Ergon V.P. Speaks Out Against Cap & Trade

Ergon V.P. -Refining Neil Stanton was the guest speaker at yesterday's Chamber-of-Commerce September Luncheon. Introduced by Chamber Speaker's Chairman Paul Blevins, Mr. Stanton has been at the Ergon-West Virginia plant across the river in Congo since 1997. His main topic was the controversial legislation known as the "cap & trade" bill. It is currently going through the legislative process in Washington, D.C.

Apparently Mr. Stanton has been very busy with this legislation. He announced that he has twice traveled to our nation's capitol in recent months dealing with the bill. In this morning's ER there is a lengthy, comprehensive report of a recent press conference conducted by Mr. Stanton on the "cap & trade".

This bill has, not only refiners, but manufactures and other businesses across the country quite worried. House bill HR 2454 narrowly passed by a vote of 219 -212 in the House of Representatives. It is a voluminous 1300 page bill that was hastily put together just before that vote. It was noted that our U.S. Rep. Charlie Wilson was one of those 212 nay votes and with good reason.

According to Mr. Stanton the main goal of the bill is to reduce green house gases and dependence on foreign oil. As it is now written it will put many businesses out of work and only increase our dependence on foreign fuel producers because of the manufacturing cost advantages. Their fuel will be cheaper and American refined gas & diesel fuel will go up at least 20 to 30 cents per gallon. Companies such as Ergon would not be able to afford staying in business with the increased costs of producing fuel under the "cap & trade" requirements. Simply put it is too much too soon complying with all the restrictions put on them.

Ergon is a privately owned refinery business headquartered in Jackson, MS. In 1997 they bought the Quaker State refinery in Congo. Combined with their operations and the Shell Motor Oil division over there they employ nearly 500 people. Many of them are Wellsville area residents. Their annual payroll for just their Ohio resident employees is around $8 million. Between West Virginia & Ohio they pay close to $18 million a year in taxes. In 2008 they spent $250 million for Ohio produced crude oil alone. That does not include the $130 million spent on WV crude.

Mr. Stanton is a Struthers, OH, native and a graduate of Youngstown State with a degree in Chemical Engineering. He came to the facility 12 years ago when Ergon bought it. Before that he worked in Louisiana, Mississippi and New Jersey. He told us that replacing many of our energy sources with renewable energy would not work well in our region. With our climate conditions and location wind mills and solar energy have been scientifically proven to be the least effective in this region. A large portion of green house gases is carbon dioxide and 95% of that is produced by nature. Ergon takes great strides in their environmental responsibilities and meet or exceeds all EPA permit requirements. Since taking over the WV facility Mr. Stanton says that you rarely see that flame across the river anymore. That is a safety item that releases dangerous gases that use to light up the whole valley before they took over.

As written the "cap & trade" bill will be mostly ineffective and extremely costly creating huge bureaucracies to run it. It was hastily thrown together mostly by politicians. It needs to go back to the drawing boards and done right. Now is the time to contact our federal officials expressing your concerns.

ole nib