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May 09, 2008 (The Fresno Bee - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- The dry Diablo Range in southwest Fresno County may soon be home to a new crude oil pipeline transporting hundreds of thousands of gallons per day to a San Francisco Bay Area refinery.

Chevron won approval Thursday from the Fresno County Planning Commission to build a 57-mile pipeline for hot, heavy crude oil from San Ardo in the Salinas Valley to an existing pipeline near Coalinga. There was no public opposition to the project, which was approved by a unanimous vote of the six commissioners present. Officials in Monterey County, where the pipeline will start, approved it in March. Oil from the San Ardo field is currently sent to the refinery by truck, but commissioners were told that, upon completion in 2010 or 2011, the 10.75-inch pipeline will save an estimated 200 truck trips per day.

"Ultimately this will take trucks off the road, which will reduce transportation and air quality impacts," said Bruce Steubing, a consultant who worked on the project's environmental report.

The buried, insulated pipeline will be designed to transport 4,000 to 32,000 barrels per day. Because of the oil's thickness, it will be heated to 180 degrees at San Ardo, and again near the pipeline's midpoint, so that it will flow better. The pipeline will end near Jayne and Lassen avenues, just east of Interstate 5.

Commissioners quizzed Chevron representatives and consultants at length about the potential for ruptures and other leaks. They were told that the odds of a rupture spilling more than 100 barrels (4,200 gallons) was between 0.03% and 0.3% per year. Smaller leaks are expected about once every 11 years on average over the pipeline's 30-year lifetime.

At the request of Commissioner A.J. Yates, the company also agreed to preserve 18 acres of farmland as compensation for six acres that it will use at its junction with the existing Kettleman-Los Medanos pipeline east of Coalinga. The initial plan called for only six acres to be preserved.

The reporter can be reached at rclemings@fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6371.

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Russell Clemings

Copyright (C) 2008 The Fresno Bee, Calif.

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