Muristek
The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors will hold a March 8 hearing to consider ExxonMobil’s plan for interim trucking of crude oil on area highways.
A modified project plan includes interim trucking of crude oil to the Santa Maria Pump Station until its estimated shutdown in 2023. The plan will then pivot to the Pentland Terminal either for seven years or until a pipeline becomes available, according to the county.
Up to 78 trucks per day could travel between an onshore processing facility at Las Flores Canyon to the Santa Maria Pump Station and the Pentland Terminal with an annual limit set at 24,820 trucks.
ExxonMobil’s current permit for the Las Flores Canyon facility stipulates that oil transportation can only be done by pipeline unless the entitlement is changed.
Approval of the plan would help ExxonMobil restart three drilling platforms off the Santa Barbara coast, but the planning commission voted 3-2 in November to recommend denial of the proposal.
The commission recommended denial because of projected impacts to biological, water and cultural resources in the event of an oil spill, as well as the proposed trucking’s impacts on health, safety, comfort, convenience and general welfare.
According to findings for denial submitted to the board, the project could “create significant but mitigable impacts” to traffic safety along Calle Real, Highway 101 and State Route 166 with the additional tanker truck trips.
But ExxonMobil has said the plan would bring additional revenue and trucking jobs to the area. Representatives also said the plan would be a more environmentally friendly choice because it would reduce the amount of oil shipped into the U.S. from foreign countries.
Bryan Anderson, the asset manager for Exxon’s Santa Ynez Unit, previously told commissioners the proposal could bring in $4 million for schools and $2 million for public safety.
As previously reported, data from the California Highway Patrol collected between 2015-2021 found 258 trucking accidents along the route resulting in 10 deaths and 110 injuries. In March 2020, a tanker truck crash off State Route 166 spilled more than 4,500 gallons of oil into the Cuyama River above the Twitchell Reservoir.
The March 8 hearing is expected to last two hours. email: kschallhorn@newspress.com
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