 171 miles in length. The original EIR (certified in September, 1993) evaluated an oil pipeline proposed by Pacific Pipeline System, Inc. to carry crude oil from coastal Santa Barbara County (Gaviota), via coastal Ventura County and the Santa Clara River Valley, to refineries in the Wilmington and El Segundo areas of the Los Angeles Basin. The revised Pacific Pipeline project, evaluated in an EIS and Subsequent EIR, was proposed to start in the southern San Joaquin Valley (SJV), and would approximately follow Interstate 5 over Tejon Pass and would join the originally proposed route at Castaic Junction in Los Angeles County. Aspen prepared the air quality analysis for the proposed crude oil pipeline in southern California, including development of an emissions inventory for the construction and operation of the pipeline and supporting facilities, and dispersion modeling. The annual emissions from the transportation of crude oil via marine tankers, unit trains, and tanker trucks were also quantified.