Josh Zepnick
Press Release

Rep. Zepnick: Calls for Federal Investigation of BP’s Oil Refinery

Calls on Department of Energy to aid in getting refinery up and running

By - Aug 14th, 2015 01:50 pm

Madison, WI— Representative Josh Zepnick, the most senior member on the Assembly Committee on Energy and Utilities, today called on the Federal Government to do all in its power to ensure refineries operate at optimal capacity:

“At time when the cost of a barrel of oil is at its lowest in several years, Wisconsinites are faced with huge spikes in gas prices at home.  The federal government should immediately investigate the problems with this refinery shutdown, and work to ensure that other refineries are inspected and not in danger of shutting down.  Our citizens should not be gauged at the pump, all because a screw is loose in one refinery.

“If another refinery goes down, prices could continue to rise.  Further, the federal government and the State Department of Justice should ensure that price gouging is not happening during this outage.  Our citizens deserve nothing less.”

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.

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5 thoughts on “Rep. Zepnick: Calls for Federal Investigation of BP’s Oil Refinery”

  1. Terry Ott says:

    So … the company would not want to work all out to get its full refining capacity back on line — unless of course the Federal Govt leans on them?

    What a knight in shining armor Rep Zepnick is! The energy sector of the US economy is bringing about spectacular developments and improvements at all levels of its production processes. I’m sure Rep Zepnick has a lot to do with that.

  2. jack says:

    Analyze—-re-allocate excess profits—–Nationalize refining if they can’t/won’t clear their “problems”—this is a National Security issue

    —-the energy sector has pulled these stunts for years—-refineries let to rot for years with minimal upkeep and failure to invest—–take them out of this portion of the supply pipeline—–let the speculators play with barrels of crude only.

    What is Mr. Ott’s $$$$$$$ interest in this issue, and why the personal/political attack? full disclosure, please.

  3. Richard says:

    They are refining crude that, until now, they left in the ground in part because it is so corrosive and hard to handle. ‘Sour’, full of sulfur. The failure was in a heating unit. I’d guess it corroded because their efforts to neutralize the acid failed in some fashion. A few years ago they spent billions to refit this refinery to handle the sour crude. I do believe it’s an accident and not intentional. This is the 6th largest refinery in the world (Wikipedia) and the downed unit is the largest at the site.

  4. jack says:

    ….and with “billions” spent, they again gave no priority to automated redundancy? with the number of failures in the refining industry, they don’t get a basic essential save-your-butt concept incorporated into their ” business plan” ?

    Question their Priorities, maybe? Question their competence on bigger picture issues? Question leaving these decisions to the revolving-door politically connected?

    Private Industry blows it once again, with the National Security on the line?

    What kind of top-level management incompetence does this suggest?

    I’d say ” the National Security cannot afford this ” kind of incompetence.

  5. AG says:

    The oil/gas industry is an oligopoly and they are not motivated by the same market forces that most consumer businesses would be. They should be treated as and regulated like utility companies are. They hold all the power and these shutdowns give them a boost to overall profit while causing a lot of damage to our economy.

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