Story and Photos by Camas Frank ~
Starting on Feb. 4 and continuing throughout an extra hearing day on Feb. 5 the
SLO County Planning Commission received feedback from as many members of the public as they could accommodate regarding a Phillips 66 Co. plan to receive crude oil via a new rail spur to their refinery on the Nipomo Mesa.
Only about half of the nearly 400 people who signed up to speak in front of the Commission were able to do so over the two days. The commission will therefore carry the issue over to their Feb. 25 meeting.
County planning staff has been anticipating strong public interest in the hearings for over a year and had rented out the Fremont Theater next to the County Government Center for overflow viewing.
During the lunch break on Thursday, a colorful rally was the real show. Organizers of the protest against the oil project estimated between 500 and 600 people in attendance in front of the Courthouse Annex, across the street from the Government Center.
Composition of the rally included residents from across California, matching the diversity of communities that sent elected representatives or their staff to speak inside. Invited speakers at the rally included a strong Santa Barbara delegation, Helene Schneider and Salud Carbajal running to replace Lois Capps in the 24th Congressional District. Representatives of the California Nurses Association and Surfrider Foundation took to the microphone along with San Luis Obispo’s resident political activists. None of the City of SLO’s elected officials spoke at the rally but Mayor Jan Marx reiterated her position against the project to the commission along with the visiting representatives from other communities along the Union Pacific Rail route.
During the midday rally, a single person manned a card-table booth near the Government Center entrance with small green signs urging the Commission to “Protect Jobs.” While several of the people watching the rally or visiting the table through the afternoon Thursday said they were plant workers at the refinery, none wanted to go “on record” with a reporter. At issue for them broadly, is the continued viability of the refinery for the current 200 workers, plus 12 if the spur goes through, and 200 temporary construction jobs.
While county planners drafted a 12-page recommendation for denial of the project ahead of the Planning Commission meeting, if the Commission does deny the rail spur, the matter could be appealed to the California Coastal Commission.
