Over the past few months, thousands of citizens protested the rail spur project by Phillips 66 on the Nipomo Mesa. We easily outnumbered the pro-oil company vote by 50 to 1. Public safety was our biggest concern including impact on air quality, aged railroad trestles, potential derailment near schools and hospitals, and the fact that multiple, mile-long oil trains don’t support an economy based on tourism and protecting the beauty of California’s Central Coast.
Expert testimony explained that air quality on the Nipomo Mesa and farther south far exceed safety standards, due to the off-road vehicle activity in the Oceano Dunes, and are exacerbated by diesel fumes, blowing dust, and more. This pollution causes allergies, asthma, emphysema, and even lung cancer. Some days the air quality is the worst in the nation, some days it’s the worst in California, and it’s always the worst in San Luis Obispo County.
In spite of all of this, including county staff’s recommendation to vote no, SLO County Planning Commissioners Don Campbell, Jim Harrison, and Jim Irving voted “yes” in support of oil trains. Harrison shared the aged reasoning that if you use fossil fuels you must support the oil industry.
This travesty is one more example of robot-like politicos voting their staid party lines versus using their heads and hearts to think, reason, and potentially open their minds and do what is best for the next generation of San Luis Obispo County residents. I hoped the main purpose of local government was the safety of citizens, obviously that is not true.
This article appears in Jun 2-9, 2016.