EPA's Heavy Hand Seen In Gas Crisis

The untold story behind soaring pump prices is that major U.S. refineries are going out of business and creating at least regional shortages thanks in no small part to costly EPA rules.

Over just the past six months, three refineries supplying about half the gasoline, diesel and jet fuel to the East Coast have closed, including two owned by Sunoco Inc. They say they simply cannot make money anymore.
Philadelphia-based Sunoco's  refinery business in the Northeast has lost almost $1 billion over the past three years as U.S. demand for gas fell and the cost of foreign crude soared.

But over the same period, it had to shell out "significant expenditures for environmental projects and compliance activities" to satisfy onerous EPA mandates
Sunoco fretted that these regulatory costs would grow exponentially under the Obama administration, which has hit some of its refineries with fines.

"During 2009, the EPA indicated that it intends to regulate carbon dioxide emissions, (which) could result in increases in costs to operate and maintain the company's facilities, as well as capital outlays for new emission control equipment at these facilities," the company warned investors in its 2011 report filed with the SEC.

"Compliance with current and future environmental laws and regulations likely will require us to make significant expenditures, increasing the overall cost of operating our businesses, including capital costs to construct, maintain and upgrade equipment and facilities," Sunoco added.

In the end, the company could not weather market crosscurrents long enough to recover the government-induced costs. It bled so much money that it decided to exit the refining business entirely.

http://news.investors.com/article/605348/201203221853/epa-partly-to-blame-for-gas-crisis.htm