The proposed rail spur project at an oil refinery in San Luis Obispo County isn't dead yet, and the specter of three trains per week carrying crude oil through the heart of Monterey County remains a real possibility.
On Oct. 19, Phillips 66, the oil company proposing the project, appealed the San Luis Obispo Planning Commission's Oct. 5 denial of the company's proposal. The purpose of the spur is to allow for rail deliveries of crude that would travel from Phillips 66's refinery in Rodeo—a community in the eastern reaches of the San Francisco Bay Area—to a refinery in Nipomo, a community in southern San Luis Obispo County.
Numerous public entities opposed the proposal—including Monterey County—and after an almost yearlong process of public hearings, the planning commission denied it 3-2.
The appeal hearing before the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors has not yet been scheduled.
Meanwhile, Phillips 66 has also been making the news lately due to a September oil spill in San Pablo Bay—a northern extension of the San Francisco Bay—near the marine terminal of company's refinery there.
According to a report from KQED, a Coast Guard investigation was unable to determine if Phillips 66 was responsible for the spill, or if it came from the ship delivering oil to the refinery at the time.
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