This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
Valero And Motiva Louisiana Refineries Threatened With Flooding: "Before" And "After" Flood Pics
And while the open warfare between speculators and the administration, senators and exchanges continues, the gasoline fundamentals are poised to take another turn for the worse. As Reuters reports, "Valero Energy Corp's and Motiva Enterprises refineries in St. Charles Parish Louisiana, west of New Orleans, will be flooded if the Morganza Spillway is not opened, the St. Charles Parish emergency preparedness director said on Wednesday." Alas, the decision is not a simple one, and diverting the water from Louisiana, and attendant surge in gas prices once refining critical capacity is taken off line, would result in the flooding of Morgan City. From KFLY: "Officials say a decision on opening the
Morganza spillway could come soon. The Morganza Spillway is upriver
from Baton Rouge and could be opened today, or this weekend. The floodway pours into the Atchafalaya River, and on to the Gulf of Mexico. Right now, inmates are filling sandbags to protect properties that could
be damaged if the spillway is opened. If the Morganza spillway is
opened, Morgan City could see up to 20 feet of water. Mark Bernucho owns a fire and safety supply business across the street
from the 22-foot seawall, and he said it's the only thing keeping the
water away. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers installed water gauges
Wednesday, to monitor the rising river waters." So the administration is faced with another dilemma: not divert and potentially see a surge in gas prices, or divert, and risk flooding and be accused of pandering to the oil lobby, one short year after the same lobby was villainized for the biggest oil spill in history. The biggest loser, however, is all the real estate in proximity to the flooded Mississippi river.
For those who have not seen before and after pictures, see below:
Before:
After:
And an update from Earth Observatory:
The Mississippi River reached 47.87 feet (14.59 meters) in Memphis,
Tennessee, on May 10, 2011, according to the Advanced Hydrological
Prediction Service (AHPS)
of the U.S. National Weather Service. It was the highest water level for
Memphis since 1937, when the river reached 48.7 feet (14.8 meters).
Fortunately in 2011, an effective flood-control system helped save most
residents from harm, according to The Commercial Appeal.
The Thematic Mapper on Landsat 5 captured the top image on May 10,
2011, and the bottom image (showing non-flooded conditions) on April 21,
2010. Both images are natural color and show the area as it would look
to the human eye. In May 2011, muddy water has pushed over the
Mississippi’s banks both east and west of the normal river channel.
Flood waters span the distance between Memphis and West Memphis, and
also fill a floodplain extending to an industrial park northwest of
Treasure Island.
On May 7, authorities closed Mud Island River Park indefinitely due
to flooded service roads that prevented emergency responders from
reaching the park, The Daily News reported.
Although flooding has not yet caused major damage in Memphis, the
possibility of another rise on the Mississippi has not been ruled out,
and flood waters are expected to recede slowly. The AHPS projected that
the Mississippi River would remain at major flood stage until at least
May 15. The Commercial Appeal reported that two weeks might
pass before the river dropped enough to again absorb water from local
tributaries, which were currently rising.
The Mississippi River Basin is the third largest in the world, after the Amazon and Congo. Managing floods along the river has challenged engineers
for more than a century. As of May 10, 2011, the AHPS reported major
flooding along the Mississippi from Cairo, Illinois, to Baton Rouge,
Louisiana. Springtime flooding also plagued other parts of the
continental United States, including areas along the Red River and in New England.
»
- 10710 reads
- Printer-friendly version
- Send to friend
- advertisements -
Gas $1.41 /L in Toronto area.
CDN$1.41 per liter is US$5.34 x 1.04 exchange = CDN$5.55 for a US gallon (CDN$6.28 for a CDN/UK Gallon)
LOL
I'm guessing this will be bullish for agribusiness stocks.
Very bullish for corn futures, but then of course the CME might have to make some new rules.
I own a small amount of VLO, so I vote "Open 'er up and let it rip".
Chop - here's an interesting site for keeping tabs on gas prices..
http://www.gasbuddy.com/
we are $1.319/L here in Victoria
Is that the same Victoria that pumps their untreated sewage directly into the Strait of Juan de Fuca?
Yes that's the one! The Governemnt are now looking for proposals to address the situation. It's dragged on for decades but the heat they are now taking for not doing something is forcing the issue.
If flooding takes out a refinery... its because a speculator made it rain.
Or the rules weren't changed enough in Goldilocks favor to have Them intercede with God on Humanity's behalf.
What the fuck else you get paid for doing God's work?
I just don't see how floods and such can affect crude price.
We've got BANKS on the job. They just print some paper or something and set the prices to whatever they want.
Yep taking out the competition by flooding out all the river boat gambling houses. Casino mgnt 101
Those nasty speculators.
watcha gonna doo, watcha goonna dooo when Obama comes for youuuuuu
"refining critical capacity"...please. Now do some responsible reporting and publish a list of all the refineries that are closed due to lack of demand. I'm sorry, they are open, they are being used to store all the excessive product out there but the refining units are off.
This is exactly right. The margins in refining have been for shit, and with India and China flooding the market with refined products there have been a large number of US refineries that have either downscaled (See: HOVENSA) their capacity or shut down all together.
I love ZH, but "refining critical capacity" isn't even close to the truth in the refining industry.
The only thing profitable in the refinining industry are giant tank fields to store crude, and the terminal services.
The rest of the world doesn't have to deal with shit like OSHA and the EPA (See: Reliance Refinery Jamnagar, Gujarat, India). They're free to build and run enormous refineries with no regard to the workers safety, community health or the environment.
oh, yes, they're my idol. I wish we could have no regard for worker safety, community health, or the environment, too...
It's the difference between making money and losing money when you're refining.
Build more shit in flood plains.
"build it, and she will flood". No one heard the voices, though.
Wanna buy Some prime sub sea level real estate?
Good price for you my friend!
"It was not impossible to build Rapture at the bottom of the ocean;
It was impossible to build it anywhere else".
- Andrew Ryan
Thats right but Rapture didn't have insurance.
Nor was Rapture built without taking the environment in mind.
Don't build or buy land/home on a flood plain and expect your home or land to not flood.
Rivers don't care about your carpet nor should they.
i need to go finish that game...
I wish that whoever is playing SimPlanet™2011 with the Earth would lay off the disasters button for around 10 cycles or so!
Buzzard off a shitwagon.
The biggest loser, however, is all the real estate in proximity to the flooded Mississippi river.
The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Kinda like an Indian.
I am Chumbawamba.
NOAA has been predicting significantly above-average flooding for the entire river system since January, and the accuracy of their predictions has been uncanny since the February report. http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2011/20110218_floodoutlook.html
Given this information, I'm blown away when I hear people in the flood plain didn't purchase flood insurance. They had much more notice than the 30 day lock-out period. Are they not paying attention, or are they in such bad financial shape that they can't buy the insurance (but can afford to lose everything they own)?
Yes they are indeed accurate. Strange isn't it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjBJmUtA2xA&feature=watch_response
It does make some sense though. Look at the michigan one.
If you run haarp over this and liquify the soil to very deep levels it makes the earthquakes more intense. Maybe they respond to resonant frequencies better or maybe they respond to magnetics better. If water can diffuse out electricity then I wonder if it's diffusive to magenetics.
Lorca, Spain getting a "rare" bit of quake attention. . .
http://tinyurl.com/6exywgl
Ya. They tried to make that a prophecy for rome but they screwed up and hit spain instead.
LULZ. People in the ghost region love fucking with ya.
http://www.spacestationinfo.com/sun.htm
Ok you want us to allow an earthquake in rome so you can be prophetic sure thing boss.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPwrodxghrw
it's the Loyalty Islands / Fiji / NZ region I'm watching just now, lots of shaking in the 5.0 averages. . .
http://quakes.globalincidentmap.com/
full moon in scorpio tuesday 17th.
Will that full moon be good for planting plantains?
Some people swear by the full moon for plantain & banana corms planting...
OT: 5.3 Earthquake in Spain. Not too strong but apparently shallow.
Louisiana has not been fuKed quite enough yet.
Let's make sure her ass is not bleeding enough.
" It was the highest water level for Memphis since 1937, when the river reached 48.7 feet"
Back in 1937 , the whites left the blacks to die in the aftermath, was an ugly situation in that area at the height of what became a third wave of the Great Depression in the region, as a million people were left homeless after the floods. Memphis had more refugees than residents for something like two years afterwards.
"the whites left the blacks to die in the aftermath"
Why didn't the blacks leave too?
They still lived in conditions approaching slavery. The flood of '27 is often credited as the beginning of the 'great migration' North. In 1937 migration was rolling, but during the war it really took off. The effective phase of the Civil Rights movement started during the 1927 - 37 flood years.
"approaching slavery" 'great migration'
Was someone guarding them so they couldn't leave?
Are you seriously this dense? They were all niggers back then. Their options were somewhat limited.
I am Chumbawamba.
oh.
"Mission Unaccomplished !" ? Sama died, Bama lied ! Monedas is doing his part to ease the pressure on the besieged refineries ! His coin store, his ATM and his coin store's bank share the same parking lot ! I even keep $6 in a savings account in my coin store's bank so they don't charge me $5 to cash the coin store's checks ! I'm not so lean.....but I'm a green machine ! Monedas 2011 Ridin' the risin' tide of humour ! PS No ! I don't live in a Chevy Astro van in the same parking lot !
are the prisoners getting paid at least?
They get à discount on their rent this month
Their payment is not getting the guards' boot up their asses. ALL inmates ought to be doing this kind of work instead of pumping iron and their cellie's butthole 24/7. If I was running the prisons then they would be out on the road picking up loose trash, painting government buildings and doing anything else that needed to be done for the common good. I'd slap an unbreakable GPS tracker on their ankle and have 2 or 3 armed guards for a 50 man chain gang cool hand luke style. Prison would be known as a place where you do NOT want to go if I was running shit. I still to this day don't understand why nobody has instituted this kind of penal system. Just the arrested drunken illegal aliens alone would perpetually keep the grounds clean and the buildings maintained for every municipality.
I still to this day don't understand why nobody has instituted this kind of penal system.
There are business interests which see prisoner labor as unfair competition and work to prevent it from happening.
on the other hand, there are business interests that lobby for more prisoners, so they can squeeze a few more bucks out of you and me...
Totally, as if subsidies aren't enough, now the oil companies can get free governement labor.
Surely you meant union interests.....
Probably them too, sure, but it's madness to be so blinded by lib/con nonsense that you can't think clearly about this stuff.
If you run a lawn-care business that has a shot at a contract to take care of a specific section of the state highway, or school grounds, or whatever, you don't want prisoners doing it for free.
Businesses can't compete with free labor. Union or not, the problem is the same.
If I was running the prisons I'd have you working the tart line after the real men come home for the day fresh off the chain gang and need some release.
If prison were actually for punishing people and rehabilitating them and not just for shaking down poor people and providing cheap labor for corporations, then you might have a point.
I am Chumbawamba.
Would you work to help those who want you dead?
In the old days folk would jess tell ya "Fuck you white boy." I's sorta old myself . . .
And where THE fuck is noah when you need him?!?!?!?!?
Drunk bastard...
He Must be sleeping it of against...
Noah is busy getting out of the flood plain. Parting water is no longer done as water vs Noah 526bc proved that water has a right to property. Water can own its self and Noah had no right to harm waters right to exist or travel.
Noah paid water in gold thats why all followers of Noah are asked for donations to this day.
+100
They're going to have to open morganza anyway. There's no choice here.
NWS has river at 65 feet in BR on Saturday. Too high. Can't let water go overtop the levee.
Yep. Once the COE has high enough water to cover their asses, they'll flood out the coon-asses down the Atchafalaya. Hmm? Oil & gas getting crushed. My captain friend in New Orleans says things are getting treacherous on ole man river which will reduce marine traffic. Lower supply of oil barges and ships on the river+ volatile middle east + potential refinery flooding = oil & gasoline trading lower in a ponzi economy.
Anyone in the basin that doesnt have their house stilts deserves what they get. Then again, even since I moved, I still keep an axe in my attic.
Email from one of our plant managers said SW terrebone parrish should get 5 feet. Corps will open Morganza on saturday
A house on stilts or on a barge or the choupiques will be taking refuge in your living room. They said that on radio before Katrina hit. If you stay home, you had better have an axe with you to escape.
A house on stilts or on a barge or the choupiques will be taking refuge in your living room. They said that on radio before Katrina hit. If you stay home, you had better have an axe with you to escape.
Gasoline futures utterly destroyed today.
That means when the floodwaters subside, gasoline prices could really start crashing.
Proof positive that "Paper" rules over "Physical."
Don't fool with Uncle Gorilla....
+1 Robot but you forgot physical folks don't care what the price is in FRN's because they are betting on the day when the FRN dies or the world ends, something that will allow them to use their glocks.
Apparently the only time they really care to discuss the price in FRN's is when they are paying 10 FRN's over spot for silver on Ebay and they think it's a deal and they think it means their is a shortage of silver.
I just talked to UCSF they are willing to sponsor me for a PhD on the psychology of the let's get physical crowd. I will give you some props in my dissertation. LOL.
Oh no we are going to get head shrunk.
We are so psycholologically weaks that we can'ts defends ourselves from the massive rhetorik lying headshrinkers.
i think ms creant lives in tennessee, hope she found some shelter.
not to belittle this potential, it rained here all night and this morning. the most beautiful of days with rain and some snow. we were blessed by mother nature to clean our souls.
Look on the bright side - there is another excuse that can be rolled out if some rubberry figures don't beat the freaking Street.
Mana from Heaven really
The floodwaters rose alarmingly and looters had to be "rescued on sight" from rooftops by National Guard helicopters ! ........ I sold a couple of Pt Nobles the other day and had to deposit it directly in my checking account to cover a hot check to Kitco and one to Apmex ! I was behind a debit card carrying welfare Mama ! She checked her balance with the cashier......$1800 ! I thought, "It's like the government gives her the equivalent of two Pt Nobles every month !" ? I had to scrimp and save and wait twenty years to cash in my Nobles ! Life ain't fair ! Monedas 2011 Ol' man River Comedy Tour
Reality vs. Illusion, the movie.
Mother Nature is a cruel, vindictive bitch and she wins every time. Humans are rather slow to accept that fact.
Man, Mother Nature is really pissed lately.
Must have been margin called on her commodities.