Center for Biological Diversity


For Immediate Release, January 13, 2015

Contact: Valerie Love, (510) 274-9713, vlove@biologicaldiversity.org

San Jose City Council Unanimously Votes to Oppose Central Coast Oil Train Project

SAN JOSE, Calif.— San Jose today became the latest city to oppose the proposed Phillips 66 oil train offloading facility in San Luis Obispo County. The city council voted unanimously to prepare a letter to the San Luis Obispo Planning Commission expressing serious concerns about the dangers of the project. If approved, this facility would bring mile-long oil trains carrying 2.5 million gallons of crude nearly every day through densely populated centers including San Jose.

City governments along the rail route affected by the Santa Maria Phillips 66 project have also submitted letters or passed resolutions against crude-by-rail, including Oakland, Berkeley, Richmond, Martinez, Davis and Moorpark. More than 22,000 people from across California have also voiced opposition to the project.

“The Phillips 66 rail project is a disaster waiting to happen,” said Valerie Love with the Center for Biological Diversity. “It’s heartening to see so many speaking out against this facility, including now the San Jose City Council. It’s clear that people recognize the danger of this plan and want it stopped in its tracks.”

"The San Jose city council is speaking for the 5 million Californians who live in the oil train blast zone when they say that the Phillips 66 expansion plan is dangerous and unnecessary,” said Ethan Buckner with ForestEthics.

Oil trains have become an increasing concern to cities and towns along the rail routes, as oil train traffic in the U.S. has increased more than 4,000 percent since 2008. Following this trend, there has been a steep rise in derailments, spills and explosions, with more oil spilled in rail accidents in 2013 than in the previous four decades.

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 800,000 members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.


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