Nipomo Mesa

On this week’s Issues & Ideas: 50 years ago, during the Woodstock music festival, Central Coast resident Jim Mills was serving in Vietnam. He shares memories of how he and the other troops stationed there stayed connected through music to their lives at home. Also, we have a discussion with local poet and founder of the Poetic Justice Project, Deborah Tobola, about teaching the arts to incarcerated people.

Earlier this week, we heard from veteran NPR journalists Renee Montagne and Kelly McEvers, talking about the craft of journalism and a specific approach called solutions journalism, defined by some as rigorous reporting on effective responses to social problems. Next, we speak with a staff reporter from the San Luis Obispo Tribune about another approach, called engagement journalism, and a current project focused on air quality on the Nipomo Mesa, in south San Luis Obispo County.

A date has been set for appeal hearings in the Phillips 66 oil-by-rail plan. In early March, county officials will revisit a proposal by the oil company to build a rail line extension from the company’s Nipomo Mesa Refinery to the main rail line.

KCBX News Director Randol White speaks with San Luis Obispo County’s new 4th District Supervisor, Lynn Compton (R-Nipomo), about her visions and plans for her tenure.

Top issues for the politician include a new rail spur to the Phillips 66 refinery, air particulate matter generated by the Oceano/Nipomo Dunes, groundwater management, and Huasna Valley oil exploration.

Compton is a longtime resident of Nipomo and beat incumbent Supervisor Caryn Ray (D-Arroyo Grande) in the November Mid-Term Election.

Large construction projects are visible in and around the western edge of the Trilogy community on the Nipomo Mesa, where views of the Oceano Dunes and Pacific Ocean are a big selling point. However, on the same horizon sits the Phillips 66 Santa Maria Refinery.