New report shows a million kids go to school near rail lines
About a million kids in California go to schools that are dangerously close to rail lines. That’s according to Oakland-based advocacy group Center for Biological Diversity. The big concern is the oil traveling on those lines now and in the future.
The Center of Biological Diversity said there are about a quarter million kids at schools near proposed rail lines, including one line that could go right through Monterey County. At least nine schools in Salinas are within a mile of the proposed rail line.
The Phillips 66 expansion project in San Luis Obispo County is slated to travel from the Bay Area down through Santa Cruz, Santa Clara and Monterey Counties.
“A very risky project that would increase oil trains dramatically,” said Valerie Love of the Center for Biological Diversity. “It would bring in about five trains, each one, a mile or more in length and carrying over two million gallons of oil per train, so it would drastically increase the volume of oil trains and thereby the risk.”
According to Love, one only needs to look at the most recent train accidents to see. Some of those volatile incidents are burned into her mind.
“There was more oil spilled from trains in 2013 than the previous four decades,” Love said.
That includes the 2013 trail derailment in Quebec where 63 tank cars derailed, spilling more than a million gallons of crude oil and igniting. The crash killed 47 people were killed and thousands more were evacuated.
The Monterey County Board of Supervisors sent a letter to San Luis Obispo County, voicing disapproval of the project. Supervisor John Phillips said he’s concerned about public safety and the potential for environmental damage to Elkhorn Slough. The line would go through the research reserve, then down through the heart of Salinas. Salinas city officials have not officially discussed the matter yet, but Mayor Joe Gunter said it’s an issue that needs to be discussed.
“Whatever happens,” Mayor Gunter explained, “We make sure it’s safe and if it isn’t safe, we may have to take some action to stand up strongly against it so, we have to think, what we do affects our whole community.”
Many local leaders hope San Luis Obispo County rejects the project, which is still in the public comment period until later this fall. News Channel 5 reached out to Phillips 66 but haven’t heard back yet.
Several school districts and teacher unions have already spoken out against the project. However, the Monterey County Office of Education says it doesn’t generally comment on proposals.
