SLO County refinery wants to bring crude oil by train through Monterey County; activists balk.

The map at explosive-crude-by-rail.org shows the Union Pacific Coastal Line passing through Castroville and Salinas. It also shows the potential 1-mile impact zone of oil train fires.

The rail line doesn’t carry oil through north Monterey County yet. But it might one day, if a San Luis Obispo County proposal builds steam.

The Phillips 66 Santa Maria Refinery gets most of its oil by pipeline from Santa Barbara County. Company officials say a rail spur would allow them to diversify, receiving up to 250 trains, each with a 50,000-barrel capacity, per year.

“Union Pacific safely transports a variety of products, including crude oil, through San Luis Obispo County every day,” company spokesman Dennis Nuss writes by email.

Environmental groups, city councils and the Mesa Refinery Watch Group have flooded SLO County planners with thousands of opposition letters. The public comment period on the recirculated draft environmental report closed in November.

Monterey County Planning Director Mike Novo says SLO planners have not contacted him for feedback. But he reached out to the local environmental health and emergency services departments, inviting them to weigh in, he adds. None did.

A catastrophic spill or fire would be a problem, he says, but emissions seem a lesser concern: “We don’t have a lot of traffic on our one rail.”

Some local activists are taking notice. The Peace Coalition of Monterey County is encouraging its members to oppose the project. Monterey attorney Molly Erickson, representing Friends, Artists and Neighbors of Elkhorn Slough, says a spill could devastate the protected wetlands.

“There is potential for a serious accident and severe harm to the entire ecological system,” she says.

SLO County planners are slogging through the public comments. Environmental Resource Specialist Murry Wilson says a hearing has not been set yet.