Saying they needed more information from both sides on the controversial Phillips 66 Santa Maria Refinery rail spur project, the Guadalupe City Council declined to endorse or otherwise take action on a letter recommending San Luis Obispo County officials reject the project..
Mayor John Lizalde brought the matter to the council after receiving a letter from Third District Supervisor Doreen Farr opposing the rail spur project and asking the city to take a stand against the rail spur proposal. Lizalde said Tuesday night he sought other council members’ opinions about the letter, not the actual refinery project.
“She specifically was hoping either that council would endorse her letter or send their own letter,” City Administrator Andrew Carter said. “It is really your call what you want to do with this.”
Farr’s letter urges the San Luis Obispo County Planning Commission to reject the proposal that would involve rail cars full of oil traveling through the heart of her district, which includes Guadalupe, Goleta and the Gaviota Coast.
“The proposed project is of great concern, due in part to the volatility of Canadian tar sands, and the proximity of the proposed route to highly populated areas. An accident would have catastrophic consequences for my constituents, as well as the sensitive environment of the Central Coast,” Farr said in the letter.
The Phillips 66 Santa Maria Refinery, which has operated on 1,600 acres on the Nipomo Mesa in southern San Luis Obispo County for nearly 60 years, has proposed to add 1.3 miles of new track, an unloading facility and pipelines at the site to transport the crude oil to processing.
“I don’t think we should take this lightly. I think if we’re going to do anything we need to do it on our own based on facts, and there’s tons of information on the pros and cons of it,” Councilman Ariston Julian said. “I would like this community to know more about what’s happening with that,” Julian said, noting officials in Moorpark and Ventura County have opposed the project.
Both Lizalde and Councilwoman Gina Rubalcaba agreed that more information is needed.
“It’s a big thing right now, and maybe they need to come let the community know more about it,” Rubalcaba said.
A number of groups opposed the project including the year-old Mesa Refinery Watch Group.
At Tuesday’s council meeting, Guadalupe resident Jorge Gil noted that the entire city of Guadalupe is within the blast zone for the trains if an explosion occurs..
“Trains go through Guadalupe all the time. If you recall not too many years ago we had a blast zone of Corona beer,” resident Shirley Boydstun said. “Maybe nicer than oil, but things happen. … There’s a lot of what ifs.”
Saying he has mixed feelings about the project Councilman Jerry Beatty noted the refinery long history of operating safely on the Nipomo Mesa, but also expressed concerns about potential risks if a derailment did occur.
“With all due respect to Ms. Boydstun, if a Corona beer rail car derails you bring the lime and salt and have a party,” Beatty said. “If an oil tanker derails you bring a hazmat team in here, you shut the city down for weeks so there are some definite problems. I also don’t see any positive financial benefit to the community,” he said, noting the increased rail traffic could add noise for the planned DJ Farms residential development.
The proposed project involves up to five trains a week with approximately 80 tanker cars stretching 1.5 miles each via the Union Pacific Railroad.
A draft environmental impact report drew some 11,000 comments, according to the San Luis Obispo County Tribune.
Refinery officials note that the changing industry is requiring them to seek oil from other sources with rail being the only way to get the product to the site since it doesn’t have an ocean off-loading facility.
The facility already processes California crude oil received via an underground pipeline.
The transportation of oil via rail has sparked concerns in the wake of a Quebec oil train explosive derailment that 47 people in July 2013. Last week, another oil train derailed in West Virginia, with the fire burning a house and sending oil into a nearby river and water treatment facilities.
— Noozhawk North County editor Janene Scully can be reached at jscully@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.