No subsequent approvals
Alleging the environmental impact report (EIR) violated the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), the groups asked the court for a writ of mandate or peremptory writ to void the EIR for the Texas-based Alon Bakersfield Refinery Crude Flexibility Project, set aside the county board's approvals, and order no subsequent approvals until the county fully meets CEQA.
Kern County lead attorney Theresa Goldner told the California Independent Petroleum Association (CIPA) that the board decision was "legal in all respects," and the county will be pushing back against the action, "vigorously opposing the petition."
At stake is a major energy infrastructure project proposing to greatly expand an offloading rail terminal, boosting its capacity to 150,000 b/d from the current 13,000 b/d, and reopen Alon USA Energy Inc.'s local refinery that has been closed since 2008.
California is a growing importer of crude oil via rail. The state’s imports of crude via rail peaked at 1.18 million bbl during December 2013, according to California Energy Commission data and NGI's Shale Daily calculations. While imports have declined since last winter, a picture of steady growth (see chart) is still apparent. While over the past few years much of the imported crude came from Canada and North Dakota, there have been growing volumes from other states such as Colorado, Utah and New Mexico, which have elbowed their way in recently to the point that these other sources accounted for 56% of California's crude-by-rail imports during July 2014.
CIPA and Goldner emphasized that the county and its Planning and Community Development Department that was also named in the legal action conducted "a lengthy environmental review" of the project, and the elected board approved the EIR after a "full and complete public process."