Santa Clara County leaders, including some fire chiefs, are looking to join the Bay Area fight to stop railroad cars filled with crude oil from traveling through neighborhoods.
The South Bay officials said they are worried a proposed plan in San Luis Obispo County could lead to a derailment, an environmental disaster and the loss of life.
A recent train derailment in San Jose made some Santa Clara County leaders suddenly very interested in blocking the Phillips 66 proposal to expand its Santa Maria oil refinery.
The plan to extend a Union Pacific rail line in San Obispo County would likely allow Phillips 66 to have up to five trains a week transporting millions of gallons of high sulfur crude oil around its Santa Maria refinery.
The route would run through 40 miles of the county in Milpitas, downtown San Jose, Morgan Hill, Gilroy and unincorporated communities, according to Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez.
The project would have an option to use Caltrain from San Francisco to downtown San Jose, Chavez said.
"A hundred years ago rail lines were going through prairies. Now they're going through communities where people live, work, play and worship," Chavez said.
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With nearly 2 million residents, Santa Clara County is a more densely populated area than elsewhere on the route, Yeager said.
In addition to the human impact an oil train derailment would have, there would also be environmental consequences on air and soil quality and an already limited water supply, Yeager said.
The Board of Supervisors is scheduled to vote on a resolution against the proposal during its Tuesday meeting.
If the resolution is passed, the county plans to detail their opposition to the project in a letter to the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors.
The Santa Clara County Fire Chiefs' Association has also written a letter to San Luis Obispo County officials for additional information, training and equipment to keep the county safe should the project move forward, Kehmna said.
Palo Alto fire Chief Eric Nickel, president of the fire chiefs' association, said Phillips should provide the resources to train county fire personnel instead of billing taxpayers.
In an email Phillips 66 spokesman Dennis Nuss said, "We remain committed to safety and to our proposal. We understand that there may be opposition to the rail project, and we look forward to San Luis Obispo County providing responses to all issues that are raised and addressing them in compliance with CEQA."
