Man Caught Photographing Refinery in Texas

Fox News Channel ^ | 12/30/01 | Self

[The_Media_never_lie]

This morning on Fox News there was a report of a middle eastern man being noticed by an off duty policeman photographing a Diamond Shamrock oil refinery in Texas. The man was apprehended by law enforcement. When questioned, he did not come up with any logical explanation for his photographing the refinery. The Fox video report showed the man in custody. The report also showed his late model car which was found to contain only maps of undisclosed locations.

[Cultural Jihad]

Demidog: Will you encourage people to go about the country taking photos of refineries and nuclear power stations to secure the rights of foreigners to plan subversion and sabotage? After all, isn't plotting terrorism just a 1st Amendment free speech issue?

[3catsanadog]

Dude, I wanna PSI tester!

[a_witness]

What has he been charged with? Last I knew, taking a picture isn't illegal.

Unless he is an American citizen, interrogate (including truth drugs or torture if necessary) and then decide what to charge him with in a military tribunal.

[kassie]

LOL. The Goonies had a scene with an Asian dad and son and their cameras .When the group was rescued, the dad was busy trying to take pictures of his son. :)

[A CA Guy]

What I make of this is that he had no clue how good he had it in the USA before he pulled this sh!t.

Boiling water enema will reveal his plot. Boil away!

[3catsanadog]

There always is a truism behind a stereotype.

[SpookBrat]

You poor guy. I feel bad for you. Just die your hair blonde, and you should be ok, insallah. LOL (wish I had a Turkish alphabet key board)

[is_is]

So, at the least, don't try anything in Texas,

With the exception of Southeast Texas (the refinery capitol of the world...almost). S.E. Texas went overwelmingly Gore...Clinton.....always votes Democratic....union refinery workers.....

Maybe i should relocate.... LOL

[BOBTHENAILER]

Somebody call the ACLU before this poor gent gets mistreated by our Police.

[SpookBrat]

I think we should sit back and wait for the film to be developed.

[DeaconRed]

Yes I always take photos of Oil refineries, etc.
Hell offer him a job as an airport screener. He will be as good as anybody else there.

[Nita Nupress]

As far as I know, there are two Diamond Shamrock refineries in Texas, as well as their hydrocarbon storage facility in Mont Belvieu.  If my memory serves me correctly, the oil from our strategic oil reserves that Bill Clinton was selling last year came from the Mont Belvieu underground salt dome facility.

From the Diamond Shamrock website:

 

Situated in the heart of the Texas panhandle, McKee is the largest refinery located between the Gulf Coast and the West Coast and is recognized as one of the industry's most efficient refineries. The modern refinery, with a crude rated throughput capacity of 140,000 barrels per day supplies the Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas markets with high value products, including gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel.

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Located between San Antonio and Corpus Christi, Texas, the Three Rivers refinery is strategically located to supply gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel to South and Central Texas markets and to Mexico. Because of its configuration and location, the refinery is finding it advantageous to process larger volumes of high quality, light sweet crudes now being produced in Colombia.

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Mont Belvieu Operations

Salt Dome Storage

Ultramar Diamond Shamrock's hydrocarbon storage facilities located at Mont Belvieu, Texas, are in the heart of the nation's light hydrocarbon collection, fractionation and distribution networks. The Mont Belvieu salt dome facilities serve the nation's leading petroleum and petrochemical area as a hub for storage and distribution of hydrocarbons.

 

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More on the Mont Belvieu storage facility:

http://www.hydrocarbonprocessing.com/archive/archive_01-10/01-10_online_informer.html

The storage facilities consist of 30 salt dome storage caverns with a total permitted capacity of 77 million barrels. The facilities provide storage services for mixed natural gas liquids, ethane, propane, butanes, natural gasoline and olefins, such as ethylene, polymer-grade propylene, chemical-grade propylene and refinery-grade propylene. The caverns are located in Mont Belvieu, Texas, and serve the largest petrochemical and refinery complex in the U. S.

[DWSUWF]

"...< sarcasm>They package one with the Improvised Munitions and Incendiary Manuals that Bin Laden is distributing. Might save you some money if you buy the package deal!< /sarcasm>..."

I live near a modest sized city that happens to have a corporate HQ located in it.

There've been persistent rumors that, within days of 9-11, a carload of 'Middle-Eastern' types stopped in the middle of a street downtown and began taking both video and still shots of the 10 to 20 story buildings on either side of the street.

These stories smack of hysteria, but who knows?

As jealous of my freedom as I am, and as aware as I am that my freedom and the other guy's freedom are intertwined, I say that we ought to recognize the common sense value of at least some 'profiling' of Middle Easterners. (at least until it can be demonstrated that we've got an equally big problem with Irish, Chinese or Nigerian terrorists)

[kassie]

Great idea! Wonder if they confiscated it??

[SpookBrat]

I'm sure they did confiscate it. Hurry home. Texas is lonesome without you. :)

[jbstrick]

I live in a small town with a large refinery (200,000 BPD Capacity - Running at 90% capacity). I question the security at the facility.

It is kind of scary considering that there is a a tank farm with a 5.3 million barrel storage capacity and a 300,000 barrel liquid petroleum gas cavern on site

[RnMomof7]

This is consistant with earlier stories of mid eastern men taking photos of important buildings and facilities

[FITZ]

Yes, if the IRA declares war on the USA and destroys our buildings and kills our citizens, I'd certainly be on the look out for people with Irish brogues who were acting weird. And in a time we are in some kind of war, anyone taking pictures of refineries and other places is suspicious.

[Jefferson Adams]

I think our law enforcement resources could be more wisely used.

I think the right to keep and bear arms could be more wisely used, i.e. the prez should have been telling us since 9-1-1 that armed citizens need to be extremely vigilant in the days to come. And he (and other "leaders") should be encouraging the masses to get themselves armed and trained, in order to protect our country.

Unless, of course, our "leaders" have a different agenda.

[Clive]

They were not just seeking rig driving licences.

They were also seeking HAZMAT licences.