This is huge
It is and bizaare as well. I researched this quite extensively at lunch time and the upshot of this is that 27 of 27 Texas refineries which supply 26% of the nation’s fuel are essentially operating without any permits whatsoever and the EPA has said that’s “O.K.” for now. What actually happened, as I understood it from several news sources, is they upended the TNRCC (Texas Resource Commision) authority to grant permits and “killed” the permits previously granted by the TNRCC. Now.....here’s the kicker.........all of these refineries will have to do the Spring Turnaround where they essentially shut the refinery down for routine maintenance and to tweak the process to turn out the “summer” gasoline blend. But.....once they’re down; can they or will they be allowed to come back on without a permit?
I dunno, but gas is $3.00 a gallon now.......we could be facing far higher prices in the Spring and Summer of 2011.
As I said last week: this would be a perfect place to start the attack on ALL the over-reaching that the Commerce Clause bullshit interpretation has caused. Bring States’ Rights to the forefront, and confront the “As Written” limitations on Federal Government power. We have DECADES of takeovers to un-do.
most states..especially southern border states would be better off going back to territory status and completely dump all eco-KOOK regs and unfunded fed.mandates.
I’m sure compliance with the EPA regulations will require some hugely expensive equipment. Does anyone know who manufactures this equipment? Could it be General Electric? It seems like everything Obama does is designed to help GE and/or the unions!