Free Republic

in a major policy reversal, Carson .. no longer supports subsidies for any industry, including U.S. ethanol producers ... Plainly irritated, the ethanol industry shot back immediately, saying it receives no government subsidies. But it neglected to mention a very important fact. Instead of subsidies, ethanol producers get something better: a mandate that orders refiners to blend ethanol into motor fuels which forces consumers to buy their product. A federally guaranteed market beats a subsidy every time. The ethanol industry also benefits indirectly from agriculture programs that support farmers who grow corn for ethanol ... In attempt to push more...

The groundbreaking of a $1.85 billion Chinese investment for a Louisiana chemical plant is slated for Friday with London-based Amec Foster Wheeler newly signed on for engineering services and more. China’s Shandong Yuhuang Chemical Co. formed the Yuhuang Chemical Inc. in Houston last year to develop the large methanol plant in Louisiana’s St. James Parish, which is between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. Methanol is primarily used to make other commercial chemicals. The project is part of the massive growth of petrochemical projects in Texas and Louisiana as companies seek to take advantage of cheap natural gas feedstocks coming from...

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Shell Oil Co. has chosen a site near Pittsburgh for a major, multi-billion-dollar petrochemical refinery that could create thousands of construction jobs and provide a huge economic boost to the region. Dan Carlson, Shell's General Manager of New Business Development, said Thursday that the company signed a land option agreement with Horsehead Corp. to evaluate a site near Monaca, about 35 miles northwest of Pittsburgh. The so-called ethane cracking, or cracker, plant would convert ethane from bountiful Marcellus Shale natural gas liquids into more profitable chemicals such as ethylene, which are then used to produce everything from...

...The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will impose a stricter nationwide limit on ozone, or smog, next month, requiring further pollution cuts from vehicles and industries just as Houston complies for the first time with the current standard, set in 1997. Thanks to cleanup efforts, favorable weather conditions and a slumping economy that reduced emissions-producing business and transportation, Houston will achieve the standard of 84 parts per billion, or 84 molecules of ozone for every billion molecules of air, by the thinnest of margins this year. But the new limit, lowered on the basis of more recent medical evidence, will be...

You don’t have to be a conspiracy buff to think the recent spate of incidents at BP facilities was maybe a little much to comfortably call coincidence. The FBI’s not going near that, but did confirm it was conducting what it called routine investigations of the incidents. Bureau officials said there was no evidence or indication that any of the incidents might involve deliberate acts, and that such probes had become routine since the 9/11 terrorist attacks. BP’s Texas City oil refinery and a subsidiary’s chemical plant at Chocolate Bayou have been at the center of six large incidents in...

The scramble for Africa's oil and gas reserves continues. US, European and Asian companies have been flocking to the capitals of Algeria, Libya, Nigeria, Angola, Egypt and even Sudan in recent months. Yet the battle for energy resources on the African continent still appears to be in its early stages. Leading oil sector analysts have warned of growing conflict between Western and Asian countries as they seek to outbid each other for key hydrocarbon assets in Africa. These forecasts have been largely based on the expectation that China will become the major player in nontraditional oil and gas producing regions...

FREEPORT — Port officials are looking into reports that al-Qaeda scouts may have sojourned into Freeport before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. A story in the May 26 issue of Newsweek reported that in March 2001, the scouts came to Texas to “case a major port in Freeport, Texas,” as well as look at President Bush’s ranch in Crawford. The information came from the FBI, according to the story. “We’re seeing what that might mean,” said Pete Reixach, executive director of Port Freeport. “We’re trying to qualify the language in this article with the FBI and Homeland Security offices.”...

FREEPORT -- A security guard at a BASF Corp. chemical plant was shot in the shoulder after he approached a suspicious truck and talked to a man who said he had been taking pictures, authorities said. The guard's name was not released, but Freeport police said he was doing well at a Brazosport hospital following the Friday night shooting. The guard told police the gunman had bushy hair and a mustache and was was driving a white pickup with tinted windows and a black stripe. BASF spokeswoman Sharon Rogers said there was no indication the shooting was linked to terrorism....

A BASF security guard shot in the shoulder Friday night called a televised news conference Monday to deny the wound was self-inflicted. Robbie House, 43, of Angleton, appeared on television Monday saying FBI agents accused him of shooting himself. House, who was released from Brazosport Memorial Hospital on Monday, could not be reached for comment. Charles Johnson, the Houston attorney representing House, did not return calls seeking comment Monday night. FBI spokesman Bob Dogium said the agency has to explore every avenue. “God bless him, he can say whatever he wants to say,” Dogium said. “Is that what’s going on...

WASHINGTON – While FBI officials were dismissing terrorism in the shooting of a security guard at a chemical plant in Texas just hours after they were summoned to investigate, they weren't nearly so skeptical about the possibility last year. Robbie House, an unarmed security guard at the BASF plant in Freeport says he was shot by a Middle Eastern gunman after confronting him near an ammonia storage facility last week. Now House says the FBI doesn't believe his story and suggests he shot himself. Off the record, some law enforcement officials say they believe House's story and think he may...

FREEPORT — Police were looking for a man Friday night who they said shot a BASF security guard at the perimeter of the plant near FM 1495 and Highway 36. Freeport Police Chief Henrietta Gonzalez said the guard approached a suspicious truck about 9:20 p.m. and the man inside said he had been taking pictures. He then shot the guard in the shoulder area, Gonzalez said. “He was shot at point-blank range,” said Detective Sgt. Sue Dietrich. “You could see the powder burns.” Police did not release the guard’s name, but said he was doing well at Brazosport Memorial...