Projected Losses include 36,618 jobs and $566 Million in Tax Revenue
Contact: Lynne Hancock, USW, o) 615-831-6782, c) 615-828-6169, lhancock@usw.org
Pittsburgh—A new economic impact study from the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry estimates greater job and tax revenue loss from the shutdown of three Philadelphia-area refineries than the United Steelworkers (USW) originally estimated.
Information from the reports appeared in Kathleen E. Carey’s article in the Sunday, March 11, 2012 edition of The Delaware County Daily Times. The article was titled, “Report: Sunoco, ConocoPhillips job losses could reach 36,000 in $560M economic hit for region.”
The department’s Center for Workforce Information & Analysis determined that 36,618 jobs were in jeopardy because of the closures of the ConocoPhillips Trainer, Pa., and Sunoco Marcus Hook, Pa., refineries and the soon-to-be-closed Sunoco Philadelphia refinery.
The study estimated that 18.3 jobs will be lost for each layoff in an oil refinery. These are jobs that are tied indirectly to the refineries such as service jobs and jobs in companies that supply the refineries.
“This situation is worse than we thought,” said Local 10-1 President Jim Savage. “Other studies told us that for every direct refinery job lost another eight to 10 workers lose their indirect jobs. These job figures make it more crucial than ever that ConocoPhillips and Sunoco put more effort into finding buyers for these refineries.”
The Center for Workforce Information & Analysis also published re-employment assessment reports that said 39 percent of the ConocoPhillips workforce, 156 workers, would have a fair to difficult time getting a new job. For Sunoco Marcus Hook employees, 42 percent or 250 workers, face the same difficulty in obtaining employment.
“It’s a tough job market out there,” said Local 10-901 President Dave Miller. “Our members are struggling to find jobs and it doesn’t help that they’ll be competing against thousands of other workers who also will be thrown out of work because of the shutdowns. Many don’t want to leave this area to find work because they feel an allegiance to their local communities.”
The center also determined that local communities would lose more than $566 million in state and local taxes if the three refineries are permanently closed.
“Combine these alarming statistics with the fuel supply shortages and price hikes that are anticipated and we have a critical situation in the Northeast,” said Local 10-234 President Denis Stephano. “The time is now for the government to act. Our country can’t afford these shutdowns.”
USW represents about 1,200 of the 2,200 employees at the three refineries.
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Showing posts with label us refiners. Show all posts
Showing posts with label us refiners. Show all posts
Monday, March 19, 2012
Monday, February 27, 2012
Intelligent Design or Natural Selection you decide on Keystone XL (New & Improved)
TransCanada Corp said on Monday it will build the southern leg of its $7 billion Keystone XL oil pipeline first.
Building the portion of the contentious pipeline that would run to Texas refineries from the Cushing, Oklahoma, storage hub before the northern section would help remove a pinch-point that has led to deep price discounts for U.S. and Canadian crude and forced refiners to rely more heavily on imports.
TransCanada said it wants the $2.3 billion southern leg in service by mid- to late 2013. It said construction would create 4,000 U.S. jobs.
The company also wrote to the U.S. State Department on Monday detailing plans to refile an application shortly for the remainder of line running to Steele City, Nebraska, from the Canada-U.S. border.
Monday, October 17, 2011
While US Refineries Close; Costing Americans good paying jobs; The Pentagon pays Dictators for Fuel that could be sourced from Pennsylvania (home of the Liberty Bell)!!! Now that's Patriotism (just whose??)
Officially, the U.S. does not pay other governments for rights to military bases. The logic is straightforward: funneling money to the treasuries of foreign dictators cannot form the foundation of genuine strategic alliances. Yet, to fight wars in Iraq and Afghanistan while staring down the mullahs in Iran, over the last decade the Pentagon has come to rely in an unprecedented way on a web of bases across the Middle East. And a NEWSWEEK investigation of Pentagon contracting practices in Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, and Bahrain has uncovered more than $14 billion paid mostly in sole-source contracts to companies controlled by ruling families across the Persian Gulf. The revelation raises a fundamental question: are U.S. taxpayer dollars enriching the ruling potentates of friendly regimes just as the youthful protesters and the Arab Spring have brought a new push for democracy across the region?
Take a look at Abu Dhabi. The wealthiest of the United Arab Emirates, it hosts a U.S. Air Force base at Al Dhafra, which is a vital refueling hub in the region. As is the case in most Gulf states, Abu Dhabi is ruled by a single family that dominates both government and business. Here it is the Nahyan family, and the emir is 63-year-old Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who is known for his interest in camel racing, is worth $15 billion, and controls the country’s national oil company, ADNOC. As it turns out, every drop of fuel America buys for its planes at Al Dhafra—more than 200 million gallons a year, costing $5.2 billion since 2005—is purchased from the Al Nahyan–-controlled ADNOC. Estimates are that the US Military paid $2 billion more than it would have cost to source the fuel from American Refineries!!!
Yet, according to contract documents, that money has bypassed the competitive bidding process that is supposed to accompany any -purchase—of firearms, flak jackets, or fuel—by the Pentagon.
In Abu Dhabi, “we may be essentially buying our presence,” says Alexander Cooley, a professor at Barnard College who studies U.S. basing strategy. The U.S. regularly pays rents to foreign landowners, but those payments are separate from base rights, which are government-to-government agreements.
Nearly three decades ago, after a spree of spending scandals—there was a $436 hammer and a toilet seat that cost $640—Congress passed the 1984 Competition in Contracting Act requiring competitive bidding. The principle is simple: competition drives down prices and increases quality. According to Charles Tiefer, a member of the federal Commission on Wartime Contracting, “The law mandates competition with very limited exceptions.”
Abu Dhabi has exploited one of those exemptions brilliantly. Five years ago, at the height of the Iraq War, an American fuel contractor based in Florida called IOTC challenged a $500 million sole-source contract teed up for ADNOC. The award “must be open to full competition,” a contract lawyer, Ronald Uscher, wrote in a protest letter to the federal Government Accountability Office. The Pentagon fought back, citing what it said was U.A.E. law, but IOTC’s lawyer says the military “was unable to produce any such law or decree.”
Internal Pentagon emails obtained by NEWSWEEK under the Freedom of Information Act show confusion even inside the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), which handles procurement for the military. After a colonel questioned the sole-source process with ADNOC in 2008, the acting division chief of the agency responded, “Basically, it’s the only company we are allowed to source fuel from as per the local gov’t.” Later, a U.S. contracting officer asked, “Is there any documentation or history” about the Abu Dhabi law? Even the U.S. Embassy in Abu Dhabi said that it could not actually find a copy of the law. Only a few months later, the Pentagon issued another $918 million sole-source contract to ADNOC. In Tiefer’s estimation, “you are turning the keys to the treasury over to the sheikdom.”
Take a look at Abu Dhabi. The wealthiest of the United Arab Emirates, it hosts a U.S. Air Force base at Al Dhafra, which is a vital refueling hub in the region. As is the case in most Gulf states, Abu Dhabi is ruled by a single family that dominates both government and business. Here it is the Nahyan family, and the emir is 63-year-old Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who is known for his interest in camel racing, is worth $15 billion, and controls the country’s national oil company, ADNOC. As it turns out, every drop of fuel America buys for its planes at Al Dhafra—more than 200 million gallons a year, costing $5.2 billion since 2005—is purchased from the Al Nahyan–-controlled ADNOC. Estimates are that the US Military paid $2 billion more than it would have cost to source the fuel from American Refineries!!!
Yet, according to contract documents, that money has bypassed the competitive bidding process that is supposed to accompany any -purchase—of firearms, flak jackets, or fuel—by the Pentagon.
In Abu Dhabi, “we may be essentially buying our presence,” says Alexander Cooley, a professor at Barnard College who studies U.S. basing strategy. The U.S. regularly pays rents to foreign landowners, but those payments are separate from base rights, which are government-to-government agreements.
Nearly three decades ago, after a spree of spending scandals—there was a $436 hammer and a toilet seat that cost $640—Congress passed the 1984 Competition in Contracting Act requiring competitive bidding. The principle is simple: competition drives down prices and increases quality. According to Charles Tiefer, a member of the federal Commission on Wartime Contracting, “The law mandates competition with very limited exceptions.”
Abu Dhabi has exploited one of those exemptions brilliantly. Five years ago, at the height of the Iraq War, an American fuel contractor based in Florida called IOTC challenged a $500 million sole-source contract teed up for ADNOC. The award “must be open to full competition,” a contract lawyer, Ronald Uscher, wrote in a protest letter to the federal Government Accountability Office. The Pentagon fought back, citing what it said was U.A.E. law, but IOTC’s lawyer says the military “was unable to produce any such law or decree.”
Internal Pentagon emails obtained by NEWSWEEK under the Freedom of Information Act show confusion even inside the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), which handles procurement for the military. After a colonel questioned the sole-source process with ADNOC in 2008, the acting division chief of the agency responded, “Basically, it’s the only company we are allowed to source fuel from as per the local gov’t.” Later, a U.S. contracting officer asked, “Is there any documentation or history” about the Abu Dhabi law? Even the U.S. Embassy in Abu Dhabi said that it could not actually find a copy of the law. Only a few months later, the Pentagon issued another $918 million sole-source contract to ADNOC. In Tiefer’s estimation, “you are turning the keys to the treasury over to the sheikdom.”
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