Katrina shows need for more refineries

[lovuian]

http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?sid=6f660dc698450a3b

Big News Network.com Sunday 11th September, 2005 (UPI)

Hurricane Katrina was the worst-case scenario for the U.S. oil and gas industry that experts had been predicting for years, a published report says.

The New York Times said Katrina, by shutting down a dozen refineries on the Gulf Coast, demonstrated how little margin the industry has.

Edward H. Murphy, an expert on refining for the American Petroleum Institute, said that the increase in gas prices that followed Katrina showed there is no extra capacity.

more...

Hang on to your hats people cause gas prices has just begun to go up and we may be looking at rationing in the future!!!

[aquart]

1. We need federal refineries.

You know, to refine the oil needed to run our government. Working alongside the private sector. Commenting on pricing.

And able to take up the slack when private refineries are taken offline for one silly reason or another.

I feel that would be helpful. (I also suspect federal refineries would have to be very well guarded indeed.)

[LostinVA]

7. Agreed -- oil has to be at least partly nationalized

Because of disasters and "forced" disasters like the profiteering STILL going on from Katrina!

[leesa]

2. This is just such bullshit. Gas prices are not up becasue of refineries

This is just another way for BushCo to make $$$$$.

Is this another reason they waited for the bowl to fill up? They have had more pointless, costly refineries on their wish list for a long time now.

[BiggJawn]

3. Ah-HAH! How many you want in your backyard?

You can have cheap gas again! So fucking CHEAP you'll go buy a 4-gallon-per-mile WWII Tiger tank to take the kiddies to playgroup!

All you gotta do is call your congresscritter and say "I Want a refinery built in MY city and I want it NOW!!!!"

[TX-RAT]

10. Our local refinery employs 3000 people

In a town of less than 25000, the area oil fields, contractors and vendors pickup most of the rest. Heres a deal for ya, i'll trade you 4 private prisons and 1 federal prison for another refinery. That should help lower gas costs and reduce our local crime rate by a ton.
You do realize there are 37 oil producing states, don't you? You do realize there are millions of people either directly or indirectly employed by the oil business, don't you.

[4dsc]

4. They are building more refineries

They are building more refineries OVERSEAS!!! Its called outsourcing I believe. The US now IMPORTS about 10% of its gas supplies from refineries built over there!! No need to build them here!!

[ToolTex]

5. I believe shortage of refining capacity is a lie.

When they say that no refineries have been built in 25 years and blame it on regulations, they are lying. When prices shot up in the OPEC engineered crude shortages of the 1970s, excess refining capacity was built in a frantic attempt reap windfall profits. There hasn't been any real need since to expand capacity.

One has to wonder if BP has brought their high pressure refinery near Texas City back online, that they shut down about two months ago check that it was safe. The oil companies play the same dirty games with refining that were played with the generation in the California electricity rape by Enron and Duke. They shut down plants during shortages to drive up prices.

[seaglass]

12. I think you're right. There was a congressional hearing last

week that mentioned that there is a higher profit margin for refiners when there are fewer refineries (makes sense). That big companies bought up small refineries and then shut them down.

Unfortunately I can't find the transcript or new reports on it.

[54anickel]

18. Refineries started their own little cartel years ago.

Looking at this list, there is hardly a "shortage".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oil_refineries#United_States


on edit add this thread from last week - had to go find it.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1760219

[wakeme2008]

6. Remember all

George Bush was governor of Texas and had the Oil Companies WANTED refineries, he would have made it happen in Texas.

[Nihil]

8. Bollocks

What he should have said was "Katrina shows need for more efficiency".

That way you can stop wasting all the f*cking fuel you already have and
avoid murdering innocent foreigners for their oil.

Edward H. Murphy, sickening rapacious little shit for the API.

(Edit: Typo)

[struggle4progress]

9. API sure whipped out it's begging bowl fast. I thought the Gas Oil & ..

.. Petro people just got big handouts in the energy bill a few weeks back ...

[gorekerrydreamticket]

11. We need more bicycles and electric vehicles, fewer SUV's...

n/t

[confludemocrat]

13. Katrina shows need for a decent human being as president, who can jawbone

these oil people back from running amuck as well of course as doing everything else on this problem that a truly decent human being would do.

[MadHound]

14. Wrong conclusion again.`

What Katrina did was show just how badly the US needs to kick the oil addiction. Building more refineries will only further enable this country's addictions, which are quickly leading us to disaster.

Rather than building more refineries we should instead concentrate on developing a comprehensive energy plan than decrease our oil use, and instead relys on renewable alternatives.

[TexasBushwhacker]

15. We could build new, more efficient, less polluting refineries

and force the retirement of the old smoke belching refineries that have been allowed to continution operation only through grandfathering and various loopholes. I would also suggest that rather than having so much of our countries refining capacity concentrated on the Gulf Coast, that it should be spread around the country according to usage. In other words, California doesn't get to continue its NIMBY policies at the rest of the USA's expense.

[MadHound]

16. Or better yet, kick our oil addiction

And use clean, renewble alternative energy sources like wind, solar, biodiesel, etc.

Continuing to try and enable this country's oil addiction is stupid, foolish and ultimately destructive to our country. Better we get off of oil and switch to renewables.

[TexasBushwhacker]

19. I don't disagree with that

but the fact is, we will continue using oil for the foreseeable future. If we are going to continue to refine oil at all, we can continue to give the old refineries a free pass to continue polluting, or we can shut them down, as they should have been years ago and build new refineries that meet the modern EPA guidelines. A carbon tax on industrial pollution would be a start. That would make the older refineries harder to operate with a profit.

[xxqqqzme]

17. we don't need 2 spend billions

2 refine a finite resource. We do need 2 spend that same amount on renewable energy resources.

[yellowcanine]

20. The oil companies deliberately allowed refining capacity to lag in

order to create artificial shortages and keep prices high. So there is little redundancy in refining capacity that could have been helpful in dealing with Katrina.