Phillips 66 signs are misleading; no jobs would be lost

I’m writing to share my disgust about the pro-Phillips 66 signage in the Five Cities area. Basically, the thrust of the signage message is, “If the San Luis Obispo County Planning Commission doesn’t approve the addition of rail tracks and the resulting horrendous delivery of volatile tar sands oil from Canada and its air-polluting refinement on the Nipomo Mesa, local jobs will be lost.”

Testimony before the Planning Commission last month proved no current jobs are in danger and that only 12 permanent jobs will be added if the rail spur is approved! This is literally a smoke-and-mirrors ploy by a huge corporation to expand their polluting industry along the Central Coast and place thousands of locals in danger as oil trains traverse our landscape near our schools, homes, scenic areas and tourist attractions.

We have far too much to lose if our planning commissioners, and eventually our county supervisors, fall for this ploy. We must protect our safety, quality of life and our tourism jobs by keeping the Central Coast unique, clean and free from oil trains. Phillips 66 and its employees can continue refinement of oils delivered via pipeline.

Take your dirty work elsewhere. Save the Central Coast.

This story was originally published February 29, 2016 at 8:07 PM with the headline "Phillips 66 signs are misleading; no jobs would be lost."