Wild Horses and Oil Refineries

I just made the mistake of eating dinner with my super skinny and athletic roommate, Paul. We had spaghetti and tomato sauce, follwed by bread with cheese and tomato sauce, followed by leftover spicy bean lasagna. Followed, if I am going to be completely honest, with about half of a strawberry rhubarb pie. Ever notice how my blog is half about energy and utilties and half about whatever food I am eating? Yeah, sorry bout that.

Anyways, the first item on the agenda tonight is just a tip - I found the following job search engine for jobs in the energy business. The site specializes in Oil and gas, Transmission and Distribution, Power Engineering, Power Generation and Delivery, and Energy management. Something for everyone. So check out Aerotek at: (Sorry there is no link - it seems as though the link function of this blog is still malfunctioning - so copy and paste the old fashioned way).

http://energy.aerotek.com/Jobs-Employment/Default.aspx

Secondly, Fortune Magazine just came out with its 100 Best companies to work for in 2007. Number 22 was Valero Energy (VLO). Valero Energy Corporation is the largest refiner in the United States. Valero refines residual oil and heavy crude oil into higher-margin products. The corporation owns 18 refineries located throughout the United States, and in Aruba and Canada. Valero's ethical history and environmental record is mixed at best. They have definitely faced suits over environmental issues and gone head-to-head with the EPA over clean emission standards. However, currently Valero's website devotes a huge section to environmental perogatives, including energy efficiency to reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions. Is this astroturfing or greenwashing? I will let you be the judge. Valero also has an internship program which looks pretty interesting - they offer competitive salaries and seem to put a lot of emphasis on making the internship a real experience. They recruit both on college campuses and through the internet. If you are interested check out: http://www.valerointernships.com/start.htm.

Interesting quotation from the Valero website:

"If climate change policy is developed, it must be enacted at the national or international level to be effective. These regulations must also be coordinated with other government-driven environmental mandates that may run counter to addressing climate change. The enactment of regulatory policy requires a full understanding of climate change, since inaccurate or technically incorrect policies could damage national, regional, or state economies and obstruct other environmental goals – such as clean fuels – where the human health and environmental benefits are more clearly understood. For instance, even though Valero supports recent EPA mandates to meet clean fuel specifications, the additional refinery processing to remove sulfur from diesel and gasoline increased GHG emissions significantly above pre-existing refinery levels. "



http://www.valero.com/NR/rdonlyres/1C2C47AC-E182-43B5-B529-F906B16EA0BD/0/Environmental.jpg



http://www.valero.com/NR/rdonlyres/7825845A-DCE9-4686-959E-9C1B0D7EA03A/0/paulsbororefinery_onthew.jpg

The above images are from the environmental section of the Valero website. I especially like the one which shows horses grazing near an oil refinery. This is definitely a bizarre example of greenwashing - except, what are those horses doing there? Just running wild around the nearest oil refinery? I wonder if the company placed them there, it just seems too strange to be real.

Anyways, next blog I think I will focus on renewable energy products - so stay tuned (ie log on tomorrow).

Best,
Emily