[in the Arena]

I'm not sure what building a refinery in Phoenix or anywhere in AZ would accomplish.

The crude still has to be transported to the refinery via pipeline or truck...same situation as the refined gas...and the cost of refined gas from crude brought into the state would be higher...you don't get 1 gallon of refined gas from one gallon of crude.

Places where the oil reservoirs are located or where there is an ocean port are where refineries should be located.

In addition, I believe that a refinery would produce emissions that would not fly with the enviro weenies in this state.

Increasing refined fuel storage here in AZ would be a cleaner/cheaper alternative to building a refinery.

As far as the effectiveness of Butch, she chose a typical Democrat response and blamed someone else. She blamed Kinder Morgan for not having a emergency backup plan in place...last time I looked Kinder Morgan was a pipeline company responsible for operating their business in a safe manner, the government is responsible for state emergencies.

You're right about the light rail line...Phoenix is just not designed for mass transit.

[HiJinx]

And I wasn't thinking too clearly in my first response, I was just picking up on earlier comments in other threads.

I've had some education re: energy and geography, and I knew that about refineries. You can make some valid parallels, I think, between petroleum distribution and electricity distribution. Although expensive in the short term (acquisition), redundant or alternative distro facilities end up saving your bacon when the proverbial defecation hits the rotary air circulator.

Sometimes the ROI (return-on-investment) comes in terms of goodwill instead of dollars and cents.