Political Quotes

“28 years ago we built the last refinery in the United States, 28 years ago. We import 7 percent of our refined product in this country. We import gasoline. We hear all the problems of the crises of imported crude oil. What many people do not understand, or they believe, is that we import refined product, the gasoline that goes into people's tanks. Seven percent is imported from foreign countries. We must and we can do better. These countries that are importing refined product, they get the value-added benefit of refining the crude oil. They get the jobs of refining that product. They get the jobs of building those refineries. They also get the tax benefits from the national government and the local level. We can and we must do better. That is why I applaud my colleague for bringing this bill to the floor. In Illinois over the past year we have lost 220,000 barrels per day of refined capacity with the closure of three refineries. With the number of boutique fuels in Illinois, this has led to large price spikes when problems occur in other refineries. The most recent refinery closure resulted in the loss of 300 jobs. The number of refineries in the United States has gone from 324 in 1981 to 153 today. In Illinois alone, we have decreased from 11 refineries to four. This bill protects existing environmental regulations on clean air, and what better place than to address the siting issues than to put them on old, abandoned refinery sites.”