Hearing on Phillips 66 oil-by-rail plan resumes Thursday

Public comment on a Phillips 66 Co. proposal to upgrade its Nipomo Mesa refinery to receive crude oil by rail is expected to last all day Thursday before the San Luis Obispo County Planning Commission. The hearing is expected to be continued to March 11.

Phillips 66 has applied to the county to add a 1.3-mile spur with five parallel tracks from the main rail line to its Nipomo Mesa refinery, an unloading facility at the refinery and on-site pipelines.

County planning staff has recommended denial of the project, which would allow for five trains a week for a maximum of 250 trains per year. The meeting is a continuation of hearings held Feb. 4 and 5, when Phillips 66 representatives urged the commissioners to approve an alternate plan to allow three trains a week instead of five, or a maximum of 150 trains a year.

The commission will start its third day of hearings at 9 a.m. in the county Board of Supervisors’ chambers at 1055 Monterey St. Speaker sign-ups will be available starting at 8 a.m. outside the board chambers. Elected officials and agency representatives will be able to comment first, and then anyone who has a comment slip remaining from the previous hearings may speak.

On March 11, county planning staff can respond and take questions from planning commissioners before the commission deliberates and makes a decision on the project — which may or may not happen that day. Future meeting dates will be posted at www.sloplanning.org.

This story was originally published February 24, 2016 at 7:53 PM with the headline "Hearing on Phillips 66 oil-by-rail plan resumes Thursday."