Tag Archives: fracking

Business/Economics

U.S. Job Losses & Store Closings, 19 – 21 April 2015: “Re-fracking” 39-thousand + oil jobs gone, as companies hoard Black Gold! ObamaCare kills six hospitals with one blow!

Incomplete list of publicly announced layoffs & shutdowns:

California:  God can’t stop Obama Care from killing off six Christian run hospitals in one fell swoop! Bankrupt Daughters of Charity Health System tried to sell-off six hospitals but nobody wanted to buy, so now at least 280 healthcare workers will become unemployed!  Administrators stated that the current layoffs will barely “restore our hospitals to break-even status financially” due to Obama Care insurance reimbursement cuts.  To make matters worse, and guarantee a total hospital system shutdown, government Obama Care administrators have told ten insurance companies to stop sending their customers to Daughters of Charity Health System!  Riverbed Technology issued two layoff WARNs for June, saying 160 people will become jobless!  After more than 50 years San Francisco’s iconic Capp’s Italian Dinners Family Style shutdown. The owners blame the greedy landlord and legalities with insurance for their closure.  Also in San Francisco, Apollo Education issued a WARN saying 60 people will be laid off in June.  In Bakersfield, oil field service company Halliburton laid off 14 people without warning. In Milpitas, SanDisk issued a layoff WARN for June, saying 61 people will be let go.

Florida: Albertsons issued a WARN saying they will shutdown their Clearwater grocery store in May, 86 jobs lost.

Maine: British empire Canada based AIM (American Iron & Metal) Development USA has begun layoffs in what will finally be the end for the Bucksport paper mill and power plant.  The failed mill and power plant was sold to the Canadian owned AIM in January, for $60-million USD in cash, now the latest news reports say there is only 13 employees left.  This is interesting because last year local news reports swore AIM was going to continue operating the power plant, but employees pointed out the power plant ran directly off heat generated by the paper mill’s natural gas boilers.  AIM administrators now say they’ve realized it is too expensive to operate the former paper mill’s boilers just to generate electricity, so they’re considering  shutting it all down.

Maryland: California based tax-sucker Jacobs Engineering Group announced they will eliminate 104 jobs at the U.S. Army Aberdeen Proving Grounds, blaming lack of taxpayer funding!

Minnesota: Ohio based biomedical and natural gas company Chart Industries issued a WARN saying 65 people at their Owatonna factory will become jobless in June. That’s on top of the 50 people recently laid off in Wisconsin.  Administrators blame “A significant decline in orders” as well as “dynamic energy prices and the stronger U.S. dollar”.

Missouri: What automotive industry recovery?  The country’s largest car hauler, Jack Cooper Transport, issued a WARN saying they will layoff 95 people at their Claycomo op, in May.

New York: In Niskayuna, school bus company First Student issued a shutdown WARN for July, saying 62 people will become unemployed.  Beverage distributor Windmill Distributing reminded state employment administrators that they are shutting down in May,  638 jobs lost!  It’s the result of their merger with Manhattan Beer.  In Bethpage, Goya Foods issued a shutdown WARN for July, 57 jobs lost.  In Auburn, air conditioner maker Daikin Applied reminded state administrators that they are about to begin their 6th round of layoffs (in July).  Once the shutdown is complete more than 3-hundred jobs will be lost!  In Elmsford, after 21 years the Fairview Golf Center shutdown.  The property was sold for big bucks to FedEx.

North Carolina: Raleigh’s last registered bed-and-breakfast, The Oakwood Inn, shutdown after 31 years. The owner blames “illegal” competition from internet company Airbnb saying “If I have to [be licensed], why don’t they have to do it? And if they don’t have to do it, then I shouldn’t have to!” 

Ohio:  In Short North, after ten years the Surly Girl Saloon shutdown, the owner indicated that demand for such a bar in Short North is crashing.

Pennsylvania: Snack maker Pepsi/Frito-Lay announced they will eliminate 7% of jobs at their Williamsport factory.  It’s part of Pepsi’s ongoing plan to slash and burn operating costs (jobs).  Crappy clothing op American Eagle Outfitters announced they’re shutting down their Warrendale distribution center in July, 2-hundred jobs lost!   Administrators have been planning the shutdown for the past two years, which shows you how much confidence they have in the ‘recovery’.

Tennessee: In Chattanooga, after three years fitness center Thrive Studio shutdown.

Texas: US Steel has already laid off hundreds of people across the U.S., now The Lone Star State is about to lose 1,404 US Steel jobs!  The WARN shows that all the jobs lost are related to supporting the oil industry.  Houston based Halliburton revealed that since the beginning of the year it has eliminated 9-thousand jobs!  In an interview with investors Halliburton president Jeff Miller admitted that oil companies are ‘stashing oil’ in 4-thousand undeveloped wells, and are preparing to begin “re-fracking” operations.  Another Houston based oil company, Baker Hughes (in the process of being taken over by Halliburton) announced they will now layoff 10-thousand 5-hundred people in North America! Earlier in the year they said 7-thousand people would be laid off, but administrators say reduction in oil field services has been bigger than they estimated (and don’t forget that the takeover by Halliburton will create a lot of redundant jobs).  A report by fuelfix says the top three oil field service companies in the U.S. (Schlumberger, Halliburton & Baker Hughes) have laid off a total of 39-thousand 5-hundred people, so far!  4th largest (according to fuelfix) Weatherford International is laying off 8-thousand!

15 – 18 April 2015: “a time of unprecedented and rapid change”

WARN=Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification

The U.S. Department of Labor (DoL) no longer issues mass layoff reports: “On March 1, 2013, President Obama ordered into effect the across-the- board spending cuts (commonly referred to as sequestration) required by the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act, as amended. Under the order, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) must cut its current budget by more than $30 million, 5 percent of the current 2013 appropriation, by September 30, 2013. In order to help achieve these savings and protect core programs, the BLS will eliminate two programs, including Mass Layoff Statistics, and all ‘measuring green jobs’ products. This news release is the final publication of monthly mass layoff survey data.”

Business/Economics, Technology, U.S.

Government & Corporate Incompetence: Ohio suffering mass earthquakes, officials blame Fracking. Not the first time; Arkansas blamed Fracking on increased quakes back in July

“The earthquakes will trickle on as a kind of a cascading process once you’ve caused them to occur. This one year of pumping is a pulse that has been pushed into the ground, and it’s going to be spreading out for at least a year.”-John Armbruster, Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory

On New Year’s Eve, Ohio had a 4.0 quake.  It’s part of many quakes the state has suffered since March 2011.  Now state lawmakers are banning the energy industry’s practice of Fracking.

Energy companies inject chemically heavy water, under extreme pressures, deep into the ground.  It releases natural gas from shale. The gas is used mainly for the oil industry’s hydrogen cracking process, which makes fuels cleaner burning.

For a long time it’s been claimed that fracking pollutes underground water sources, but the industry has successfully fought off such claims.  Another claim is that it could cause earthquakes.

Now, seismologists with the U.S. Geological Survey have testified to Ohio officials that the state’s unusual quake activity is directly related to fracking wastewater injection.

In July, the Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission banned  fracking wastewater injection, because of increased earthquake activity.

Energy companies doing the fracking are taking their wastewater and injecting it deep into underground sand deposits, to get rid of it.  Scientists say the problem is that the companies have overshot the underground sand beds, and are basically pressurizing fault lines.

Business/Economics, Idaho, U.S.

Occupy America! Diesel disparity in Idaho. Gas prices way down, Diesel way up. Blame increase in U.S. exports! Blame pricing games! Warning for California. Fracking really for fuel production. Grow your own!

In eastern  Idaho, the difference between the price of one gallon of regular gasoline, versus diesel, is now a full one dollar.

Phillips 66, next to the Bannock County court house, Pocatello, Idaho

On November 19, the average price, in the Pocatello/Chubbuck area, hit $3.18 per gallon for regular gasoline, and $4.18 for diesel.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (USEIA) says gas prices are falling, in general, due to the usual seasonal drop in usage.  I’ve never seen it drop by this much, here in eastern Idaho.  Back in May, the average price was $3.65 per gallon, and it stayed that way through most of the summer.  In the past two or three months the price has dropped almost 60 cents.

The USEIA also says regional fuel refining has a lot to do with prices, but back in September I discovered that PADD 4 gasoline production was being kept below demand. The latest data on PADD 4 gas production shows that, after months of keeping it around 290 thousand barrels per day, regional refineries are now pushing out more than 324 thousand barrels per day.  This is why gas prices, in the Rocky Mountain area (PADD 4) are, or should be, dropping.

In California it’s a different story.  The latest gasoline price survey shows the average price around $3.54 per gallon, with many areas paying $3.79.  California taxes are one reason for the higher prices, but the other reason is that California refines its own fuel, and the refineries are in trouble.

According to the USEIA, despite having the third largest refinery industry in the country California’s refineries are maxed out, there’s just too many people driving too many vehicles.  The USEIA is warning of a fuel price catastrophe in California: “California refineries need to be running near full capacity to meet the State’s gasoline demand. If more than one of its refineries experiences operating problems at the same time, California’s gasoline supply may become very tight and prices can soar. Even when supplies can be obtained from some Gulf Coast and foreign refineries, they can take a relatively long time to arrive due to California’s substantial distance from those sources. The farther away the necessary relief supplies are, the higher and longer the price spike will be.”

Regarding the rising cost of diesel fuel, it looks like some of what I warned about back on November 5 is coming true.  Bottom line; around the world diesel production is down, while international demand is going up and up.

The latest reports on diesel commodity prices show a slight decrease.  The decrease is so small that the global increase in demand for diesel will still cause pump prices to go up.

And how does the global demand affect us here in the U.S.?  According to the American Petroleum Institute (API), most diesel fuel produced in the Untied States is actually being exported to other countries (a 37.6% increase, in both diesel and gasoline exports, in the past year).  That means less diesel for the domestic market.

Diesel fuel is part of the “distillates” family of fuels.  In the U.S. ultra low sulfur diesel is referred to as “Distillate Fuel Oil 15 ppm (parts per million) and under of Sulfur”.  According to USEIA records, ultra low sulfur production, in the United States, varies between 3.2 million and 3.6 million barrels per day.  Now realize that international demand has gone up, and that U.S. refineries are exporting much of their diesel.  Since overall production is remaining in the 3 million to 4 million barrels per day rang, that doesn’t leave much for us.  The result is diesel prices will continue to go up, until U.S. distillate refiners greatly increase production.

For those of us in the Rocky Mountain (PADD 4) area, the USEIA shows an up and down pattern for “Distillate Fuel Oil 15 ppm (parts per million) and under of Sulfur”.  From March through May, diesel production was stuck at about 160 thousand barrels per day.  By the end of July it increased to 195 thousand barrels per day.  Since the end of August it’s dropped, to 185 thousand.  That explains why diesel pump prices in the Rocky Mountain area are going up.

But here’s one more reason, and one that many diesel fuel users have speculated on; the high pump prices of diesel is an attempt by producers to make a bigger profit, since they’ve actually been keeping gasoline pump prices artificially low.  A Reuters article states just that: “This in turn crimps diesel output until the cost of the fuel gets high enough to offset losses from additional gasoline sales.”

The Reuters article explains, not very well, that ultra low sulfur refining requires hydrocracking, a process involving hydrogen.  It’s also used for gasoline.  The problem is that many refineries in the U.S. can not produce both diesel and gasoline.  This might explain the swings in production; one month gasoline production up, and diesel down, the next month it’s reversed.

The push for fracking natural gas, is actually for the fuel refining industry, because it turns out that using the hydrogen in natural gas is a good cheap way to conduct hydrocracking in fuel refining.

Eventually more diesel will be produced, because of the global demand.  Several companies in the Gulf Coast area have invested billions of dollars to build new refineries to extract the hydrogen from natural gas to hydrocrack new diesel fuel.

Diesel fuel users should really look into making their own biodiesel, even though you could get into trouble with the Federal and State tax collectors, as well as the EPA.  Here’s some links:  Backwoods Home Official BioDiesel Home BioDiesel Diesel Master JR Whipple (good for moonshine too, remember diesel is a distillate) There plenty more sites on the internet about making your own diesel, do the research.