It’s a Line Up

Blog #608

I was watching one of those old TV shows the other day, one of the police serials from the 70’s. (If you ask why, it’s because the current TV shows aren’t worth watching.) Anyway, a perp was caught, and an eyewitness was brought into the room to pick the perp out of a line up. It was the usual scene, the perp was young the witness old and she kept on adjusting the angle of her glasses.

I’m more than a little shocked that the clean earth freaks (that’s what my parents called them in the 60’s) aren’t up in arms protesting in DC and Tampa and elsewhere. I read an article over a year ago and found another mention in Yahoo News today, about the line up headed our way. Yes, at this moment there is a lineup of 48 oil tankers headed to the Gulf for gulf oil ports.

No, no, no, don’t get the wrong picture. The oil tankers are EMPTY! They are on the way to PURCHASE crude oil. We have been selling crude for years. The government tells us not be concerned because we purchase a lot more crude oil than we sell. With the current crude oil economy, where Russia is no longer selling as much and the OPEC countries are cutting back production the demand for our oil is increasing! Not bad. Wait, why not bad? Why should I trust the statement from the government NOT to worry? It would seem that if we kept our own crude we would buy less from other countries.

Well, here’s the kicker and what all of you clean air enthusiasts should be screaming about. What we are selling is SWEET crude, that’s the BEST stuff. What we keep and process is HEAVY crude, that’s the junkie stuff. Heavy crude has the higher (or highest) sulfur content which after processing and then being burnt produces the dirtiest air. The sweet crude produces a cleaner exhaust.

The excuse given is that the U.S. Refiners are “geared” to refine heavy crude. Why wouldn’t refiners be able to modify the production software to be compatible with sweet crude? I’m thinking less wear and tear on equipment which should be cost savings.

We need to have a lineup of government officials and company CEO’s that send out BEST product to other countries, they’re the REAL perpetrators.