By Andrew Christie, Chapter Director
Now, my beauties: Something with poison in it, I think. Poison…but attractive to the eye, and soothing to smell. Poppies. Poppies will put them to sleep.
- The Wicked Witch of the West
How do you explain timidity as a response to extreme peril?
There is a logical response when confronted with a proposal like this:
Let’s haul more than 2 million gallons of the most toxic form of crude oil -- in tanker cars that have been derailing, spilling and exploding at an escalating clip -- nearly every day of the week through the most densely populated areas and sensitive natural habitat in California.
As is widely known, a 2-million gallon oil spill and half-mile diameter fireball can ruin your whole day. And even if that doesn’t happen, there’s the output from the 15 diesel locomotive necessary to haul a week’s worth of those mile-long trains, and the toxins and carcinogens that are the special province of tar sands oil added to our local air quality. That impact is both less immediate and more certain than the spill/fireball scenario, ruining the environment and human health over a wider area and a longer period.
Why does Phillips 66 want to do this? Because, according to CEO Greg Garland, it would mean “lowering our feedstock costs. A savings of $1 per barrel across our refining system is worth about $450 million of net income to us.”
The logical response to such a proposal is a high level of alarm. Horror. Deny the project! Not just no, but hell no! That sort of thing.
But the official responses to the Phillips 66 Santa Maria Refinery Rail Spur project could be roughly grouped under two headings: “Outside SLO County,” and “Inside SLO County.” Elsewhere in California, nearly two dozen cities, counties and school boards have grasped the existential threat to their citizens and their environment.
But inside the county of destination, local governments and school districts, with the exception of the City of San Luis Obispo and the Lucia Mar Unified Teachers Association, have seemed desperate to avoid the appearance of opposing the project. Looking at a map of California, the closer one gets to the Santa Maria Refinery, the more local governments come to resemble Dorothy and her friends falling victim to the poppy fields around the Emerald City. Before the logical response can be reached, they fall into slumber.
The Paso Robles City Council tried to pass the buck to the feds, ignoring the project and instead sending a letter to the U.S. Office of Management and Budget asking them to please make the bomb trains safer when they draft their new regulations for the rail shipment of crude oil. (Note: The new regulations won’t save us.)
The Pismo Beach City Council won’t agendize a letter of opposition unless three councilmembers ask for it, and they believe they’ll have plenty of time to schedule and contemplate any such action after the Final Environmental Impact Report is released and before the Planning Commission votes on the permit. (They won’t.) Also, the reasoning goes, since project opponents have addressed the council and Phillips 66 has not, it would be unfair to take an action until both sides are heard.
Arroyo Grande and Grover Beach did hear from both sides, before Phillips 66 saw how that was going and hit upon the trick of not showing up for their half of a scheduled presentation, thereby producing the desired stasis that now prevails in Pismo Beach.
In January, after Phillips 66 gave the Lucia Mar district a $20,000 robotics grant, the district superintendent wrote an exquisitely noncommittal letter to County Planning. (“We understand the refinery is seeking approval for the Santa Maria Refinery Rail Project. This letter is offered in acknowledgement of the partnership and support our school district receives from our relationship.”)
And here’s the County Superintendent of Schools responding to public concerns:
“The County of San Luis Obispo and the State Coastal Commission are the governmental agencies with authority to approve the rail-spur proposal, not the local school districts…. School district leadership encourages the public to become fully informed regarding the proposed project and to direct questions or concerns to the County of San Luis Obispo and the State Coastal Commission. These are the governmental agencies with authority in this matter…. We encourage the public to review these documents and to present comments to the County of San Luis Obispo and the State Coastal Commission prior to any decision being rendered by the state.”
This, even though the members of all our city councils and school boards presumably are seeing the regular reiterations of the same news story from around North America that everyone else is -- "another oil train has derailed, exploded in a huge fireball and burned for days" – they appear to be in no hurry to agendize a request to the County that their city or schools be spared this roll of the dice.
But not all are snoring among the poppies. In February, the City of SLO just said no. And here’s the June 2 letter from the Lucia Mar Unified Teachers Association urging the same. It expresses concern over the risk of train derailment and toxic diesel emissions, especially harmful to the children in their daily charge. The reader will note the contrast between the response of the Lucia Mar teachers and that of their superintendent.
Nine school boards and four teachers unions have stood up and spoken in that clear voice.
And after the Lucia Mar teachers acted, the California Teachers Association voted to send a letter to the SLO County Board of Supervisors urging them to reject the project.
The two different responses that this project triggers – logical alarm and poppy-induced slumber -- locked horns at the CTA’s June 7 state council meeting. The association seemed about to go the way of the Paso Robles buck-pass. Members had in hand a memo from the Superintendent of San Luis Coastal Unified School District recommending alternatives to opposition such as “working with communities through which oil trains must move to address community concerns.” The we-have-no-authority letter from the County Superintendent was in play. A CTA committee recommended no position. The delegates rejected that recommendation and overwhelmingly passed a resolution to oppose the project.
“As educators and advocates for the students of south San Luis Obispo County, we are particularly concerned with the risks this project would pose to Lucia Mar schools and student populations along the rail line,” wrote Donna Kandel, president of the Lucia Mar teachers association.
“Educators are very concerned about dangerous oil trains running past California schools,” said CTA President Dean Vogel. “Hundreds of California schools are located near current and future oil train routes. Educators and parents can help stop these Phillips 66 oil trains by encouraging local officials in San Luis Obispo County to put student and community safety first and not issue Phillips 66 a permit for their oil train project.”
Let us give thanks for educators for their ability to clarify issues, and hope that they will succeed in educating by example in a county where local officials appear to need many examples before they can grasp the fact that timidity in the face of peril is an inadequate response.
The citizens of SLO County, we have found, have no such problem. They get it. Those who want to do something about it can join us on Monday, June 15, at the SLO County Library for the community mobilization against the Phillips 66 oil train project.
And next month, y’all come to Mitchell Park on July 11 and be a part of the national Week of Action to Stop Oil Trains, July 6-12.