Parent Reveals CUSD Pipeline Issues
Why was school site chosen?

The fuel pipeline at the San Juan Hills High School site that the public recently became aware of raises questions about why the school was built so close to a highly pressurized pipeline that carries all of the extremely flammable jet fuel, gasoline and diesel for San Diego County, and why so few people knew about its existence until a parent happened to stumble upon it and brought it to the public’s attention. 

On a Website created by parent Jim Reardon to inform the public about the pipeline, there’s a document entitled ”Opportunities and Constraints Analysis.” It was prepared by Culbertson Adams & Associates, an environmental firm hired by the district to evaluate CUSD school sites.

The analysis compares two school sites being considered by the board at that time for a new high school. One site was flat land at Ortega and La Pata on what is known as the polo fields. The other site was the hilly terrain up next to the dump called Whispering Hills.

The analysis lists the existence of a jet fuel line as being a “constraint,” or reason to reject the polo fields as a site for the new high school. Attached to the analysis, however, is a map of the pipeline that clearly shows that the pipeline at the polo fields site is inactive.

That same map also shows a larger 16-inch pipeline at the Whispering Hills site, which it shows as active; however, it wasn’t even mentioned in Culbertson Adams’ report.

So, this begs the question, why did Culbertson Adams recommend the Whispering Hills site for the high school, when it had so many more environmental and safety issues, including an active pipeline? 

Because the site is less than the state-mandated minimum distance of 1,500 feet from an active pipeline, it triggered a need for a risk analysis of the site. But the risk analysis was done after the site was purchased. Logic would dictate that a pipeline that carries such highly flammable fuel under such tremendous pressure should be evaluated to determine if its location next to the school would pose a danger to students.

And yet, not only was a risk analysis not done prior to purchasing the site, the school was built about 1,000 feet from the pipeline, on a road with only one way in and out, making evacuation in the event of a rupture extremely difficult. And we’ve learned that these pipelines do indeed rupture, with disastrous consequences.

Compounding the problem is that the district is now building stadium bleachers and the concession stand even closer to the pipeline. 

To make matters worse, we now learn that the risk analysis contains at least one major error and a number of flaws.

All this brings to mind several important questions:

• Who was responsible for the selection of that site?
• Why was it selected, given all the obvious problems associated with it and when a better alternative existed?
• Does SJHHS have an evacuation plan in place, as the risk analysis recommends? If not, why not?
• Since the property line adjustment the district is seeking will move the school even closer to the pipeline, how does that impact the risk?
• Why is the district continuing construction on a site that’s even closer to the pipeline, especially without having performed an additional risk analysis?

We look forward to your response to these serious questions.

Comments presented at April 21 CUSD board meeting
By Kim Lefner, CUSD parent