Valero Running Anti-Cap & Trade Campaign

Says legislation will cost motorists at pump if it becomes law Sep. 02, 2009

SAN ANTONIO, Texas -- Valero Energy Corp. is launching a campaign against proposals to lower carbon emissions by posting signs at its gas stations warning customers about the projected high hike in fuel prices if the U.S. House-approved legislation on carbon cap-and-trade becomes law, reported The San Antonio Express-News.

The campaign begins today at all facilities owned by Valero, which has refineries and retail outlets in 40 states.

The U.S. Department of Energy projects that gasoline prices could increase by 77 cents per gallon over the life of the climate-change [image-nocss] bill, said the report.

The bill, sponsored by U.S. Reps. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Energy & Commerce Committee, and Edward Markey (D-Mass.), chairman of the House Energy & Environment Subcommittee, was narrowly approved by the House on June 26.

Valero, the largest U.S. independent refining company, estimates that its costs for carbon emissions would total $6 billion to $7 billion a year, depending on the auction costs of the permits.

The Waxman-Markey bill, which would force businesses to pay for their carbon emissions, would hit U.S. refining companies especially hard because refiners must account for both emissions from refineries and from the vehicles that burn the fuels, Jim Greenwood, Valero Energy vice president for governmental affairs, told the newspaper.

The minimum limit for permits is $25 per ton of emissions. Valero refineries emit about 30 million tons per year, but vehicles using Valero fuels emit another 250 million tons of greenhouse, heat-trapping gases, the report said.

The signs ask customers to notify their representatives via www.voicesforenergy.com.

San Antonio-based Valero, with 2008 revenues of $119 billion, owns and operates 16 refineries throughout the United States, Canada and the Caribbean with a combined throughput capacity of approximately three million barrels per day, making it the largest refiner in North America. Valero is also a leading ethanol producer with seven ethanol plants in the Midwest with a combined capacity of 780 million gallons per year, and is one of the nation's largest retail operators with approximately 5,800 retail and branded wholesale outlets in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean under the Valero, Diamond Shamrock, Shamrock, Ultramar and Beacon brands.

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