Neighbors concerned about refinery project impacts
The Phillips 66 Santa Maria Refinery is still in the planning process to bring crude oil by rail to San Luis Obispo County, and the recent derailment of an oil train in West Virginia has left some of the refinery's neighbors concerned.
The Mesa Refinery Watch Group is a Nipomo group opposing the proposed Phillips 66 Rail Spur Extension Project. The project would have trains carrying crude oil into a refinery terminal seen from their backyards. A founder of the watch group, Laurence Shinderman, worries the West Virginia derailment is something that could happen on the Central Coast.
"A train carrying crude by rail created a fire storm of epic proportions," said Shinderman. "It spews toxic fumes into the air which is certainly full of chemicals of unknown origin, toxic chemicals, so we just don't think that is a good idea for the area."
KSBY reached out to Phillips 66 for comment regarding the latest neighborhood concerns. Company representatives would not speak on camera but did email a statement, part of which says, "...the proposed rail project is designed with safety as the top priority and with safety measures embedded in the project."
The Santa Maria Refinery currently processes crude oil, transported through underground pipelines from California locations. With the state's oil resources declining, the company says rail is the only option to bring in crude from outside the state.
If the rail line is approved, Phillips 66 would transport up to five 80-car trains carrying crude through the area each week.
"It impacts the health and safety and welfare of the entire community," said Shinderman. "The only winner of something like that would be Phillips. Everyone else is a loser."
The San Luis Obispo County Planning Commission was supposed to meet about the project in February; however, the meeting was pushed back to later in the spring because of the high volume of public comments.
Click here to read the Environmental Impact Report for the Phillips 66 Rail Spur Extension Project.
Complete response from Phillips 66 to KSBY request for comment on oil trains:
"Regarding our proposed Santa Maria refinery rail project, Phillips 66 is pleased to see that the issues brought forth by the community are addressed in the revised Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR). We understand that there may be opposition to the rail project, and we look forward to San Luis Obispo County providing responses to new issues that are raised and addressing them in compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Phillips 66 submitted its comments regarding the revised DEIR during the public comment period.
The most recent information that we have from SLO County is that the public hearing before the county planning commission will be held in the spring. We recommend contacting the county's planning department to find out more.
As indicated on our project web page located at www.santamariarefinery.com, the proposed rail project is designed with safety as the top priority and with safety measures embedded in the project. Phillips 66 has one of the most modern crude rail fleets in service in the industry, and every railcar used to transport crude oil in our fleet exceeds current regulatory safety standards.
The Union Pacific Railroad will be responsible for delivering the crude oil railcars to and from the Santa Maria refinery. Union Pacific safely transports a variety of products, including crude oil, through San Luis Obispo County every day. We have confidence in Union Pacific's capabilities and are working closely with the railroad on this project.
Phillips 66 doesn't have control over how Union Pacific routes the trains. We recommend contacting UP directly for information related to routing or the delivery of the crude railcars." - Dennis Nuss, Director of Media and External Relations for Phillips 66
Source: http://www.ksby.com/news/neighbors-concerned-about-refinery-project-impacts/
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