Bombs on Wheels

On December 15, 2018, a gasoline tanker flipped on Highway 101 near Goleta, causing a major spill and shutting down the highway as hundreds of local residents were evacuating due to the Thomas Fire. The 101 was closed for more than two days while hazardous materials crews worked to clean up the 5,000-plus-gallon spill. The road, disintegrated by the corrosive gasoline, had to be extensively repaved.

Earlier in 2018, a woman was killed in a fiery head-on collision with an oil tanker on Highway 166, east of Santa Maria. These are only two local accidents that prove trucking is the most hazardous form of oil transport.

On Tuesday, prior to the release of a draft EIR, the Santa Maria City Council passed a resolution to support ExxonMobil’s dangerous plan to truck oil through the winding 101 pass as a first step to resuming offshore drilling operations. The City Council made this important decision with little community input or public Council discussion.

The proposed ExxonMobil plan to put more oil tankers on our roads is very dangerous. These tankers are like bombs on wheels! They kill people when a collision happens. They damage our local environment when the trucks overturn on roads built for our passenger vehicles. Please let our city and county officials know we don’t want these bombs on wheels in our communities!