Well quit whining about it and do something about it. I fucking sold my gas guzzler, bought an fuel efficient car, moved closer to work and started ridding my bike to work. I save over $500 a month on auto/commuting expenses (if you also include my wifes commuting costs it's far more than $500/month), I've lost weight and gotten a lot fitter and I gain about an extra hour and a half each day for myself that I'm not stuck in a car going back and forth from work.
That's understandable though. My sister lives by a refinery. Thirty years ago it was like a death sentence. Highest cancer rate in the nation with an average life expectency of 57, mainly due to contamination from PAH's (primarily naphthalene) and aromatics (primarily benzene) that is until environmental standards we're implmented that made them significantly safer (though by no means safe) to live near. I'd be upset if I found out that a refinery was being built in my neighborhood too and hell I work for a petrochemical company. The are inherently dangerous facilities manufacturing inherently hazardous materials. I'd put it to you like this. It's significantly safer to live next to a permitted Part B Hazardous Waste Treatment facility than it is to live by a refinery.
You don't know what you're talking about and (I thought the day would never come when I would say this.) SF is right. We have not built new refineries because of the onerous cost of permitting and siting a new one due to political activism by NIMBY's.
Particularly when you ride your bicycle more miles than you drive your car. I can afford $10/gal gas cause I don't drive that much.
And I won't hold it against you that u r gay like superfreak. Not that there's anything wrong with thatParticularly when you ride your bicycle more miles than you drive your car. I can afford $10/gal gas cause I don't drive that much.
Restricting supply has had little to do with it. Nimby's on the other hand have had a great deal to do with it but one of the other big factors is capacity. For many years we had an excess of refining capacity in our nation and many refineries had abysmal returns and subsequently closed operations. With many of these older refineries grandfathered from permiting requirements like the New Source Review that refining capacity could be purchased literally at ten cents on the dollar. Why spend the estimated $10 to $20 million and 7 years on trying to obtain a new permit for a new facility when you can buy existing refining capacity at such a low cost? Several major refining companies built themselves from very small operations to some of our largest refining operations by purchasing excess refining capacity on the cheap. Valero and Tesoro for example.