Posted on 09/01/2005 1:11:22 PM PDT by Graybeard58
In the coming weeks, when people in Greater Waterbury, Litchfield County and the rest of Connecticut and the country are pumping gasoline costing upward of $3 a gallon, they shouldn't curse Hurricane Katrina for disrupting the flow of oil.
No, their epithets should be reserved for their elected representatives and for the feckless environmentalists who have put the nation in this petroleum predicament. Successions of Congresses and presidents, abetted by the greens, have created a national energy policy that puts pork ahead of people. They have blocked domestic energy exploration and development while consumers became more dependent upon foreign oil. By fanning NIMBYism, they prevented construction of new refineries. Through legislation, regulation and litigation, they drove small refiners out of business and made refining much more complex and expensive.
Consequently, Katrina was able to disrupt a quarter of America's domestic oil production and 11 percent of refining capacity indefinitely, largely because both today are too concentrated in the Gulf of Mexico. Then, when the price of crude spiked to nearly $71 a barrel -- roughly four times what it cost in 2002 -- greens are nowhere to be found, and politicians are scrambling to "do something."
President Bush's release of crude from the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve qualifies as something, but it's purely symbolic. He just as well could release a few million barrels of peanut butter for all the good the crude will do because there will be nowhere to refine it.
America's refineries already are operating at 99 percent capacity. If there were more refineries, they'd still be able to unload every drop of gasoline they produce. But the last time a new refinery went on line in this country, Gerald Ford was president. Refineries are a high-priced investment too few companies are willing to make. No one wants to live near a refinery. Consequently, their number domestically declined from 315 in 1981 to 135 today.
Katrina has shut down about a third of the nation's crude production and the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, which handles about a million barrels of foreign crude a day. But supply is not the problem. Eight of the Gulf's largest refineries are under water, without power or inaccessible, and it may be weeks before they are back on line. Each day they remain idle, America loses 1.8 million gallons of fuel. One way to pick up the slack would be to buy gasoline refined abroad, which already provides 10 percent of America's gasoline supply. But even if 1.8 million gallons could be made available, it would come at a considerable premium.
The outlook for the winter heating season is bleaker still. Katrina has shut down 83 percent of the Gulf's natural gas output, and no one is sure when it will be restored. In a few weeks, most refineries are supposed to convert to heating-oil production, but reduced capacity will mean lower supplies for the winter in Connecticut and other northern states. Price increases already are occurring.
That one storm could be so disruptive speaks volumes about the country's horribly out-of-whack energy policy. But while Americans in the coming days are paying through the nose for gasoline and cursing out the politicians and the greens, they also should kick themselves in the fanny as a reminder of their complicity. After all, they put up with this environmental nonsense for these many years even as they demanded and consumed more and more gasoline and heating oil, and passively permitted or otherwise contributed to the irresponsible constriction of America's energy pipeline.
You mean it isn't Haliburton's fault???
Wow, you mean liberals were lying all along?
I'm not religious....but A-M-E-N.
I went to the gas station this morning and prices were as follows:
regular $2.89
plus $2.99
super $3.09
Upon driving by the gas station about 1/2 hour ago prices were as follows:
regular $3.09
plus $3.19
super $3.29
In less than 8 hours the prices have risen.....I'm afraid to drive by there tomorrow!
Probably the best editorial page in the country...do you have any info on who these guys are?
I paid 2;53 to fill up yesterday afternoon. This morning it was 2.73 when taking my dog to the vet, it was 2.73. On the way back from the vet, 45 minutes later, it was 3.09.
Preach it!! AMEN!
Same thing here in south central PA. Absolutely ridiculous!
Spot on article.
I checked with my propane supplier this morning. I told him I knew things were going crazy - he said his company was not. Tank will be filled sometime in September at $1.59 per gallon (pre-season discounted rate).
Why hasn't the President issued an immediate lowering of the national speed limit to 55mph, to be reviewed on a month to month basis?
That would slow everyone down to 65mph instead of the 70-80 they're doing now. Announce it through television, radio, print, and all the Amber Alert signs across the nation. As usual the government is going to be a day late and a barrel short.
I hope that this gets people to start talking about building more nuclear plants. It works in Europe - it's cheap and safer than anything else.
Thanks for always posting stories from the Rep-Am. Great paper. Makes me homesick as I am a Beacon Falls native :)
I read it every day,. Even their local news has a conservative flavor.
http://www.rep-am.com/
Maybe I should subscribe. They sound like perhaps the best paper in CT.
I will be making a 320 mile trip tomorrow, I will try to drive 55-60. Hard to do with Indiana speed limit of 70mph.
I wish the Republican party (after this disaster is brought under control) would go straight to the American people and tell them.
That alternate scources of power are decades away and if American are tired of this chaos then they need to tell their Congress people and if they won't respond they need to elect different people who will.
We need to be building refinerys and nucleur power plants, we need to be drilling for gas and oil where ever its available including the California and Florida coasts and ANWR.
The Republican party needs to drive this home, people know its true and they will respond I believe........
I drive the Pennsylvania Turnpike to work in the Philly suburbs. The posted speed limit is 65. I normally drive 75 and am doing the average speed and still have a lot of cars passing me. I drove 65 today and hardly got passed.
I think lots of people are realizing the need to slow down and conserve gas right now - not just to save money but to help alleviate the crisis.
I would subscribe to the print edition but I am in Illinois and the news would be a day or two late by the time it got to me.
Amen to that!
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