The Ironic Coast

In a time of $3.00+ gallons of gas, Chevron's old oil processing facility at Gaviota--Mariposa Reina--is slowly but surely being dismantled.

Chevron halted it's processing there in 1998, and much of the work it once handled is now done on the off-shore platforms that dot the coast north of Santa Barbara:

Today the facility is owned by the Plains Exploration and Production Co., said Kevin Drude, a planner with the Santa Barbara County energy division. No oil processing takes place at the plant and no hydrogen sulfide (a poisonous gas) comes to shore for processing.

“Its all done on the platforms now,” he said. “All they do at that facility is temporarily store the oil.” Oil from the offshore wells is mostly shipped via pipeline to Texas refineries.

I imagine there is sound economic reasoning behind the Chevron decision to halt processing there and the long-term decision to dismantle the facilities at Mariposa Reina. The irony however is a bit overwhelming at a time when we're having debates like this about things like refining capacity.