"A Refinery Rescue Reconsidered"

 

The incredible people we’ve met out on the American Products American Power bus tour know that you’re not a hero for calling the doctor after deliberately breaking someone’s legs. But that’s what the Obama Administration effectively did by driving a refinery out of business with regulations and then calling in a rescue operation.

As we noted recently, the Sunoco refinery in Philadelphia, PA was facing certain closure due to the cost of regulations. Hundreds of jobs were on the line, not to mention the potential for increased pain at the pump at a time when gas prices have already broken record highs. Never missing an opportunity to intervene in the private economy, the Obama Administration stepped up to the plate and “rescued” the Sunoco refinery. The irony here is not lost on the people who have signed the American Products and Power bus and are standing up against the Obama administration’s war on affordable energy.

A recent editorial in the Philadelphia Inquirer, highlights the questions that weigh heavily on the minds of the hardworking Americans we have met on the bus tour: “But what about all the other refineries and companies that aren’t getting special deals and waivers? They still have to comply with the growing thicket of costly regulations that the administration continues to promulgate. It’s not just the cost of current regulations that plague these companies, but the uncertainty about what’s next.  What other regulations will the administration issue and at what these regulations cost? Will the administration decide to waive the rules for more politically connected competitors, leaving other firms at a disadvantage?”

While the regulatory threats to the refining industry are directly felt, the thousands of Americans we have met on the American Products American  Power bus tour also feel the pain from the rising cost of energy and the regulatory drain on the economy. The American Energy Alliance team met a small business owner and landscaper at NASCAR in Richmond, VA who noted that as fuel prices rise, he is forced to raise prices on his clients and consequently his business suffers.

For the sake of all Americans, we need energy policies allow production and manufacturing, not political maneuvers that pick and choose which businesses will be spared from the regulatory tidal wave coming out of Washington. Until then, small business owners and refinery workers alike will continue to suffer from the costly regulations on the energy industry.

Click here to join the thousands of Americans who have signed the petition in support of affordable energy and more sensible regulatory policies.

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