Demolishing the Phillips 66 Santa Maria Refinery will have only one “significant and unavoidable” environmental impact, according to the final environmental impact report for the project.

Tearing down the structures on the Nipomo Mesa property and removing contaminated soil will kick up particulate matter pollution, which conflicts with a county air quality policy, the report said.

The draft environmental impact report analyzed how demolishing the oil refinery and remediating the soil would affect the environment surrounding it.

On Thursday, the San Luis Obispo County Planning Commission voted unanimously to certify the report and approve a coastal development permit for the demolition and remediation project. Though the particulate pollution will conflict with county policy, it will not exceed standards set by the Air Pollution Control District and the California Environmental Quality Act, the report said.

Particulate matter is made up of tiny specks of dust, sand and other similar substances that can infiltrate people’s respiratory systems and cause health problems. Other impacts, such as removing protected plant species during construction, can be mitigated, the report said.

“This is an exciting day, to be looking at this, tearing down of these parts of an oil refinery,” Planning Commissioner Anne Wyatt said. “I’d love to get out of their way and let them get on to tearing the rest of it down and see what’s next.”

Santa Maria Refinery Closed in 2023

Built in 1955, the refinery processed high-sulfur crude oil until it closed in January 2023. The refinery sits on 218 acres of a 1,642-acre property on the Nipomo Mesa at 2555 Willow Road.

Most of the crude oil processed by the facility was extracted from oil fields near the Santa Maria Valley and offshore oil platforms along the California coast, the report said. The facility partially refined the crude oil, then sent it through a 200-mile underground pipeline to the Rodeo Refinery in Contra Costa County to be transformed into finished petroleum products.

The Santa Maria Refinery also sold petroleum coke and granular sulfur, which are byproducts of processing crude oil. Phillips 66 announced plans to close the Santa Maria Refinery in 2020 when it decided to transform the Rodeo Refinery into a renewable fuels plant.

Now, the Rodeo Refinery processes animal fat, cooking oil, greases and vegetable oils to produce fuel, the report said. Because the Rodeo Refinery no longer processes crude oil, Phillips 66 no longer needs the Santa Maria Refinery to get the process started.

“The Santa Maria refinery and the Rodeo Refinery used to work as one system, connected and sending semi-refined products from Santa Maria,” Phillips 66 technical services manager Tomas Zambrano said during the meeting. “That’s no longer the case.”

Phillips 66 applied to the county for a coastal development permit to demolish the Santa Maria Refinery in January 2023, when it stopped processing crude oil there. The county started processing that application on March 15, 2023, initiating the environmental review process mandated by the California Environmental Quality Act.

Phillips 66 plans to sell the property when demolition and remediation are finished, Zambrano said. “Phillips 66 is fully committed to this project,” he said. “We’ll be overseeing this project, making sure that it’s done in a safe and environmentally sound manner.”

What Will Demolition and Remediation Look Like?

First, Phillips 66 will demolish most of the above-ground structures at the refinery, a process that will take about eight months. The company will leave certain structures intact if they could support the future owner or are needed for ongoing remediation and monitoring at the site, the report said.

The structures that will remain intact include hardscapes such as concrete, perimeter security fencing, buried pipelines, groundwater production wells, a natural gas pipeline, the electrical substation and PG&E power line to that substation, the storm drain system and the slop oil line release remediation system, which is currently being remediated under a separate permit, the report said. The debris will be hauled away by train and trucks.

Next, Phillips 66 will remove contaminated soil and any below-ground infrastructure surrounding that soil. The bulk of this work will be completed in three years, but some soil remediation efforts will last 10 years, the report said.

The soil is likely contaminated by hydrocarbons and the toxic, so-called forever chemicals known as PFAS, MRS Environmental Inc. principal engineer Greg Chittick told The Tribune after the meeting.

Soil testing will determine the extent of the contamination and what remediation efforts will be required, he said. The report estimates the removal of 200,500 cubic yards of contaminated soil.

The Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board will set standards for and oversee the remediation efforts. The soil will be cleaned up to an industrial land use standard, while the water must be cleaned to “background level,” which is the state of the water before contamination occurred, county project manager Susan Strachan said.

Waste including debris, mixed metals, concrete, treated wood and asbestos will be transported by truck or train to the Santa Maria Landfill, the Cold Canyon Landfill, SA Recycling, Gator Crushing and Recycling, Republic Services ECDC Landfill, East Carbon City in Utah, or Veolia in Azusa, California, the report said. Construction will be completed between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekends and holidays.

After demolition, Phillips 66 will then stabilize the soil and re-vegetate portions of the site, preparing it to be sold.

Demolition Will Kick Up Dust Pollution, Worsen Nipomo Mesa Air Quality

The project will have one significant and unavoidable impact: an increase in particulate matter emissions on the Nipomo Mesa during the demolition and remediation process, the report said. The county’s General Plan Conservation and Open Space Element prohibits a net increase in particulate matter emissions on the Nipomo Mesa.

“If there’s a molecule or a spec of dust, you’ve now exceeded the ‘no net increase,’” Strachan said at the meeting. Dust blows off of the Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area, creating unhealthy air quality on the Nipomo Mesa.

In order to reduce negative health impacts, county policy does not allow any net increase in particulate matter emissions in the area, the report said.

“The project site really sits in the middle of an area that has really struggled with its particulate emission impacts for a long period of time,” Chittick said during the meeting.

Though the particulate matter emissions would conflict with the county policy, they would comply with air quality standards set by the San Luis Obispo County Air Pollution Control District and the California Environmental Quality Act, the report said.

Phillips 66 will work with the Air Pollution Control District to monitor air quality and wind speeds at the property during the project, Chittick told The Tribune after the meeting. The company will implement multiple measures to reduce particulate matter emissions during demolition, including using clean construction equipment, watering down the soil and covering dirt piles with tarps, he said.

Phillips 66 will also pause construction during certain wind speeds that scatter dust more vigorously, or at times when the air quality reaches a certain threshold. These efforts will reduce particulate matter emissions by 90%, he said.

“The mitigation measures are very effective,” he told The Tribune. Particulate matter emissions will spike during the first three years of demolition when construction crews are moving a large amount of soil, Chittick said. However, once the project is completed, emissions will decrease to a level lower than when the refinery operated, the report said.

Phillips 66 Must Replant Lupine, Other Protected Plants

Demolishing the oil refinery will harm state and federally protected plant species that grow on the property, but this environmental impact is considered “less than significant” with mitigation measures, the report said.

The project could remove up to 26.5 acres of environmentally sensitive habitat, including Nipomo Lupine, a fuzzy purple flower native to San Luis Obispo County. Blochman’s leafy daisy, sand almond and dune larkspur are among the other plants that could be impacted, the report said.

To reduce the harm of removing the vegetation, Phillips 66 must replant it elsewhere on the property. Phillips 66 will create lupine habitat at a minumum three-to-one ratio, but the California Department of Fish and Wildlife can set a higher ratio, Strachan said. The total replanted habitat mitigation area could be about 75 acres depending on how much vegetation is impacted by remediation efforts, she said at the meeting.

Meanwhile, biologists must be on site during demolition to watch for protected wildlife. Archaeologists and representatives of indigenous tribes must also monitor construction for cultural resources, and they have the authority to pause construction if a resource is identified, the report said.

At the meeting on Thursday, the commission suggested that the vegetation be planted in a 638-acre buffer zone on the Phillips 66 property. The undeveloped property is located between the west side of the Union Pacific Railroad Tracks and land owned by California State Parks.

That land is mapped as an Environmentally Sensitive Habitat Area and zoned as open space, so development is limited on that piece of property — protecting the wildlife that live there. “There’s restrictions on what can go in that area,” Strachan said. “So there are some protections already in place.”

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife will ultimately determine the best location for those plants to thrive, but the biologists will first consider the buffer zone as the habitat mitigation area at the commissioners’ request, Strachan said.

Demolishing Refinery Will Improve Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Water Quality

Demolishing and remediating the oil refinery will have multiple beneficial impacts in the long run, the report said. When the project is finished, there will be a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, groundwater use and noise from refinery operations. There will also be a reduction in toxic emissions and odors from the refinery as it is no longer operational. Hazardous materials will be removed from the soil and will no longer be able to leach into the groundwater, the report said.

Finally, removing the refinery will have a positive aesthetic impact, as it will no longer be visible from Highway 1, the report said. All of these impacts will spike during construction, but sharply decrease when the project is completed.

“I used to live very close, and you really can’t underestimate the aesthetic benefit,” planning commissioner Mariam Shah said. “A lot of people appreciate a dark night sky, and right now there’s like three stories of lights. So it really is going to make a big difference.”