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12 states sue EPA on refinery carbon emissions

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Rearden_Steel

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"NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York and 11 other states are suing federal environmental regulators over greenhouse gas emissions from oil refineries, the New York attorney general's office said on Monday."

Apparently these twelve states have way too many jobs not to mention ridiculously cheap gas prices.

I wonder why these states don't regulate themselves? I wonder if its because their politicians don't want to take responsibility from the disastrous outcome. I'm sure the safety and well being of polar bears is well worth the economic hit though.

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I wonder what the other 11 states are. Salt Lake City has tons of oil refineries. I have the honor of driving directly in front of one every day. They are such a beautiful thing to see at night - all lit up like a christmas tree with a giant torch burning high in the air :D

Edited by KevinDW78
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I used to drive by one that was quite smelly when I lived in the LA area. (I would have been afraid to light a match near it for fear of becoming a giant torch myself.) Never saw it at night though.

All wisecrackery aside, the lack of refineries is probably the biggest bottlneck in our gasoline supply--not crude oil supplies. These idiots trying to sue are either incredibly stupid or incredibly vicious, or both.

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I wonder what the other 11 states are.

The other states are listed on the second page of the article:

"The other states and cities in the suit were California, Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington, as well as the District of Columbia and the City of New York."

These ignorant man hating bastards just want to shut down our industrial infrastructure, and that is becoming more and more naked hatred for industry as time goes on. You know, for a state like California, who's residents just love the automobile, you would think that they would connected the dots and realize their entire life-style is being threatened by these environmentalists. Sometimes, I don't know what it is going to take for them to wake up; are cars going to have to be banned on CA freeways before people realize the regulators don't want them to live?

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I found this article in the WSJ about a ruling from the US Court of Appeals about state Environmental regulations.

“The decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit could lead to higher compliance costs and give states, local authorities and environmentalists more data that could be used to prosecute polluters, environmentalists said.”

Just wait until Obama is in the White House and he appoints a bunch of radical eviro-Nazis into the EPA.

Edited by Rearden_Steel
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They are such a beautiful thing to see at night - all lit up like a Christmas tree with a giant torch burning high in the air :)

You should see the Texas gulf coast at night. Texas City, Pasadena and Galena Park are all right on Galveston Bay and the refineries look like one giant city at night. Then, just off the shore, you can see the sparkling lights of the gas and oil rigs. On the east end of Galveston Island, you can actually watch huge tanker ships bearing names/registries from all over the world going in and out of the Houston Ship Channel. It's an incredible sight of human ingenuity.

refinerylq4.jpg

Best pic I could find, but from Galveston looking back at the Texas coast, it's really amazing looking.

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Although I have to admit - I have never been sure what all those lights are FOR on refineries. Anyone know? I'f you've never seen one at night, you may not understand what I am referring to. The left part of the photo above sorta shows it - but when you see one in person, it's even more than that.

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Although I have to admit - I have never been sure what all those lights are FOR on refineries.

I'm not an expert, but I would imagine it's simply for visibility. They operate 24/7 and can be a dangerous place to work. There are ladders and elevated walk ways everywhere, and men climb all over them. I would imagine some lights at the very top are for aircraft (as with radio towers, tall buildings and such.)

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Must be. I have never actually seen people on them at night even though I drive by them constantly and always look. I'm not an expert either. All I can imagine them doing is walking by all night long, "Is this gauge reading normal? Yup... [climbs to another walkway] Is this gauge reading normal? Yup." :pimp:

Edited by KevinDW78
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Although I have to admit - I have never been sure what all those lights are FOR on refineries. Anyone know? If you've never seen one at night, you may not understand what I am referring to. The left part of the photo above sorta shows it - but when you see one in person, it's even more than that.

I used to work at a major chemical plant, and those lights are for what you would expect them to be for -- to see at night :pimp:

They are beautiful, though, especially just before sunrise or just after sunset when the sky is a deep purplish blue color. I wanted to take photos of the plant I worked at, but it was not permitted because of proprietary concerns. Too bad, because I had access to some great angles!

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Yeah I figured. I guess what I was always puzzled about is - what are they doing that they need to be all over it on a constant basis? I mean, don't the pipes and what not just sit there and work? Is maintenance that constant in a refinery that they are fixing things 24/7?

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Well, no new refineries have been built in 20 years, or something like that, so yeah, they need lots of maintenance/repairs. And thanks to anti-trust, refineries are not allowed to communicate with each other about when they'll be offline, so if more than once closes at a time for maintenance, it can cause gas prices to rise. Nice, huh?

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They may not have built new ones, but I am pleased to say that one of the refineries I drive by every day has recently been expanding and increasing its production capacity with new thingy-dingies! (Sorry that's as specific as I can get lol. The boiler looking towers and two new storage tanks) It's nice to see.

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Yeah I figured. I guess what I was always puzzled about is - what are they doing that they need to be all over it on a constant basis? I mean, don't the pipes and what not just sit there and work? Is maintenance that constant in a refinery that they are fixing things 24/7?

No, it is not as simple as putting crude oil in one end and getting gasoline, kerosene, and jet fuel out the other. Even with modern methods of computer monitored and computer controlled processes, someone needs to be out there 24/7 to make sure it is doing what it is supposed to be doing. Sometimes, sensors just don't work or give a false signal, primarily due to the corrosive atmosphere, and if somebody isn't baby sitting it, it can blow up. We had a lot of problems at the plant I worked at, as it was one of the first major industrial plants of its kind to use computers operating the plant. A sensor might say that the container is empty, so the control room operator would keep a valve open trying to fill the tank up, when the tank is actually overflowing all over the place! Having eyes and ears in the field right next to equipment picks up things one cannot otherwise pick up, like maybe a pump is running rough, indicating it is about to break; or that a pipe is leaking and is about to rip itself apart.

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