Posted on 04/27/2005 4:34:38 PM PDT by Dubya
WASHINGTON, April 27, 2005 – President Bush unveiled a plan today to encourage building oil refineries on military sites that have closed. Speaking at a Small Business Administration conference here, the president recommended this and other initiatives to address the country's energy needs and reduce dependence on foreign energy sources.
Bush said expanding refinery capacity will help address the shortage that's partly blamed for skyrocketing gasoline prices. The last oil refinery built in the United States was completed in 1976, he said.
During a White House press briefing today, spokesman Scott McClellan said the federal agencies would work with states and local communities to transfer closed military sites and make them available to refiners.
McClellan said many closed military bases are already being redeveloped or used for new purposes to help create jobs. Building oil refineries on some of them will "address a pressing problem that we face, and it will also address an economic need in these communities," he said.
"So we want to work closely with those communities and we think that by doing so, we will help encourage people to look at the long-term benefit in investing in these sites and building refineries," McClellan said.
Bush's announcement today came about two weeks before Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld submits a list of installations recommended for closure or realignment to Congress and the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission.
By Sept. 8, the commission must send its recommended BRAC list to the president, who has until Sept. 23 to approve or disapprove the findings.
News Archive http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Apr2005/20050427_785.html
It would only make sense if the military bases were located on navigable rivers and had major oil and petroleum products pipelines nearby.
Yep...you need infrastructure and water to get the job done..
MD
Hmmmm, Winter Harbor Maine sounds like an excellent choice. Both for the refinery and an LNG terminal.
Brilliant. Wait until all those NIMBY types face the choice!
Our President has come up with another brilliant idea. This should drive the Rats crazy!
Stick them on top of superfund cleanup sites, and kill two birds with one stone.
It would make sense if the closed military bases were sitting on top of large oil reserves.
Brilliant. It will drive all the NIMBYs insane trying to figure out a way to thwart it, and no doubt the 'rats are trying to come up with some sort of legislation that will prevent it--but it's brilliant.
Not just that, but you need oil.
But haven't the refiners been expanding existing facilities rather then developing new ones? Anyone???
Fore River Shipyard, Quincy Massachusetts. Philadelphia Shipyard. Long Beach. To name three off the top of my head.
Alameda, Mare Island, Moffitt field, are three that come to mind just in the SF Bay area.
My thought as well. Why clean up a base to put a refinery on top of it.
LOL. California hasn't built a power plant in decades, they've been leeching off the rest of the west.
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