A pair of scoping meetings will occur this week in Santa Barbara and Arroyo Grande as part of the process to study the planned replacement of an existing oil pipeline system spanning three counties.
Santa Barbara County Energy Division officials have kicked off the 30-day period alerting the public about plans to study potential environmental impacts of the Plains All American Pipeline proposal.
Scoping meetings, like those planned for Wednesday in Santa Barbara and Thursday in southern San Luis Obispo County, are designed to seek comments about what environmental topics should be analyzed.
In addition to environmental concerns, scoping meeting talks will focus on ways to reduce project impacts and potential alternatives to the project, county representatives said.
That information will serve as the foundation for an environmental impact report analyzing the proposal.
Houston-based Plains has applied to replace the existing 123.4-mile pipeline system known as Lines 901 and 903.
The proposal includes replacing Line 901, which ruptured and caused the May 2015 crude oil leak near Refugio State Beach on the Gaviota coast.
Line 901 extends from Plains’ Las Flores Pump Station for approximately 11 miles along the Gaviota coast and terminates at the Gaviota Pump Station.
Line 903 continues from the Gaviota Pump Station into Gaviota State Park and inland for approximately 40 miles to the Sisquoc Pump Station. From the Santa Maria Valley, the line turns east and continues for 74 miles to the Pentland Delivery Point in Kern County.
For the most part, the pipeline system will follow the existing route between Santa Barbara and Kern counties.
In Buellton, however, the new route will divert the pipeline along the western edge of the city. The current pipeline goes under sidewalks and through backyards of neighborhoods.
The replacement pipelines, dubbed Lines 901R and 903R, would be smaller and operate at a lower capacity per day with 49 pipeline control valves, more than the current system.
Plains also is seeking to expand and modify the Sisquoc Pump Station with the development of a new 120,000-barrel crude oil break-out tank, a secondary containment area for the crude oil break-out tank, a new fire water storage tank and installation of a foam fire suppression system.
Another feature will be the construction and operation of a new pump station located in the Cuyama Valley region of San Luis Obispo County.
Click here for more information from the county Energy Division about the pipeline system project.
The first scoping meeting will start at 6 p.m. Wednesday in the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors Hearing Room on the fourth floor of the county Administration Building, 105 E. Anapamu St. in Santa Barbara.
Since the pipeline will travel into a section of southeastern San Luis Obispo County, the second scoping meeting will take place at 6 p.m. Thursday at the South County Regional Center, 800 W. Branch St. in Arroyo Grande.
The 30-day comment period ends in mid-March.
Comments about areas to be analyzed in the environmental impact report also can be emailed to Santa Barbara County planner Kathryn Lehr at klehr@countyofsb.org or mailed to her at the county Planning & Development Department, 123 E. Anapamu St., Santa Barbara 93101.
— 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.