Job Killer Kowalko defends Markell in Valero Closing and blasts Copeland for Criticism
Nov 23rd, 2009 by David Anderson
Read the entire letter at DL. This is almost too easy. It seems more like a good riddance letter. The problem with these companies is that they want to make a profit according to our favorite Rep. Job Killer AKA John Kowalko. These guys are scared of their own breath (CO2). The RGG that is being pushed by them is insane. Rep. Job Killer led the fight to push more needless regulations on the refineries. Even though he did not get all he wanted, he created an unfavorable environment that was noticed when they looked at whether or not to invest in upgrading this inefficient plant. Yet in his mind, the problem is not the ridiculous regulation. It is that companies want a profit and will eventually close down money losers or be closed down themselves. Their solution to that is regulate and tax until the companies can’t take it. Then subsidize and rescue until you can’t take it. Wouldn’t it be better just to leave everyone alone as much as possible? We should ensure that health and safety are cared for. We should not let environmental cost shifting happen, but we should not be trying to regulate non poluntants like CO2.
That is my view. I await yours.
A little dollop of truth for Charlie, Valero was excluded from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative recently enacted. Although contributing a disproportionate amount of Carbon Dioxide releases from their energy generating plant they begged for the exemption,threatening organized labor with layoffs, lobbying that the costs passed through to the consumer would be unbearable. So not willing to risk that substantial negative economic impact I struck my amendment to include the refinery (as it should have been) although I voted against the RGGI initiative because of that and other reasons. I am not particularly proud that I succumbed to fear-mongering tactics.
Now the next chapter unfolded. The refinery shut down its pollution spewing Coker under the guise of cost savings and continued to run the facility with little regard to routine maintenance as long as gasoline was topping $4gal. This ill considered attitude soon had its negative impact and they experienced a major unscheduled shutdown. None of this was a result of over regulation, interference by environmental constrictions or provoked by the Democratic Administration of Gov. Markell or the newly acquired majority in the House.
The last owner in the half-dozen or so transitions that I personally experienced that had a preventative maintenance and legitimate quality control program in place with the monetary commitment to its success was the Motiva owners. The grueling process of refining oil and the toll it takes on men and equipment cannot maintain the pace to satisfy the thirst for profit if you exclude the costs of proper and safe maintenance of that equipment and your workforce.
The refinery was never in safer hands than when it was 100% unionized. When different owners would compare the profit loss margin of the Delaware City Refinery with their other facilities they would present a bottom line (ignoring the higher operational expenses of a facility capable of refining dirty/sour crude) and not including the massive losses of life and destruction that would too often occur in their non-union Port Arthur Texas plant or any of their other non-union Louisiana/Southwest facilities.
Political cheap shots from the usual suspects. Valero has overall market problems that have nothing to do with Delaware.
I didn’t change a word. Is it a cheap shot to quote someone in context?
The response to the Valero plant closing typifies what is wrong in America today. We’ve ceased to be Americans and have drawn up sides based on ideology. The right wingnuts blame the left without any type of due diligence. The left wingnuts blame the right in the same manner. Although no fan of John Kowalko, he is more right than wrong on this issue. Successive owners have bled the plant dry with just enough reinvestment to keep it going. Given the depressed petroleum market, no one will invest the necessary capital to make the plant viable. There is nothing that either a Republican or Democrat administration in Dover could have done to put off this eventuality. I am a capitalist, and with capitalism I understand that the weak get culled from the flock. Whether those laid off workers are union or nonunion, Democrats or Republicans, they are just pawns in this game and need to be supported. It’s time to work for the good of our state and nation and stop the grandstanding. Is it going to take another 9/11 to make that happen?
Sure, the problem had existed for years. With 70 plus dollar oil, it was making it until we started to change the regulatory environment. Policy has consequences. My point is that more will come as we go this insane course. The point of this post is the anti business attitude and lack of understanding of economic impact of government action. Unsurprisingly, the critics are arguing a point not even raised.
I will let Charlie Copeland defend his own point. He is more than able.
The simple fact is that there are functioning refineries 20 minutes from Delaware City in Marcus Hook and Lower Chichester Pa. They are up to date and have been modernized and expanded capacity without expanding the footprints of the plants. (Most are surrounded by residential neighborhoods) what is the difference? They aren’t in Delaware.
The difference is not just the state in which the reside, they refine different types of oil that are refined. Exactly how much acid should the plant be allowed to discharge into the river and air before it isn’t worth it to have them here?
The plant has had their way with the state for years, from exclusion from RGGI, to weak enforcement, to the lightering tax. Should the state have spent their precious tax dollars to modernize the plant or is that on the company?
Now that they can no longer threaten to shut down we should finally force them to pay for cleanup. Valero may yet provide jobs on that site.
“The difference is not just the state in which the reside, they refine different types of oil that are refined. Exactly how much acid should the plant be allowed to discharge into the river and air before it isn’t worth it to have them here?
The plant has had their way with the state for years, from exclusion from RGGI, to weak enforcement, to the lightering tax. Should the state have spent their precious tax dollars to modernize the plant or is that on the company?”
Typical liberal response filled with half lies and full lies. Charlie Copeland has already dealt with your RGGI argument on his website.
The problem of allowing a reputable refiner, that the State scared off into Pa., to change the technology and footprint of this facility is well documented. Motiva and Valero are not the corporate citizens I would prefer to Shell. Our Democrat Administrations have said to Hell with Shell for decades. We are now paying the price.