Insufficient Refining Capabilities

Domestic petroleum refining capacity has not kept pace with U.S. demand. The last refinery built in the United States was completed in 1976; before the first personal computers were on the market and the Department of Energy was established.  Over the past 30 years, increases in capacity have lagged demand growth, and led to ever increasing deficits of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.  We compensate for those deficits by depending more heavily on foreign oil and refined products.  Many foreign refineries that send products to the U.S., lack even the most basic environmental controls, in effect, we are outsourcing the ability to pollute.

All refineries currently operating in the United States are 30 - 100+ years old. Even refineries that have been expanded generally do not incorporate modern, state-of-the-art technologies and processes that make them more environmentally responsible or energy efficient.

Many U.S. refineries today are geared towards refining light-to-medium crude slates.  However, the world is more rapidly exhausting its supply of light crude (vs. heavier grades) due to the fact that it is the easiest and historically the most cost effective crude to produce and refine.  Future crude oil production, especially from Canada, requires sophisticated, deep-conversion refineries to process.

Existing refinery sites – many in environmental “non attainment” areas already suffering from excess air pollution – cannot be easily scaled to meet consumer demand or today's EPA standards for air quality.

Our existing refinery sites are concentrated in coastal areas and are susceptible to natural disasters as evidence by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005.

Hurricane Rita threatens nearly 30% of the U.S. refining capacity in 2005.