Countywide : Approval of Oil Shipments Appealed
A coalition of environmental groups is appealing a recent decision by the California Coastal Commission that will allow millions of gallons of crude oil to be shipped down Ventura County’s coast each week.
The Santa Barbara-based Environmental Defense Center sent a letter to the commission last week asking the commission to rescind its Jan. 13 approval of a permit sought by Chevron.
The permit allows Chevron to fill tankers with up to 2.2 million gallons of crude oil a day from its giant Point Arguello oil project off Santa Barbara for transport to Los Angeles. The tanker route will go south through the Santa Barbara Channel, just off Ventura County’s coast. But attorneys for the center say the permit should be revoked because the commission was given inaccurate and incomplete information.
If the commission does not want to revoke the permit outright, it should at least reconsider the approval, center attorney Linda Krop said in the letter to commissioners.
Commissioner Dorill B. Wright, who lives in Port Hueneme, said the letter will be reviewed by staff members to determine if there are legal or factual grounds to substantiate the appeal. But shipments, which are to begin before April, will not be held up unless the commission agrees to hear the appeal, he said.
Wright, one of 12 members of the commission, said he had enough information to make an informed decision when he voted to approve the permit.
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