Environmental groups highlight trucking hazards as reason to deny Sentinel Peak Resources’ transport proposal
Three days after Ken Hough told county planning commissioners about “the dangers of crude oil tankers,” a semi-truck carrying 150 barrels of crude oil crashed into another vehicle a half mile from his home.
The Santa Barbara County Action Network (SBCAN) co-executive director had filed an appeal on the county’s approval of Sentinel Peak Resources’ proposal to construct and operate a loading rack and truck oil from Lompoc to Coalinga.
Though the county had placed mitigation measures on the project to improve trucking safety, SBCAN claimed the project needed an environmental impact report (EIR) due to its similarity to the controversial ExxonMobil trucking proposal, which the Board of Supervisors denied in 2022.
“Denials on ExxonMobil’s proposal were based on the hazards of trucking oil on many miles of freeways and two-lane highways, and the same hazards are present here,” Hough said during the Aug. 14 Santa Barbara County Planning Commission meeting…