Category Archives: Take Action

Crude By Rail, Local Regulation, Phillips 66, San Luis Obispo County, Santa Maria Refinery, Take Action

SLO: Another hearing scheduled for opponents of Phillips 66 oil-by-rail plan

Repost from KCBX FM, Central Coast Public Radio
[Editor:  Significant quote: “I think that they have a strong argument in the sense that we do need every job. We do need well paid jobs. But, we’re being asked to make a choice between the long-term health and safety of our community and these specific jobs. And that’s a choice no American should ever have to make.”  – Eddie Scher of ForestEthics. Hearings will continue on February 25.  – RS]

Another hearing scheduled for opponents of Phillips 66 oil-by-rail plan

By Daniel Park, February 5, 2016

KCBX_listenThe San Luis Obispo Planning Commission wrapping up public comment Friday after hearing from hundreds of people voicing opposition to an oil-by-rail plan over a two day period.

Not everyone has been heard though, so commissioners must carry those over to the next scheduled meeting on February 25, 2016.

Opposition to the Phillips 66 plan to increase the number of trains carrying crude oil to refinery near Nipomo got a major boost Friday as well.

Phillips 66 plans to bring crude oil by train to their Santa Maria refinery. CREDIT DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT

Opponents received a key endorsement, as the California Coastal Commission sent a letter to the SLO Planning Commission urging members to reject the proposal based on adverse impacts to the environment.

If the Planning Commission votes no and the company appeals, the proposal could eventually end up before the Coastal Commission, which has regulatory authority over coastal land use.

Supporters say the proposal’s economic benefits would outweigh the potential costs.

Phillips 66 spokesman Dennis Nuss said Friday, the plan will provide jobs and maintain the area’s energy production.

“There’s been a decline in both onshore and offshore California crude oil productions, so additional reliable sources of crude are required to ensure that the refinery can continue to meet those critical energy needs and support jobs in the community,” Nuss said.

If approved, Phillips 66 said it will hire 200 people for construction jobs, as well as 12 permanent positions in its refinery.

Opponents say jobs aren’t worth the project’s potential damage.

Eddie Scher, the spokesperson for ForestEthics, an environmental organization that demands environmental responsibility from corporations, said that the choice between jobs and the environment isn’t fair.

“I think that they have a strong argument in the sense that we do need every job. We do need well paid jobs,” Scher said. “But, we’re being asked to make a choice between the long-term health and safety of our community and these specific jobs. And that’s a choice no American should ever have to make.”

Commissioners won’t make a decision until after hearing from everyone later this month.

Phillips 66 says it will pursue other options, should it’s proposal fail.

Benicia Planning Commission, Benicians for a Safe and Healthy Community, Crude By Rail, Take Action, Valero Benicia Refinery, Valero Crude By Rail

SIGN THE PETITION: No Valero Oil Trains in Benicia!

Over 1300 of you have already signed the Safe Benicia petition.  If you have not yet signed, please do so now.  Fill in your info below. Then add a comment or just click on ADD YOUR NAME at the bottom.

Crude By Rail, Take Action, Tesoro

CREDO Action generates over 47,000 letters opposing Tesoro-Savage oil-by-rail export terminal

Repost from CREDO Action
[UPDATE – make that 67,883 letters as of midday, 12/28/5!  – RS]

Stop the Tesoro-Savage oil-by-rail export terminal

Stop the Tesoro-Savage oil-by-rail export terminal
Stop the Tesoro-Savage oil-by-rail export terminal

This week, Congress give Big Oil a huge holiday gift: lifting the four-decades-old ban on crude oil exports.1  With the ink still drying on the landmark Paris climate agreement, this is a significant setback that could promote U.S. drilling and increase carbon emissions.

That makes it more important than ever to stop the next step in Big Oil’s plans: building huge terminals to export more crude overseas, like the massive Tesoro-Savage oil train terminal proposed in Vancouver, Washington.

Tesoro-Savage would be the largest oil-by-rail facility in North America,2 shipping up to 360,000 barrels per day of crude to be burned across the world — making the project nearly half the size of the Keystone XL pipeline.

Washington officials are now taking public comments on the plan. Washington Governor Jay Inslee has shown strong climate leadership, and it’s vital to let him know that people in Washington, and across the country are standing against this project.

Stop the Tesoro-Savage oil train terminal. Click here to submit a public comment now.

Tesoro-Savage’s 360,000 barrels per day of crude would be carried across the country from North Dakota to Washington in dangerous, explosive oil trains, posing a huge risk to public safety every step of the way to the Columbia River and the Pacific Ocean.

And the damage to the climate affects all of us. Once massive oil infrastructure projects like pipelines and export terminals have been built, they keep running for decades. But when we stop them, we can help keep carbon in the ground.3

In Paris, the world signaled a historic consensus on moving away from fossil fuels. The last thing Governor Jay Inslee or the United States should do is allow oil companies to hijack that agreement by keeping the world market hooked on the oil that poses an existential threat to all of us.

Speak out against the Tesoro-Savage oil train terminal before the January 22nd deadline.  Click here to submit a public comment now.

    1. “Big Oil Companies Can’t Wait For Repeal of U.S. Export Ban,” Newsweek, 12/18/15
    2. “Port of Vancouver Proposal,” Columbia Riverkeeper
    3. “A Convenient Lie: Why Fossil Fuel Supply Matters for the Climate,” Oil Change International, 9/3/15

Send an email.

Your comment to State of Washington officials:

Please reject the Tesoro-Savage oil-by-rail terminal. The project poses serious risks to the people of Washington State, everyone living along an oil train route, and the entire country by allowing oil companies to sell more fossil fuels overseas.  Building the largest oil-by-rail terminal in North America for yesterday’s energy is the wrong path to meet today’s energy needs. This project would jeopardize Washington State’s leadership in moving away from fossil fuels and towards clean, renewable energy solutions.

Click here to send this email.

 

 

Climate Change, Export of North American crude, Federal Regulation (U.S.), Fracking, Greenhouse gas emissions, Oil industry lobby, Take Action

Breaking: Emergency Calls Needed to Protect Oil Export Ban

Action Alert from the Center for Biological Diversity

TELL THE SENATE AND PRESIDENT TO PROTECT THE OIL EXPORT BAN

Fracking illustration
Fracking illustration courtesy Flickr/Jared Rodriguez, Truthout.

America’s decades-old crude oil export ban is under urgent threat of repeal through backroom dealing and an imminent vote on a congressional spending bill. The ban is a critical safeguard against climate change and the damages and risks of fracking.

Lifting the ban would massively boost oil production at a time when the science demands that we must leave at least 80 percent of remaining fossil fuels in the ground. The combustion of the additional oil that would be produced is estimated to generate more than515 million metric tons of carbon pollution per year — the equivalent annual greenhouse gas emissions of 135 coal-fired power plants or more than 100 million passenger cars.

If this horrendous bill passes, communities across America will face more pollution, illness and disruption from drilling and fracking. We can’t afford to lift the crude oil export ban just to contribute to Big Oil’s windfall profits.

Phone calls to your senators and the White House are urgently needed. Here are some talking points. Type in your ZIP code below to get your senators’ numbers, then let us know you called. 

For senators:

Hi, my name is ______, and I live in ______. I’m calling to urge you to vote NO on the omnibus bill that repeals the crude oil export ban. Lifting the ban would increase oil production and damage from fracking and other dangerous drilling while undercutting progress fighting climate change. It will increase Big Oil’s profits at our expense. No deal could justify lifting the 40-year-old crude oil export ban.

Please — vote against any bill that lifts the crude oil export ban or has other sneak attacks on our environment and democracy.

Can you tell me how Senator X plans to vote? Thank you.

For the White House: 

Hi, my name is ______, and I live in ______. I’m calling to urge you to veto the omnibus bill that repeals the crude oil export ban. Lifting the ban would increase oil production and damage from fracking and other dangerous drilling while undercutting progress fighting climate change. It will increase Big Oil’s profits at our expense. No deal could justify lifting the 40-year-old crude oil export ban.

Please veto any bill that lifts the crude oil export ban or has other sneak attacks on our environment and democracy.

Contact information for your Senators and the White House: Click here to go to the Centers for Biological Diversity page, then scroll to the bottom to look up and use your zip code for contact info.

Please take action by Jan. 31, 2016.