Bad news for Californians who drive. All of you — gas, electric, whatever.
An explosion Monday night at Chevron’s refinery in Richmond, Calif. — the 13th-largest refinery in the U.S. — knocked a significant chunk of the facility offline. And, sure enough, the Aug. 7 fire quickly resulted in a gas-price hike.
The average price of regular gasoline jumped in California from $3.86 a gallon on Tuesday to $3.94 on Thursday, according to the website GasBuddy.com. …
The Richmond refinery produces 16 percent of the region’s daily gasoline supply. The fire knocked out a unit that makes a specialized blend of cleaner burning gasoline that satisfies air quality laws in California, Oregon and Washington.
Aha! It’s because they were trying to make the gasoline “cleaner.” If they hadn’t done that, everything would be OK. Once again, green technology fails.
So, experts, when can Californians expect production to return to normal?
“It’ll depend on Chevron getting their facility repaired,” said Patrick DeHaan of GasBuddy.com.
Got it.
Meanwhile, southern California is experiencing record heat, which is funny because they never shut up about how great and temperate their weather is. All winter, southern Californians call everyone else and laugh at them, using a loophole in the Do Not Call law inserted by Sen. Barbara Boxer. Well, who’s laughing now, suckers?
The National Weather Service predicts highs in the upper 90s to near 110 across the western San Fernando Valley, 90s to about 102 in the San Gabriel Valley, the lower 90s near downtown Los Angeles.
Apparently having a complete lack of culture doesn’t act as a refrigerant. Good to know!
The state’s independent power system operator has issued a “flex alert,” warning that the excess heat could lead to electricity demand that stresses the state’s grid. The orange line below is how much power they have; the blue one, the amount they’re using. When the two of them touch, there’s an earthquake or something.
Today’s energy usage in the “Golden” state. Click to embiggen. (Image courtesy of the California ISO.)
Anyway, the point is that California’s entertainment industry is morally corrupt and they’re being punished by having to pay slightly more at the pump. If you want more information on that point, please consider signing up for my hand-typed newsletter which you can expect in the mail every 48 hours.
