Services scheduled

Phyllis Vivian Bryant, 86, Bakersfield, May 26. Visitation 9 to 10:30 a.m. May 30, Hillcrest Mortuary; graveside service 11 a.m. May 30, Hillcrest Memorial Park. Hillcrest Memorial Park & Mortuary.

Services scheduled

Donald Lee Brown, 87, Bakersfield, May 15. Graveside service 10 a.m. May 30, Bakersfield National Cemetery, Arvin. Greenlawn Funeral Home.

Services scheduled

Esther Estrada, 63, Bakersfield, May 20, Basham Funeral Care. Service at 10 a.m. May 30, Victory Outreach Church, Hillcrest Memorial Park Cemetery.

Services pending

Amarjit S. Brar, 62, Bakersfield, May 23. Greenlawn Funeral Homes.

County planners studying an oil-by-rail terminal proposed along Rosedale Highway have determined the project could threaten public safety in the event of a train-related spill but that they lack the regulatory authority to fully address them.

In a draft environmental review released Thursday, the Kern County Planning and Community Development Department spelled out various concerns -- including possible impacts on air and water quality and biological resources -- regarding Alon USA Energy Inc.'s plans to build a facility that would offload mile-long oil trains, two per day, at its refinery on Rosedale.

Services scheduled

George John Hupp, 86, Wofford Heights, May 23. Memorial service 11 a.m. May 27, Elks Lodge - Wofford Heights. Sierra Valley Mortuary.

Services scheduled

Robert Lee Atchison, 64, Bakersfield, May 21. Visitation 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. May 28, Basham Funeral Care; service 2 p.m. May 28, Bakersfield National Cemetery. Bakersfield Funeral Home.

Services scheduled

Sergio Fonseca Acuna, 58, Taft, May 20 in Bakersfield. Visitation 2 to 6 p.m. May 24, Lori Family Mortuary, Taft. Lori Family Mortuary, Taft.

The amount of oil that can be recovered from California's sprawling Monterey Shale formation using existing technology is far less than thought, according to a new federal estimate that potentially deals a blow to oil companies looking to extract the resource.

About 600 million barrels of oil can be tapped from the formation, the Los Angeles Times reported, citing data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

It won’t cause an exodus from Kern County oil fields, but a lowering of federal expectations for petroleum production along California’s vaunted Monterey Shale may change the state’s fracking debate, which could add to its local repercussions.

Kern oilmen familiar with the difficulties of tapping the giant “source rock” underlying much of the southern Central Valley were unfazed by a report Wednesday that the U.S. Energy Information Administration believes the Monterey contains 96 percent less recoverable oil than it previously estimated.

Services scheduled

Antonio Sebastian Costamagna, 73, Bakersfield, May 19. Visitation 4 to 8 p.m. May 28, Hillcrest Memorial Chapel; service 10 a.m. May 29, St. Francis Church. Hillcrest Memorial Park & Mortuary.

Short of a technological breakthrough, the vaunted Monterey Shale oil formation underlying much of the southern Central Valley will yield no more than about 600 million barrels, or 96 percent less than previously believed, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

The lower estimate, reported Wednesday by the Los Angeles Times, could be a big disappointment to Kern County's oil industry, which in recent years has attracted large investments from companies anxious to tap what the EIA had said was nearly 14 billion barrels of California shale oil.

Services scheduled

Lester "Buddy" Aston, 72, Bakersfield, Feb. 21. Service 11 a.m. May 24, Amazing Grace Tabernacle. Doughty-Calhoun-O'Meara Funeral Directors.

Services scheduled

Johnnie Mae Cerro, 87, Bakersfield, May 17. Memorial Mass noon May 23, Sacred Heart Catholic Church. Doughty-Calhoun-O'Meara Funeral Directors.

Services pending

Frank Cooper, 90, May 18, Bakersfield. Rucker's Mortuary.

Dallas-based Alon USA Energy Inc. has proposed an oil car offloading facility at the company's Rosedale Highway refinery.

A similar facility by Houston-based Plains All American Pipeline LP is under construction near Taft.

Because oil shipments from North Dakota to California qualify as interstate commerce, primary oversight responsibility falls to the federal government. But in practice, many state and local agencies also have a hand in preventing, preparing for or responding to oil spill accidents.

Here's a look at some of the government agencies most prominently involved:

A series of recent derailments have raised concerns about the risks of shipping oil in mile-long "unit trains," especially highly combustible light crude from the Bakken shale formation in and around North Dakota.

Here are some recent accidents involving shipments of Bakken crude:

First responders think of the rail yard by Bakersfield High School when they envision the worst-case scenario in Kern County's drive to become a major destination for Midwestern oil trains.

If a derailment there punctures and ignites a string of tank cars, the fireball's heat will be felt a mile away and flames will be a hundred feet high. Thick acrid black smoke will cover an area from downtown to Valley Plaza mall. Burning oil will flow through storm drains and sewers, possibly shooting flames up through manholes.

Ever stared at the phone and willed it to start ringing? Derek Carr knows the feeling.

And, though it came a day later than he would have liked, Carr got the call he wanted Friday afternoon: The Oakland Raiders were on the other line, telling the Bakersfield native they were about to make him the 36th pick in the NFL Draft.

“I’m just so fired up that they called,” said Carr, a record-setting quarterback at Fresno State who graduated from Bakersfield Christian. “When that pick came up, and I saw they were next, I was just waiting, looking at my phone. It started ringing, and I almost forgot how to answer it, I was so excited.”

For the second straight day, the Carr family gathered at David's house in southwest Bakersfield to watch the draft. After the phone call and just before Oakland's pick was announced on live television, Rodger Carr, Derek's father, emerged from the house and yelled, "Raiders!"