more on where your gas dollars go

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Rick Bradley <rick () rickbradley com>
Date: September 11, 2005 1:10:56 AM EDT
To: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Cc: Ip Ip <ip () v2 listbox com>
Subject: Re: [IP] where your gas dollars go


[ For IP if you like ]

* David Farber (dave () farber net) [050910 18:25]:

> September 11, 2005
> Storm Stretches Refiners Past a Perilous Point
>
> By JAD MOUAWAD

I wonder how the NYT's most outspoken oil expert (and most frequent oil
Cassandra) could omit the minor detail that the reason no oil refineries
have been built in the past 30 years (a 30-year period overseen by
almost 17 years now of "oil administrations") is not because of a
coordinated conspiracy to profit from thin supply -- while sitting on a
30-year old chunk of refinery hardware -- what's the annual maintenance
bill on that beast?.  The article hints at the difficulty when it
mentions permits, but refuses to come at it head on:  no refineries
*can* be built, because no community wants a refinery.  And if an area
is open to the prospect, the environmental lobby will use every means
available to ensure that it is physically, politically, and/or legally
impossible to build a refinery in that area.

It's a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't situation:  try to build a
refinery and you're villainized and shut down.  Don't build refineries
and you're a market manipulator.

But I have no sympathy for the petroleum companies and refiners.  Our
country's dependence on oil (especially, but not limited to, foreign
oil) has put us in a serious bind.  We need to be off the petroleum
crack pipe.  Oil prices through the roof?  Great.  $10 gallon of gas?
Great.  Takes 5 years to get a new refinery on-line?  Awesome.  Let's
all start carpooling, riding bikes, walking, burning grease from
McDonald's deep-fryers, putting our tax dollars (and our private venture
dollars) into making efficient transportation, cleaner energy sources,
the whole nine.  Let's *not* bail out the refineries, mandate cuts of
the pump price, lessen the local gas taxes.  Fail and fail fast.

Rick
--
 http://www.rickbradley.com    MUPRN: 422
                       |  the buffalo and
   random email haiku  |  Florentino's clothes, the
                       |  bandits escaped.


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