Major Oil Refinery To Close In US Virgin Islands

[SarasotaRepub]

Sad story, the closing will probably do major economic damage to the island.

And then a "OWS" moron shows up...

Thu Jan 19, 2012, 01:07 PM
greytdemocrat

Major Oil Refinery To Close In US Virgin Islands

Last edited Thu Jan 19, 2012, 01:15 PM USA/ET

Man, this is going to hurt a lot of people.


ST. CROIX, U.S. Virgin Islands (AP) — One of the world's largest oil refineries will close next month, the company announced Wednesday, stunning nearly 2,000 workers and threatening to upend the reeling economy of the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Industry analysts said the closure is unlikely to have a major effect on the global oil market, but Gov. John de Jongh described the loss of the territory's largest private employer as "a complete body blow" for the U.S. territory of about 108,000 people.




http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...ryId=145389479

Response to greytdemocrat (Original post)
Thu Jan 19, 2012, 03:14 PM

angel823(153 posts)
4. wonderful place, St. Croix


Been there many times.

My father worked at Hovensa during the late 90s, early 00s. He and my mom lived in St. Croix, sometimes in the Hovensa compound (after hurricanes for example) and at other times in rented homes on the island.

I loved that I could call the island "home" for awhile, and visit often. It's a beautiful place, with many wonderful people. The Hovensa jobs, and the downstream jobs it generated will be sorely missed.

Angel in Texas

OK...

Response to angel823 (Reply #4)
Thu Jan 19, 2012, 03:49 PM
KamaAina

7. What happens to the compound?


Anyone up for "Occupying" it after the workers leave?

Occupy a Oil Refinery...

[Starbuck]

Hard to believe a refinery can't be operated at a profit there.

But a while back I posted a story about how refineries are closing and moving to Mexico. Cheap labor. No EPA. The usual.

http://www.conservativeunderground.c...ght=Refineries

[Janice]

We lived on St Croix for a few years a while back when my hubby worked for Hess there. I noticed in the story:

• "The closure reflects a three-year trend across the U.S. of refineries closing because of the global financial crisis, a drop in gasoline consumption and a shift in growth elsewhere, Gheit said.
  
  "They cannot compete with the modern refineries being built in India, China and the Middle East," he said."

Of course they cant compete ... esp with this regimes new EPA mandates. And this:

• "He warned that local fuel prices will likely rise while the government looks for other suppliers and said officials are asking the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to ease sulfur content restrictions so they can quickly contract a new supplier. >>> In January, Hovensa entered into a consent decree with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Justice Department in which the company agreed to invest $700 million on pollution controls after a series of chemical releases affected people living downwind from the refinery. Hovensa also agreed to pay a $5.4 million penalty for violating the Clean Air Act."

I love the Virgin Islands but aside from the 0bama Regime, they have one of the most corrupt and the most liberal governmental systems you could imagine being a US territory. The nepotism and cronyism is unmatched. I can well imagine all the top officials down there having their "hands in the cookie jar" bleeding this refinery to death every chance it/ they got. Something that might ordinarily take $100 to fix will take $10,000 to fix in order to "grease all the palms" of the greedy local and regional officials. Year after year, decade after decade .. this all continues to pile up. The EPA was most likely the straw that broke the camels back. (Seeing as how they (the EPA) are always looking for (our) backs to break.)

[Artois]

Hard to believe a refinery can't be operated at a profit there.

But a while back I posted a story about how refineries are closing and moving to Mexico. Cheap labor. No EPA. The usual.

It's a half century old refinery trying to compete with modern new refineries in a low margin business, that's also using what is now a non-ideal natural resource, oil instead of nat gas. It's like the American steel mils from 1890-1920, when they were trying to compete with modern and new mills overseas. Even if the labor was free, they still can't compete.

[SarasotaRepub]

We lived on St Croix for a few years a while back when my hubby worked for Hess there. I noticed in the story

I worked for Hess for a year at the Corp. HQ in Woodbridge, NJ.

Almost got a chance to go work at the St Croix facility when a worker strike happened but it didn't pan out.

[Janice]

It's a half century old refinery trying to compete with modern new refineries ...

And they havent been allowed to upgrade or build new refineries here for more than thirty years.

Hey, I got an idea ... lets kill the golden goose. Oh wait. Silly me ... thats what the left has been up to for the last 50 years. :(

[Janice]

I worked for Hess for a year at the Corp. HQ in Woodbridge, NJ.

Almost got a chance to go work at the St Croix facility when a worker strike happened but it didn't pan out.

Nice place to visit. Esp in teh wnter.

[Novaheart]

We lived on St Croix for a few years a while back when my hubby worked for Hess there. I noticed in the story:

• "The closure reflects a three-year trend across the U.S. of refineries closing because of the global financial crisis, a drop in gasoline consumption and a shift in growth elsewhere, Gheit said.
  
  "They cannot compete with the modern refineries being built in India, China and the Middle East," he said."

Of course they cant compete ... esp with this regimes new EPA mandates. And this:

• "He warned that local fuel prices will likely rise while the government looks for other suppliers and said officials are asking the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to ease sulfur content restrictions so they can quickly contract a new supplier. >>> In January, Hovensa entered into a consent decree with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Justice Department in which the company agreed to invest $700 million on pollution controls after a series of chemical releases affected people living downwind from the refinery. Hovensa also agreed to pay a $5.4 million penalty for violating the Clean Air Act."

I love the Virgin Islands but aside from the 0bama Regime, they have one of the most corrupt and the most liberal governmental systems you could imagine being a US territory. The nepotism and cronyism is unmatched. I can well imagine all the top officials down there having their "hands in the cookie jar" bleeding this refinery to death every chance it/ they got. Something that might ordinarily take $100 to fix will take $10,000 to fix in order to "grease all the palms" of the greedy local and regional officials. Year after year, decade after decade .. this all continues to pile up. The EPA was most likely the straw that broke the camels back. (Seeing as how they (the EPA) are always looking for (our) backs to break.)

I thought the Hess refinery closed decades ago.

[NJCardFan]

The funny thing is that the left are going to be the first to whine when gas starts running at $5 a gallon. They don't want us to drill for our own, don't want the oil Canada is begging us to take with this pipeline, don't want any new refineries, yet will cry because gas is through the roof. Can someone help me make sense of this?

[Novaheart]

The funny thing is that the left are going to be the first to whine when gas starts running at $5 a gallon. They don't want us to drill for our own, don't want the oil Canada is begging us to take with this pipeline, don't want any new refineries, yet will cry because gas is through the roof. Can someone help me make sense of this?

This is where the broadbrush has to be retired for smaller brushes.

The energy idiots, those who oppose "carbon fuels" , as well as the environmental impact of hydro, solar, wind, and nuclear, are not "the left". They are the left's left, the so-called Progressives who live in cramped quarters in San Francisco and ride busses everywhere, considering themselves to be superior to us suburbanites. I kept telling those folks that San Francisco had been over for decades, since I left town as a matter of fact, and that their studio apartment Top Ramen and Vodka existence was a cliché. And what did they do? Did they learn from my wisdom? No, they banned me from DU. For that and calling Islam a cancer, saying that sex-change surgery is mutilation, saying that the schools aren't underfunded, etc...