its crunch time, folks...

March 23, 2005 2:55 PM

texas city timewarp... ... and my friend charley lou rattled in her bayou vista home 5 short miles away.
posted by oigocosas (19 comments total)

I'd better go fill up the tank.
posted by c13 at 3:04 PM on March 23, 2005

of course, george bush has revealed that tomorrow's (and tomorrow's and tomorrow's) soaring fuel prices are the fault of these guys.
posted by oigocosas at 3:04 PM on March 23, 2005

For those that don't know, Texas City has blown up several times in the past. My family jokes about it everytime we pass by.
posted by puke & cry at 3:22 PM on March 23, 2005

of course, george bush has revealed that tomorrow's (and tomorrow's and tomorrow's) soaring fuel prices are the fault of these guys.
posted by oigocosas at 3:04 PM PST on March 23 [!]

Which ones, exactly, are you referring to? He seems to indicate:

(1) that the US doesn't have a comprehensive energy policy. Maybe that's his fault, maybe it's his + congress, maybe it's congress's fault. Either way, it seems true.

(2) that China and India are gulping down huge amounts of oil that they didn't use before and that's putting a strain on pumping capacity. As one might expect, when demand increases against an inflexible supply, prices go up. Seems pretty true as well.
posted by thedevildancedlightly at 3:38 PM on March 23, 2005

This is a truly lame FPP.
posted by Eekacat at 3:44 PM on March 23, 2005

Also, video from MSNBC. Click on the video link.
posted by thedevildancedlightly at 3:47 PM on March 23, 2005

Could this actually cause a crisis?
posted by NickDouglas at 4:16 PM on March 23, 2005

Could this actually cause a crisis?

Seems like US futures gas edged up a few cents, but the market is betting no. Given that Texas City explosions seem to be an annual event I'm going to guess that there's enough surplus refining in the Gulf states that it'll kick up prices at the pump there, but nowhere else.

My gut says that if another refinery goes offline then there might be legitimate shortages, but one in Texas (of all places) will just annoy Texans.
posted by thedevildancedlightly at 4:22 PM on March 23, 2005

What eekacat said. Sheesh. But a discussion on a rational energy policy might just salvage it. Over to you, Bob...
posted by docpops at 4:27 PM on March 23, 2005

Damn, didn't someone tell Bush that he already won the oil drilling boondongle in the Arctic? He didn't need to have this refinery all blowed up.

docpops, what's rational energy policy and where can I buy one?
posted by fenriq at 4:38 PM on March 23, 2005

Er, it might not mean a crisis, but I guarantee that prices will rise. Seems it doesn't take much to convince them to rise pump prices, even if it is price gouging.
posted by edgeways at 5:12 PM on March 23, 2005

ok, ok, not the painstakenly written and linked first post that i had hoped for... and i waited a while after getting the calls from my family and friends because, honestly, home with the 7 month old and the 2 yr old w an ear infection and 102 temp (imagine: stereo screaming and sobbing) i expected someone to post this. esp since the AP originally reported 460 MILLION BARRELS not the measly 460 THOUSAND the plant actually produces.

still, a more current discussion of our federal energy policy would be nice. and throw in the grist of www.fromthewilderness.com and certainly someone(s) can continue discussing the elephant(s) in the room that so many continue to ignore.

have at it. i'm back to the tots.

metafilter: rising temperatures, rising decibles. the personal, the political.
posted by oigocosas at 5:17 PM on March 23, 2005

heres a question:

what happens to the commodities mkts btwn the time AP reports the loss of MILLIONS of barrels of oil and when it amends this estimate to mere THOUSANDS?
posted by oigocosas at 5:48 PM on March 23, 2005

oigocosas, simple, some one in big oil makes big money
posted by Elim at 6:15 PM on March 23, 2005

WOW, this is an exceptionally lame FPP.

The least you could of done was found a link to a story about the 1947 explosion in Texas City. That one was so big that Pentagon planners used studies of it during the Cold War to extimate what would happen in an nucleur exchange:

http://www.chron.com/content/chronicle/metropolitan/txcity/

Sorry, I don't know how to do the fancy HTML as word links. I know, i suck.
posted by berek at 12:32 AM on March 24, 2005

The word on the street in Europe is that the lack of refining capacity in the US is driving our petrol prices up as American companys will pay more for the gas and we go short. Y'all stop that right now, y'hear?
posted by fshgrl at 4:10 AM on March 24, 2005

yeah, yeah berek, i was prepared for the flamin'
(see above post) but i knew you'd come through for me in the discussion.

mostly, the new kinder, gentler metafiter just let's a weak post die (like this one) instead folks competing to trash it.

oh, well...i'll try to redeem myself another time.

typing w one hand (the other barely containing a sqirming infant).

here's how to make your posts smoother:

put a [< ] before the [a] below and a [>] after the last [a] and youre in business. try it a few times and you'll figure it out.

a href="http://www.thewebsitehere.com">text label</a

Where [http://www.thewebsitehere.com] should be changed to the address of the website you are referring us to, and [text label] should be changed to the text you want us to see. Also, remember that Preview shows the post EXACTLY as it will appear, so you can take as many tries as you want to get it right.

i learned from doohickieeeeeeeeee. whoops, looks like some strained peas and rice got in the keyboard...
posted by oigocosas at 6:21 AM on March 24, 2005

A link to the 1947 explosion in Texas City.

UM, why did the strike through appear?
posted by berek at 12:00 PM on March 24, 2005

AAHH, sorry, thought I had it right, will try again:

A link to the 1947 explosion in
Texas City

WOO HOO! I figured it out! I suck a little less!
posted by berek at 12:05 PM on March 24, 2005