Posted by
Matthew on Monday, September 15, 2008 8:22:57 AM
The focus of the media regarding the aftermath of Hurricane Ike is, and should be, on the rescue and repair operations. Ike may not have been a killer anywhere near the extent of other historic storms, but my brother in central Illinois had flooding in his house and my mom lost some trees outside Cincinnati. This storm made a lot of noise for being Cat 2 at landfall.
We here in Atlanta are experiencing a different side effect. Over the weekend I saw long lines at gas stations, and increasing numbers on the signs in front of the stations. On my way to the gym and work this morning, I passed a dozen gas stations with gas nozzles wrapped in plastic, the universal sign for "no dice" at the pump. The pipeline that runs from the Houston shipping channel and across the Gulf states, the one which feeds our fuel fixes here, is shut down.
This happened when Rita went through a couple of years ago. She did what mighty Katrina could not do to the southeast and the eastern seaboard. We went on a starvation diet, though short-lived.
This brings up something I've been advocating for the last few years. I know this is impractical, that no one would approach this seriously...but that's never stopped me before.
The southeastern section of New Orleans should be levelled, and turned into a new refinery.
I have a family member who grew up there, who has as strong of an attachment to that bit of flood-prone bog as any. She has been back since Katrina; she knows it is not the same place it once was, and likely never will be. Should not be, is really more to the point.
The factors that make New Orleans' southeastern residential area such a likely target for devestation are largely the same factors that would make it near ideal for increasing our national refinery capacity.
Easy access to the navigable Mississippi could take some of the strain off the Houston refineries, and spread the risk over a much larger area in case of a weather tragedy. I don't know the exact course of the Colonial pipeline, but I know it is not far from NO. Connecting into that network would be a minimal cost relative to building in some area that is far from existing pipe. Floridans are now beginning to join the chant to allow off-shore - how much would transport risks be minimized if the refinery were just down the coast rather than across the gulf?
I understand that many have an attachment to homes in the area in question, and I would not encourage the government to force this action. I think it would be in the selfish interests of one of the majors in the oil industry to consider and pursue such a course.
It would be easy to dismiss the idea as the musings of another oil-addicted whiner. Or one could think about the implications of having so many of our energy eggs in one proverbial basket, and easily think through the national security implications of having a large section of the nation completely tied to one major source.