OPINION:
Energy Secretary Granholm recently complained that the refineries and oil companies are not building enough inventory. The response across the board was that she was babbling or did not understand the oil industry, but in this case, she knew what she was talking about: a major problem that is going to hit in December and affects millions of Americans. The Biden administration does not want this to get out because it is yet another disaster that it caused.
Granholm was referring to the disaster in the diesel-fuel and heating-oil markets. In June there were widely reported warnings from the oil industry that the U.S. could run out of diesel fuel by August. The problem was directly due to a decision by the Biden Environmental Protection Agency to deny new air permits to four refineries that had just completed major overhauls, including upgraded emissions systems.
The requirement to apply for a new or amended permits is pretty routine, and when there are real upgrades these are quickly approved — but not this time. All four were denied the permits. Two were major diesel and heating-oil producers that remain offline. As a result, U.S. refineries have been running, on average, at 96% of theoretical capacity.
The Biden administration issued an order to the refineries under emergency presidential powers that diverted heating-oil production to diesel to address the threat of stranded trucks. However, the price was the loss of four to five months of heating-oil production — and the order is still in place. Tens of millions of Americans do not realize they are faced with the real threat of running out of heating oil in January and not being able to buy any it at any price.
Strangely, the Republicans seem to also have missed this admission and its significance.
JAMES BARENDS
Wayne, Pennsylvania
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