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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: John Carragher who wrote (458380)	9/13/2003 4:40:47 PM
From: Gordon A. Langston	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 769670

It also appears the "progressives" want it both ways. They only want refineries that no one can afford to build. US appears to have built its last refinery 12-06-01 No new refineries have been built in the US in the past 25 years. And petroleum industry experts say anyone would have to be crazy to launch such an effort -- even though present refineries are running at nearly 100 % of capacity and local gasoline shortages are beginning to crop up. Why does the industry appear to have built its last refinery? Three reasons: Refineries are not particularly profitable, environmentalists fight planning and construction every step of the way and government red-tape makes the task all but impossible. The last refinery built in the US was in Garyville, Louisiana, and it started up in 1976. Energy proposed building a refinery near Portsmouth, Virginia, in the late 1970s, environmental groups and local residents fought the plan -- and it took almost nine years of battles in court and before federal and state regulators before the company cancelled the project in 1984. Industry officials estimate the cost of building a new refinery at between $ 2 bn and $ 4 bn -- at a time the industry must devote close to $ 20 bn over the next decade to reducing the sulphur content in gasoline and other fuels -- and approval could mean having to collect up to 800 different permits. As if those hurdles weren't enough, the industry's long-term rate of return on capital is just 5 % -- less than could be realized by simply buying US Treasury bonds. "I'm sure that at some point in the last 20 years someone has considered building a new refinery," says James Halloran, an energy analyst with National City Corp. "But they quickly came to their senses," he adds. Source: Investor's Business Daily

To: John Carragher who wrote (458380)	9/13/2003 9:27:36 PM
From: tejek	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 769670

"Why is Bush's EPA relaxing the emission standards on old power plants?" I think you got this wrong..Clinton adm put epa restrictions on power plants and refineries to the point they could not correct or upgrade part of the plants without upgrading the total plant... Minor upgrades would have and do result in cleaner air.. without the upgrades under Clinton we continued undergrandfather clauses to pollute and many pollute worse because required maintenance was not done.. No upgrades were done as not upgrading a complete facility could have resulted in law suits under epa guide lines that clinton imposed.. <font color=blue>That's not how the rest of the world sees it: cnn.com Bush Administration Revises Pollution Rules WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Bush administration on Wednesday exempted thousands of older power plants, refineries and factories from having to install costly clean air controls when they modernize with new equipment that improves efficiency but increases pollution. <font color=black> I do not understand your question on burning oil.. shall we burn more coal.. I agree.. I think the clinton adm did us harm by not proposing tax credits to power plants for upgrading the facilities to burn coal with scrubbers etc.. instead we now have power plants all being converted to natural gas causing another shortage, increased cost to home owners who heat by gas and chemical industries that now must move jobs overseas because the demand for natural gas has sky rocked. <font color=blue>There are any number of ways to reduce our dependency on foreign oil.......one of them is burning anthracite coal.<font color=black> I believe power plants now consume better than 20% of natural gas... <font color=blue>Natural gas is expensive and running short. <font color=black> Why not help in finding out how to use resources we have like coal , tar sands, etc for more energy and help to find ways to burn it economically. When was the last time a refinery was built in this country? <font color=blue>Why does that point matter?