Andrew Christie-Santa Lucia Sierra Club Chapter
Residents of San Luis Obispo and others from throughout California, including Sierra Club activists, went head to head with the city's Planning Commission over whether or not the Phillips 66 rail spur at Nipomo’s Santa Maria refinery was a favorable option for the local economy. The project had been out of the mainstream public eye leading up to the two hearings, with an environmental review process lasting over two years that underwent three different draft writings.
Additionally, many cities, counties, and school districts from throughout the state issued public comments and letters vehemently opposing the project, all of which were reinforced by the 24,000 individual comments made over the last two years by concerned and outraged residents. On February 4th and 5th, over 600 activists from throughout California attended and voiced their opposition to Phillips 66 and the new rail spur. As a result, the meeting room overflowed with attendees and spilled into next door’s Fremont Theater, which broadcast the hearing on a television screen. A total of 83 participants spoke during last Thursday’s hearing; nearly all were in opposition to the project.
The city of San Luis Obispo has a long history with oil trains and crude being shipped up and down the coast, from Santa Maria refinery to the Rodeo Refinery in Contra Costa County 220 miles north. If the project is given a green light, San Luis Obispo residents, and all Californians, can expect a continued dance with death as more crude oil is shepherded to the refineries.
The project would bring in over two million gallons of oil a day, increasing to an additional five trains weekly, each carrying 2.5 million gallons of crude oil, culminating in a grand total of 250 trains per year. Phillips 66 announced plans for reducing the number of annual crude-by-rail train shipments, going from 250 per year to 150.
If the associated legislature is approved, expect mile-long trains bringing tar sands crude from as far as Alberta, fracked crude from the Bakken oil field in North Dakota, and from Oklahoma and Texas, then to California and along the Central Coast, putting hundreds of thousands of Californian residents in direct danger of an explosive derailment, and millions more in danger from the filthy air produced by diesel trains carrying crude oil.
The San Luis Obispo County Planning Department cited the project for numerous violations, ranging from exceeding legal emissions standards, flagrant opposition on multiple counts of the California Environmental Quality Act of 1970, and the Local Coastal Program.
Despite multiple lobbying attempts from corporate interests, two entities have voiced their unwavering opposition to this dirty and deceitful dealing. The City of San Luis Obispo and the Lucia Mar Unified Teachers Association have led the opposition to the rail spur and its potential for catastrophe in the form of exploding or derailing oil trains, climate-damaging pollution, job loss, and severe health risks.
Last Wednesday, the California Coastal Commission (CCC) wrote to the Planning Commission stating that they “agree strongly with and support your staff’s recommendation that the project’s coastal development permit application be denied.”
A number of grassroots environmental action groups, including the Sierra Club, Surfrider, Forest Ethics, and the Center for Biological Diversity have aligned with the local Mesa Refinery Watch Group in order to provide a forum for organizing and voicing common concerns over how to stop the trains in their town and continuing to build a non-violent, grassroots movement to accomplish the task. Santa Lucia Chapter Director Andrew Christie, a longtime leader of both local and statewide opposition to Phillips 66’s decision. Christie coordinated the on-site presence and operations of Thursday’s lunchtime rally, which took place across the street from the Planning Commission office.
Regarding the vociferous opposition by San Luis Obispo residents, he explains, “The County is legally required to send a notice only to residents who live within 300 feet of the refinery. But instead of doing that, they are noticing all the jurisdictions along the rail line in California that obtained a Draft Environmental Impact Report, everyone who has asked to be on a list of interested parties or submitted a comment on the EIR, and everyone residing within 2,000 feet of the Union Pacific line for the length of the County (almost but not quite equivalent to the Department of Transportation’s evacuation zone for oil train derailments – aka the “blast zone.”
After presentations by representatives from Phillips 66 and Union Pacific, not a single speaker during the first day (including representatives from 15 cities, and from counties, school districts, and elected officials) spoke in favor of the project. Late Friday afternoon, employees from Phillips 66 refinery spoke to voice their support for the project. They sang the praises of the oil company’s good deeds, such as donating to local elementary schools and to the San Luis Obispo Railroad Museum. Not a single comment was made on the Environmental Impact Report statement nor on the findings from the Planning Department’s staff report. The hearing is scheduled to continue throughout the month, with public testimony, discussion the issues brought forth at the hearing, and a potential vote by February 25th.
Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/transportation/article58664573.html#storylink=cpOpponents of the projects flooded the street between the county offices and the courthouse at a noon rally, where representatives of the California Teachers Association and California Nurses Association joined the Sierra Club, the student government from Cal Poly SLO, local leaders, and friends from all over the state to say #StopOilTrains.
1).http://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/article39056433.html
2). http://www.sierraclub.org/santa-lucia/blog/2016/01/phillips-66-truth-consequences
3). http://calcoastnews.com/2016/02/hundreds-descend-slo-protest-phillips-66-rail-spur/