For those who keep mumbling that Biden’s to blame for gas prices because of dad-gum this and dad-gum that, including Erick Erickson and other right-wing attack dogs – I can’t bring myself to write pundit – this WaPo article on the refining industry may be a real eye-opener. First quote:
“I don’t think you are ever going to see a refinery built again in this country,” Chevron CEO Michael Wirth said in an interview with The Washington Post this month.
“It’s been 50 years since we built a new one,” Wirth said. “In a country where the policy environment is trying to reduce demand for these products, you are not going to find companies to put billions and billions of dollars into this.”
That’s a shocker. We – or at least I – never hear how much it costs to build and operate a refinery. And then there’s that thing called maintenance:
In the absence of any offers, LyondellBasell plans to shut its 700-acre operation on the Gulf Coast no later than the end of next year. Quitting the refining business, the company said in a statement, “is the best strategic and financial path forward.” The company did not comment on industry speculation that a fire that knocked part of its century-old Houston facility offline last week may push the closure date even sooner, as LyondellBasell faces the prospect of costly repairs.
The facility refines about 264,000 barrels of crude oil per day.
“These are aging physical plants where steel needs to be replaced, equipment needs to be overhauled, new pumps maybe needed,” said Ed Hirs, an energy economist at the University of Houston.
“Just getting the equipment you need could take three years….”
Even the pro-fossil fuel Trump Administration could not persuade the industry to keep refineries open. It’s not so much electric vehicles themselves as the ratio of profit to cost is so small, and the magnitude of cost is so large, as to render the equation existentially dangerous to the companies involved. Add in the cost of accidents, including their fiery, explosive nature:
A 38,000-pound fragment of the plant was hurled across the river by the explosion. Nobody was killed, but 3,271 pounds of highly toxic hydrofluoric acid leaked into the community.
And the entire refining industry is distinctly unappetizing. It leaves me actively wondering how solar and wind power compare for future maintenance and expansion. Wind is fairly easy, as putting up a windmill isn’t a new technology, and I don’t think there’s a great deal of toxic waste to worry about, once the blades are built. They do need a bit of grease, though, and regular maintenance. Too bad about your views, millionaires, but it’s this or lights out.
Solar I’m less certain. And nuclear has some immense costs which must be brought down.
That article is something of an eye-opener.
