Newhall Refinery
Newhall Refinery in 1959 (photo from wikimapia.org)
About the same view on 2/13/2010
Here is the limited information I have found about the Newhall Refinery listed by year. Warning: the refinery, including Beale's Cut, is on private property. Even as late as 1988, the refinery was fined for excessive sulfur dioxide emissions so there are hazardous wastes there.
1930:
Joseph Otto Moffett (1890-1964, a one-time mayor of the City of San Fernando) apparently founded the San Fernando Refining Company with headquarters in San Fernando. The company's refinery was in Newhall. This is the date that A.B. Perkins stated (in The Story of Our Valley) that the refinery started. The old photo shown below has a date of 1931 on the back supporting a start-up date of 1930, but I have found no other documentation for this date.
1934:
The Report of the California State Board of Equalization for 1933-1934 under state taxes levied against motor vehicle fuel distributors (schedule R) shows that Moffett, J.O. (San Fernando Refining Co.) distributed 756,801.9 gallons for a total tax of $22,477.01 in the fiscal year ending June 30, 1933 (p. 147). This is the first time that Moffett or the San Fernando Refining Company had appeared in this report. This implies that the company did not exist before June 30, 1932, because it paid no taxes to the state before fiscal year 1933.
1935:
In "Hydrocarbon Processing & Petroleum Refiner", Volume 14, the San Fernando Refining Company is listed with its plant location in Newhall. The superintendent was William D. Parks.
1937:
Stewart v. San Fernando Refining Co.
1938:
In the "California Oil World Directory", J.O. Moffett is listed as the proprietor of the San Fernando Refining Company (PO Box 310 San Fernando, Ca). William D. Parks was the general superintendent and E. Ericson was the purchasing agent. The company had a refinery near Newhall with an annual refinery output 3,500,000 gallons.
1939:
In the International Pertroleum Register of 1939 it is stated for the San Fernando Refining Co: "Personnel: J.O. Moffett, Gen. Mgr.; L. Goddard, Sales Mgr. (service stations); E. Ericson Pur. Agt. Marketers: Serves 69 service stations in Calif. only; 5 owned trucks, 8 leased. Fuel oil dealer."
1942:
Bulletin No. 118 (Geologic Formations and Economic Development of the Oil and Gas Fields of California, 1943) from the Division of Mines states that "The San Fernando Refining Company, located at the [San Fernando] Pass, processes the crude from this general area."
1942:
The Newhall refinery was purchased by employees William Parks and A.E. Ericson. They became an important local employer. Ownership records state that the owners were William Delaney Parks (1903-1963), Ivalee Parks (his wife, 1901-1991), Edward Arthur Ericson (1895-1979), and Vena Ericson (his wife, 1896-1988). According to a Daily News article (8/29/1989), Parks used his and his wife's life savings. The refinery could process 3,500 barrels a day at full capacity. 20 men worked their. The San Fernando Refining Company was still listed in the International Petroleum Register for 1947, although whether it was actually operating anymore seems doubtful. The new company's address was:
Newhall Refining Co Inc
22674 N Clampitt Rd
Newhall, CA 91321
tel: 805-259-2660
1944:
On August 12, 1944, fire demolished the Newhall refinery. A laboratory flame ignited fumes from a burst naphtha line and in seconds a 10,000 gallon tank of naphtha blew up. Flames shot up nearly 2000 feet into the sky and storage tanks exploded. James Breckenridge died in the hospital from burns suffered in the first explosion and William Taylor was seriously burned while dragging Breckenridge from the flames. Flames and heat from the burning tank ignited others, and one by one, tanks began blowing up. At one time, 18 of the 25 tanks were burning. See the LA Times story from 8/13/1944 here .
1945:
Donald A. Shaffer (1906-1990) had moved to San Fernando in 1939 and was hired as a truck driver by the San Fernando Refining Company. After serving in the US Army during World War II, he returned to work as a truck driver for the same company, now called the Newhall Refining Company (info from his obituary). This shows to me that when Parks and Ericson bought the refinery, the San Fernando Refining Company ceased to exist.
1959:
In February of 1959 the Newhall Refinery Company was acquired by Pauley Petroleum Company. At that time, the Newhall refinery had a capacity of 4000 barrels per day. Pauley Petroleum was founded in 1958 by Edwin W. Pauley.
1961:
On 6/24/1961 William C. Crockett, 60, a workman was killed when he fell 25 feet from a condenser platform at the refinery. He had climbed up a ladder to tighten some bolts when he slipped and fell. (From the Independent, Long Beach, Ca, 6/26/1961.)
1964:
A welder set off a fire in a sump area that engulfed a 150-barrel oil tank and scorched a 200-barrel tank before being brought quickly under control by the Los Angeles County Fire Department and the the US Forest Service in less than an hour. Vapors in oil lines also caught fire. Damage was estimated at only $1000. (Valley News, 12/8/1964)
1966:
Howard M. Brock of Chatsworth died of burns he received when jet fuel spilled on his clothing and ignited. Brock was a maintenance supervisor working on a pipeline connection when a leak soaked some of his clothing with fuel. The fuel was then ignited by a nearby heater. Brock had been an employee for 21 years. (From the LA Times of May 3, 1966)
1970:
The Newhall Refining Company, a subsidiary of Pauley Petroleum, was sued by scores of insurance companies for homeowners. It was claimed that they "negligently and in violation of the law set fire to, allowed fire to be set to and allowed such fire and permitted fire burning upon property owned and controlled by defendants to escapt to property of others without using or exercising due or any diligence to control such fire." State Farm Insurance was finally awarded a $1.7 million settlement in 1975. There would be a trial in 1976, but it was hopeful that other companies would be settled before then. I have not found any more information on the trial.
1971:
The refinery was forced to shut down temporarily due to damage from the 2/9/1971 Sylmar earthquake. There was damage to storage tanks and pipelines. At that time, the refinery was a 5500 barrel per day plant producing asphalt, road oils, and jet fuels. When the quake occurred, two men on a tower were bruised, but not seriously injured. The bottom of one jet-fuel storage tank buckled, and there were scattered leaks elsewhere at the refinery. The main problem was a lack of water. Both sides of a pump on the water line leading to the refinery were ruptured. There was also some minor damage to testing equipment in the laboratory. The refinery had about 400,000 barrels of tank storage. Three 20,000 barrel tanks, 60 feet in diameter by 40 feet high were full of jet fuel and had buckling on one side. Two 120 foot in diameter by 40 feet high tanks had no damage.
1974:
A proposed zone change to allow for the expansion and modernization of the existing refinery was sent back to the Regional Planning Commission for an environmental impact report and a review by the Air Pollution Control District. Two bus loads of Santa Clarita residents made the trip downtown to fight the zoning change. Company officials said that the project would actually result in the decrease in annoying odors and that the refinery's capacity will not be increased but will allow it to product a greater variety of fuels. (Valley News 3/15/1974)
1976:
Pauley Petroleum reported that net imcome for the third quarter and nine month periods ending May 31 more than doubled that reported from comparable periods last year. President William Pagen said that a substantial increase in throughput at the Newhall refinery was the major factor in the strong sales figures posted by the company. (Star-News, Pasadena, CA. 7/25/1976)
1984:
Pauley Petroleum announced that its Newhall refinery is on the auction block again and that preliminary negotiations are under way. About 1 1/2 years ago, the company was close to selling the independent refinery, but the deal fell through. Pauley declined to identify the new prospective buyer except to say it was a private investor, not another oil firm. The refinery produced 5.2 million barrels of petroleum products last year and generated most of the company's 1983 revenues. (Orange County Register, Santa Ana, CA, 9/5 and 9/7/1984)
1985:
The refinery had a capacity of 23,000 barrels of oil a day. Three firms were issued violation notices by the South Coast Air Quality Management District for excessive sulfur content in their fuel oil. They said that the oil was purchased from the Newhall Refinery. Refinery senior vice president for manufacturing Hans Mangold said that all fuel oil is tested for sulfur content. He thinks that the oil was tainted by either residues in a fuel truck or from some other source. The three firms were fined.
1985:
The North Valley (Sunshine) Landfill was providing more than 1 million feet of landfill gas daily to the Newhall Refinery for use as a boiler fuel via a 6 inch line from a recovery plant at the landfill. This was ended in 1985. The pipe was originally owned by the Mobil Oil Corporation and later bought by Getty Oil (name later changed to Getty Synthetic Fuels, Inc) in 1981. In 2008, the last segment of the pipe (711 feet) under Sierra Highway was filled in with concrete in some sections and abandoned in place in other sections.
1986:
In September of 1986, the Los Angeles Times reported that the South Coast Air Quality Management District voted unanimously to grant the refinery a variance allowing it to continue operating until the November deadline without facing fines for new violations stemming from the illegal release of sulfur dioxide. The ruling resulted from complaints by the Placerita Canyon Property Owners Association. A plant closure would cost the Newhall Refinery Co. about $30,000 a day by preventing the company from fulfilling its contracts with public agencies and private firms. The refinery has about 100 employees and processes about 23,000 barrels of crude oil a day.
1988:
In January of 1988, the Los Angeles Times reported that the Newhall Refining Company was fined $11,250 for excessive sulfur dioxide emissions.
1988:
The Hondo Company acquired a controlling interest in Pauley in exchange for the all the outstanding stock of Hondo's subsidiary, Hondo Oil & Gas Company.
1989:
On December 15, 1989, Hondo permanently suspended all operations at the Newhall Refinery because of continuing operating losses and reclassified the cost of the property to its real estate segment. Upgrades required by environmental laws would be too costly to perform.
1990:
In 1990, Pauley Petroleum merged with Hondo Oil and Gas Company and changed its name to Hondo Oil & Gas Company.
1991:
A Valley Gateway development plan for the Newhall Refinery property was adapted by Hondo. The plan included dismantling the refinery, doing the required environmental remediation of the land, and developing the land to a condition where it could be sold.
1993:
The Hondo Gas & Oil Co suspended execution of the Valley Gateway development plan for the Newhall Refinery property in September. The decision was made as a result of declines in the local real estate market and the company's limited cash resources. Hondo then to sell the property in its present condition. Hondo did conduct an environmental assessment of the refinery site and a remediation plan for the site was submitted to the California Regional Water Quality Control Board and received staff approval. They requested bids from contractors to remove contaminated soil from approximately 35 acres of the 105 acre site. Hondo expected that the remediation plan would cost $2.0 million.
1996:
Lonrho Plc acquired control of Hondo.
1999:
Lonrho Plc changed its name to Lonmin Plc. Hondo reportedly sold 117 acres, including Beale's Cut to Landbank, a remediation company based in Lakewood, Colorado, for $200,000. Landbank had plans to clean up the refinery waste and make the land salable for a business park.
2010
The property has changed hands at least once since 1999 and is basically in a limbo state. As of 3/2010, Forum Engineering and Construction owns much of the land in the Tunnel area probably including the refinery property. They had a lobbyist working for them as late as 2009 on a project at the refinery (which they called the Hondo Oil Refinery) called Sierra Gateway, probably a project similar to the old Valley Gateway project of Hondo.
2010
The refinery property is one of the last three sites recommended for a recycling plant. See here and here.
The major problem for the owner is the cost for cleaning up the refinery site. However, once that is done, any development project would have to take into account Beale's Cut and the SR-14 Los Pinetos undercrossing. As a significant historical site, the cut area would probably have to be donated to the government - most likely the City of Santa Clarita. Then there would need to be an open area as an animal corridor between Sierra Highway and the Los Pinetos undercrossing. It would have to be wide enough to satisfy many different conservation groups, not an easy task. This kind of project would need a very innovative developer and probably better economic times.
This poor quality photo is probably the earliest one of the refinery. On the back is written Newhall Refining Co. 1931. The back also has a developer date of 12/16/1931. The view is toward the southeast and the road in front of the refinery must be Clampitt Road. I believe that the writting on the back was done years later because the Newhall Refining Co was formed in 1942.
Open letter from J.O. Moffett (Van Nuys News 8/20/1934)
Refined by the San Fernando Refining Co. (Van Nuys News 9/3/1934)
View toward the northeast. Photo from the 1940's
Photo used by permission of the Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society
Almost the same view a little more toward the northeast. Photo from the 1940's. These two photos were probably taken at the same time. They were donated to Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society in March 2003 by Rita Rippe. You can see the "tower" geologic feature in the background.
Photo used by permission of the Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society
Unknown date, but probably also from the 1950's
Photo used by permission of the Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society
From the Gary Morton Collection comes this image of a San Fernando Refinery Company truck. Gary says that the truck is a late 1930's Sterling J model. See his website if you are interested in trucks. He has hundreds of images.
Copyright Note: This image is NOT in the public domain
and is protected by the copyright laws of the United States.
Used by permission of Gary Morton.
The refinery is on private property
View west looking up Clampitt Road
View north looking down on Clampitt Road
Looking east down Clampitt Road
Wide view toward the east
Higher up looking west toward Sierra Highway
Electrical wires coming out of the pvc pipes
This almost looks like an archaeological dig from some lost city
Large foundation on northwest side of refinery
These red pipes probably provided water in case of a fire
This large tank looms over the refinery
Looking west toward Sierra Highway
Some sort of holding area on the west side of the road up to Beale's Cut
As of May of 2010, some of the trash in the refinery area is being cleaned up
The Hondo Oil Refinery for sale on LoopNet in 2001 and 2002. I wonder why they didn't call it the Newhall Refinery.
At this site you can purchase a watercolor of the Newhall Refinery by Herbert L. Kornfeld for $145