March 25,2024
As they say in show business, ”that’s all folks.” Phillips 66 this month has filed what will be up to a 10-year plan to demolish their 218-acre Santa Maria refinery, a local landmark of the crude oil era dating from 1955.The company plans to remediate the site removing 1200 truckloads and 256 trainloads of pipeline and debris – perhaps not taking it back to nature, but restoring vegetation to the site.San Luis Obispo County is processing a draft EIR on the project posted in the past few days.
The Nipomo Mesa refinery along Highway 1 processed approximately 44,500 barrels of crude oil per day.It converted heavy crude oil into high quality feed stock for additional processing at a connected sister plant in the Bay Area. It also produced petroleum coke.The plant employed from 150 to 200 workers.
The refinery brought in oil from offshore the California coast until January of last year along with oil fields in the Santa Maria area. Oil came by pipeline and delivered by truck. Then the oil was shipped off by pipeline, rail and truck to the Bay Area to the Rodeo Refinery in Contra Costa County 200 miles away.
The landmark Rodeo Refinery on the edge of San Francisco Bay, had its own storied oil era history, having been built in 1896 as the first major refinery in the Bay Area. It produced more than 4,000,000 gallons of motor fuel daily.
The end came as both the supply from offshore oil platforms dwindled, and the refinery destination in the Bay Area started modifications to end oil processing.Phillips 66 announced it would transition to renewable feed stocks to make renewable diesel and other products.This is happening just this month as the change to a renewable fuel production hub is scheduled by the end of the first quarter of this year.The company ceased all crude processing activities at the plant in February.
Phillips 66 made a final investment decision to move forward with the conversion project in May 2022. At that time Phillips 66 explained that the scope of the project includes the construction of pre-treatment units and the repurposing of existing hydrocracking units to enable production of renewable fuels. Once fully operational, the facility is expected to have the capacity to produce more than 50,000 barrels per day (800 MMgy) of renewable fuels, including renewable diesel, renewable gasoline and sustainable aviation fuel.
The environmental document filed with the county this month notes that until the jungle of above-ground structures are removed, engineers will not be able to test the extent of remediation necessary for all the contaminated soil at the base of the plant. Contaminated soil will be shipped off site by both truck and rail,over 200 thousand cubic yards, according to the environmental document.
The plan offers no hint as to the future of the site once it is demolished and remediated. Comments on the draft EIR are open now, and will be received until May 6.Once the draft becomes a final EIR it will be in front of the Planning Commission perhaps by summer. The matter could be appealed to both the Board of Supervisors and or the Coastal Commission making it uncertain when the demo could begin.For more information contact Susan Strachan with the County at 805/ 788-2129 or review the document online.
The draft report says above ground demolition is anticipated to take approximately eight months, with soil remediation activities beginning as areas are cleared and soil tested. The bulk of the remediation work would be completed within the first three years; however, it would likely continue at a reduced level for up to 10 years, depending on site conditions and work plans.
One thing San Luis Obispo residents can count on is there will no longer be those midnight oil trains rattling past Cal Poly on their way to the Bay Area. Nor will the refinery be connected to the Contra Costa plant by four 200-mile pipelines linking the two plants that are also being dismantled or sold off.
Back in 2017 Phillips 66 tried to expand oil train shipments into the Santa Maria plant arguing that would make them more competitive. The company wanted to move up to 250 trains annually, about 80 tanker cars carrying about 50,000 barrels of crude to the refinery from both the north and south.News reports say the prospect of derailment of these trains prompted opposition to the project from about 45 school districts, cities, and counties So residents rose up and convinced the SLO Board of Supervisors to turn down the plan fearing more oil trains rumbling through the area.
Talk about an end to an era,consider what Central Coast residents are talking about now as this place will meet the wrecking ball. We are no longer arguing over the future of oil or oil platforms – the discussion is about renewables like offshore wind and energy storage.