San Luis Obispo is a railroad town. The long stretches of track and echoing sirens of the night trains are part of the deal. Residents can handle the associated traffic delays; what many of them will not accept, however, is the proposed Phillips 66 Company extension through town.
The proposed project would add a 6,915 foot extension to an existing crude oil railcar pipeline running directly through our community.
The distinction of an oil train is the safety hazards it assumes. Extending the refinery would place all surrounding communities at risk of issues of air and water quality, not to mention the risk of a crash. According to the Federal Railroad Administration, there were 31 crude oil train crashes from 2013-2015. Of those 31 crashes, 20 involved an oil spill. Even from zero miles per hour, oil trains run the risk of explosion, and this proposed route would place Cal Poly and surrounding student residences right in the blast zone.
Beginning on February 4th, the County Planning Commission has been reviewing the project, in addition to a report on its potential environmental impacts. There were so many requests to speak from the San Luis Obispo community at the initial hearing that officials were forced to expand it to their next meeting on the 25th. Cal Poly senior, Rayna Del Rosario, was one of the many in attendance at that initial hearing.
“It was nice seeing how many people were there, mainly in opposition to the project. In the time I was there, I only heard one person speaking for the project” she said. “There was a big focus on what the long term effects of the project would be on our community.”
While communities throughout the US and Canada have been advocating against oil trains for years, the battle recently became personal for many here in San Luis Obispo. During that first hearing, over 500 speaker requests were submitted. Cal Poly senior, Regina Hurley, is among those concerned about what this expansion could mean in the future.
“I think this oil train project, if it goes through, would only feed our addiction to oil, making it even harder for us to shift to more sustainable and less destructive energy alternatives,” Hurley said. “Additionally, the oil train project is a huge threat to the many of the communities that surround the tracks. Should this oil train project come through, we are putting thousands of people at risk.”
The final decision is set to be released on March 11th, and certainly not before the community has had it’s say.