The Environmentalist couldnt win in repeated petitions/filings over several years in objective state review of facts & so now they are leaning on Obama’s Climate Change objectives to stop BP Whiting project permits in same nonsense that failed at state level.
Without expansions/modernization – all these older Midwest Refineries become shutdown canidates and US transportation fuels become much more volatile & dependent on large Coastal refineries and the pipelines supplying them.
The US refining infrastructure is going critical as 45 year block against any new refineries links up with continued consolidation & shutdown of smaller refineries dependent on sweet crude that is no longer available. The idea that Ethanol or electric cars will provide any level of substitution in the next 5 years is stupidity on steriods – and puts US in case for not just foreign crude imports but much higher levels of gasoline & diesel imports as well.
Recent $147/Bbl crude &/or $4/gallon gasoline are going to seem cheap before people realize that it is these Environmental wingnuts & not “Big Oil” causing a non-existing problem in our Oil & Gas industries based on non-existing “Global Warming” boogey man that is more myth/fraud than fact.
Regards
