Gov. Schwarzenegger links GHG proposition, baseball

An Oil & Gas Journal blogger usually cannot find a legitimate way to write about baseball, but California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger opened the door with his celebratory comments regarding state election results, specifically the overwhelming defeat of Proposition 23.

That proposition would have suspended the scheduled 2012 implementation of California’s law calling for reduced greenhouse gas emissions. Had California voters approved Proposition 23, they would have stalled Assembly Bill 32 from becoming effective until the state’s current 12.4% unemployment rate falls to 5.5% for 1 year.

"Today, we have beaten Texas again," Schwarzenegger said. "Speaking to No on 23…World Series or an election, I'll always take California over Texas.”

Valero Energy Corp., and Tesoro Corp., both based in San Antonio, Tex., along with Flint Hills Resources of Wichita, Kan., contributed heavily in support of Proposition 23. Valero and Tesoro, which both have multimillion-dollar payrolls in California, argue AB 32 threatens jobs and will trigger higher electric and natural gas rates for California residents.

It’s possible the governor spoke too soon. Although the San Francisco Giants won the World Series by defeating the Texas Rangers, the story might not be over just yet on the fate of AB 32. Texas Atty. Gen. Greg Abbott and others might try to stop AB 32 from being implemented.

California Watch, a project of the nonprofit Independent Center for Investigative Reporting, says that Abbott and his counterparts in Alabama, Nebraska, and North Dakota are contemplating a legal challenge against AB 32 by claiming that it interferes with the right to freely conduct interstate commerce.

API reaffirms oil and gas industry commitment to safety

While the US Coast Guard searched for workers missing after an explosion and fire on a semisubmersible rig off Louisiana, American Petroleum Institute Pres. Jack N. Gerard told reporters in Houston that safety is the oil and gas industry’s top priority.

“Every time an incident happens, we ask ourselves what we can do better,” Gerard said. “We’re working for a zero-injury, zero-fatality effort.” Industry considers workers to be its “most sacred” asset, he added.

April has been marred by accidents, both upstream and downstream. An Apr. 2 explosion in a naphtha hydrotreater within Tesoro Corp.’s 120,000-b/d refinery at Anacortes, Wash., killed six employees. The hydrotreater was undergoing maintenance at the time (OGJ Online, Apr. 5, 2010).

On Apr. 12, the United Steelworkers issued a news release saying the refinery industry fails to learn from past disasters. The union called on refiners to develop and implement policies requiring full safety reviews before all process start-ups and scheduled shutdowns.

Gerard said API devotes much of its staff’s attention to safety, adding that API’s activities involve research, standards development and reviews as well as training efforts and information transfers.

On Apr. 20-21, Gerard was in Houston to speak to the local API chapter and to brief reporters. He told reporters that his thoughts were with the families of 11 missing workers.

An explosion and fire rocked the Transocean Ltd. Deepwater Horizon rig at about 10 p.m. CDT Apr. 20. The semi was drilling for BP Exploration & Production Inc. on Mississippi Canyon Block 252 about 41 miles off Louisiana.