Analysis Of The Torrance Refinery With 25 Safety Violations

As the pace of shale gas drilling has accelerated in recent years, so have environmental concerns. Incidents such as a 2007 home explosion in Bainbridge, OH, the 2008 groundwater contamination on Wind River Indian Reservation in Pavilion, WY, and the 2008 chemical poisoning of an emergency room nurse in Durango, CO, have intensified the debate over regulation of fracking.10 As a result, new laws regulating fracking activities have

Meanwhile, leading officials and shareholders have been attempting to push against Exxon’s misleading statements, and two Harvard researchers have recently proven that Exxon was deliberately attempting to deceive the public with the wording of their advertising and public statements. They say that while Exxon Mobil has attempted to frame itself in a positive light by contributing to climate change research, they are ultimately causing the worst kind of damage by continuing to publicly promote unscientific thinking which could negatively sway future policy making in the United States and other countries. The beliefs held by the people working against Exxon Mobil are essentially environmentalist, if more about wise use than deep ecology- they believe that the public, in particular shareholders, have a right to know about the ethics of what they might be investing in so they might choose more environmentally sound options when it’s logical and beneficial both for themselves and the

Developed countries extract and refine fossil fuels in third world countries or in other localities through fracking and deep water drilling that will have no direct effect on the people benefiting from them. Poorer communities in the US commonly located near fracking sites have high rates of cancer and unsafe drinking water, but due to the lobbying power of fossil fuel corporations, government agencies turn a blind eye through a pay-to-pollute system. Corporations net more money paying the fines for pollution and purchasing dumping permits than they would if they chose not to conduct operations. Royal Dutch Shell’s irresponsible drilling operations in the Niger Delta have left local communities with completely polluted rivers, killing fish and polluting a clean source of drinking water as well as dramatically decreasing life expectancy. “Shell and the other oil companies operating there are still not doing enough to either prevent spills, or clean them up” (Dummett 2015). The complete lack of corporate social responsibility is an integral feature of our economic model, where affluent cities and suburban communities excessively consume and create waste at the expense of the less

Exxon has agreed to pay $2.5 million to civil penalty and spend nearly $300 million just on pollution control technology along the Gulf Coast. Also along with the Trump Administration. Since this Tuesday, it is supposed to prevent tons of future pollution including benzene, which is a leading cause to cancer. Within ten years, Exxon violated the CAA by releasing harmful pollution in the air in five plants in Texas and three in Louisiana. They claim to fix their problem and pay attention to benzene outside of the plants. U.S officials said it will cut emissions of those toxic pollutants like benzene to $1,500 tons a year. Denver- based PDC Energy Inc will spend up to $20 million on upgrading equipment and pay to the civil penalty about $2.5

BP positively anticipated that with their new, tested equipment, there would less likely be a huge environmental effect. In the actual plan of the oil drilling, BP states that in case a spill would occur, “Currents and microbial degradation would remove the oil from the water column or dilute the constituents to background levels” (Naomi Klein 4). Therefore, BP falsely predicted that the ocean would just clean up the mess itself. The warrant that the BP Corporation had failed to plan any immediate actions in case of a phenomenon, like the Gulf Coast oil spill, is indeed true. When the Deepwater oil rig ruptured, BP was nowhere in sight. Even one of BP’s spokesman stated: “I don't think anybody foresaw the circumstance that we're faced with now” (Naomi Klein 4). BP was wrong in believing that earth would easily comply with such technological advances. Similar to BP, most of the top oil companies refrained from proper preparations; spending thirty nine billion on new provisions for oil and gas, and only twenty million on research for safety and prevention. The lack of investments on important procedures and precautions clearly has affected the amount of damage caused to our

The mechanic reported there were several issues on the rig and there were months of the drill kicking due to resistance and high gas pressures (Washburn & McClatchy Newspapers, 2010). A stuck pipe was at the drilling site, and the plug was taken out of the well. There were concerns in regards to the safety of employees, inadequate equipment, and the reliability of the rig. The perception of the safety of the rig was misconceived due to data being interested inaccurately by employees. There was damage done to the blowout preventor months before the explosion. Workers were responsible for maintaining the rig and evaluating the safety of the rig. There were sparks on the vessel, and the lights flickered before strong vibrations. Employees report hearing a thud and then an explosion followed shortly after. As a result of the blast, seals were blown, and barriers exploded. There were less than five minutes to spare between the explosion and evacuation. It was suggested the ignition source released gas and the air intakes were exhausted as the main generators emitted hot gas (McGill & Schwartz, 2010). The explosion could have resulted due to high pressures caused by the hot gas emitted. The pressure test was not assessed or interpreted accurately, the company's neglected signs of the pipe, and recommendations were ignored by BP. There was a hole in the cement, there were not

The EPA’s fracking study is another example of how government regulations hamper the performance of the economy. There should be measures in place to regulate clean and efficient ways to run businesses, however, when looking at the bigger picture, I feel that the cost of running a clean and efficient operation should not take precedence over the condition of the economy and our way of life. The EPA’s 5-year study on hydraulic fracturing on groundwater contamination appeared to be a beneficial plan to alleviate water contamination, but as I have found from reading through multiple articles in the class resources, there is cost when one side is benefiting from a situation. The fact that it took 5 years and $30 million dollars for the EPA to develop a risk assessment did strike me as odd. Personally, if I was being paid millions of dollars to conduct a study on water contamination, I would prolong the study for as long as I could as well. Expenses like these are not the only reason why the U.S. is in debt, but it certainly doesn’t help the state of the economy either. On the other hand, even though the EPA may be costly

During the years, BP has had major occurrences in which their workers have been hurt or even not survived, triggering tremendous damage to the environment too. Primarily accidents started to happen during March 2005, when Texas City refinery experienced a chain of explosions slaying 15 and injuring 170 individuals. Another happening occurred during 2010 in form of an oil spill as some parts that the company was using on the oil rig, failed. The spill took 87 days, releasing 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. This leak had a huge effect on the area’s wildlife. Numerous animals killed and their homes ruined.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection recently fined a drilling company after methane gas leaked from a drilling operation and seeped into nearby residential wells (“Marcellus Shale”). This is not a common occurrence; the problem of methane gas migrating into ground water is a very serious problem. You can not drink water, shower or wash clothes with water that has been contaminated with methane. There is documented proof, including video that actually shows water from a kitchen faucet being ignited into flames with a lighter, the water containing enough methane gas to become flammable. Property owners that sold land rights to gas companies are now second guessing their decisions and suffering the dilemma of tainted ground water and well water.

As anything there is always a decision having to be made, but in the petroleum industry, decision-making can be very convoluted. Reason being is because in the past couple of years a considerable amount of approaches to fix things have arisen. Said by Review, “The difference between a good decision and a bad one can be the difference between success and disaster, profit and loss, or even life and death.” Before making any critical choices always be sure to have a strategic plan that will follow though to the best end result. As some observations have shown, is that the choice of oil and gas relates to prices as well as cash flow in this industry. A key factor for companies is strategically making wise choices on what oil, gas and companies to make investments in.

Three hundred million, five-hundred thousand dollars would pay for the tuition of around 5,207 students at Texas Christian University. That is around half of TCU's estimated 10,000 student population. ("Schools and Colleges"). The major oil company, Exxon Mobil, will use that much money in response to their factory pollution. Exxon Mobil is one of the big firms that dominates the gasoline industry in the United States. Further, the gasoline industry is an example of an oligopoly, a market with the presence of few dominant firms. This essay will explain Exxon Mobil's pollution case with the United States, Exxon's response to the setback of the recent hurricane in Texas, and how both of these current events connect to the topics covered in the Microeconomics course.

The world has been affected by many environmental disasters, these events have impacted many of our ecosystems including the lives of many species, as well as human life. Because of past events, economists have learned from mistakes to continue to work on an improved environmental life as well as looking for solutions to improve it. The Deepwater Horizon spill, better knows as the “BP Oil Spill” was an eighty seven oil spill effecting the entire Gulf of Mexico. The oil spill which occurred in 2010 is still the largest accidental oil spill in the history of petroleum industry (CNN). Economists are still working to this day to diminish the severity of the oil spill, and the long-lasting problems that have came with it. Since then prevention became the key component solution to prevent accidental oil pollution. With over 4.2 million barrels being spilled into the Gulf, environmental disasters such as the oil spill make citizens aware of the costliness of the environment that plays hand in hand with an environmental luxury such as oil. The explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico and the subsequent oil spill led us to review our marine pollution control policy and to plan ahead to stay prepared for any events that happen in the future. By doing this, oil companies will provide a correct means to strategize, compensate, and prevent oil spills and economical damage that follows.

The EPA 's national Petroleum Refinery Initiative addresses air emissions from the Nation 's petroleum refineries. Since March 2000, the Agency has entered into 32 settlements (Consent Decrees) with U.S. companies that refine over 90 percent of the Nation 's petroleum refining capacity. These settlements cover 109 refineries in 32 states and territories, and on full implementation will result in annual emissions reductions of more than 93,000 tons of nitrogen oxides and more than 256,000 tons of sulfur dioxide.

Although majority of the future growth of natural gas production is expected to come from the Marcellus shale in the northeastern of the United States, HVHF improvement of oil fields in the western United States (Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, Utah and North Dakota) has been arising over the last 15 years [United States Energy Information Administration, 2010, 2012] 6. Thoughtful of the oil and gas workforce problems in the western region of the country, can inform future initiatives, strategies and regulations that help and improve the health and safety of oil and gas workers throughout the US.

The IEA is calling for an energy supply investment of $ 1 Trillion per year through 2030. The ensuing supply crunch may further raise the oil prices and threaten economic recovery. In recognition to this dilemma, some countries have introduced fiscal incentives to prop up key industry players. Brazil’s national development bank, committed over US $10 Billion to state –controlled oil producer Petrobras. This followed a similar investment by Mexico’s government in its oil producer, Permex, to fund the construction of new refinery.