SLO has seen oil tragedy before

When the massive oil tanks on Tank Farm Road collapsed because of a major rainstorm in the early days of San Luis Obispo, The Tribune of that time reported the story in a memorable edition of the newspaper that should have won a Pulitzer Prize. After adding that story to include in a book I wrote several years ago, the details and photos presented still astound me in memory.

With a current controversy about more oil coming to and through town, that story deserves to be repeated as is in The Tribune. A rainstorm sent the contents of collapsed tanks down the creek, all the way to the ocean near Pismo Beach. People died in that storm, and the public deserves to know just how dangerous an oil spill can be.

Please reprint that original story in The Tribune so both sides of the argument about the safety of oil storage and large underground lines can be realistically reviewed.

This story was originally published February 4, 2016 at 11:02 AM with the headline "SLO has seen oil tragedy before."