Thank You SHELL!

SHELL may have become a godsend for consumers of diesel fuel products across America, for those fueling up their vehicles at the corner gas stations – with those big pick-up trucks enlisting dually wheels. See, when the SHELL Chukchi & Beaufort Sea Offshore Drilling flotilla arrived in Dutch Harbor in August of 2012, it ran into a predicament. One of such dire straits nature that this remote Alaskan coastal fishing town better known for “Bandits” then drilling rigs, it could not help relieve a “Big” problem for SHELL in its effort to go drill where no rational company man has drilled before! Yes, for some reasons still suspicious, the fuel aboard the flotilla which accounted for at least 15 sea-worthy vessels - which means thousands of gallons of fuel - the petro was considered “illegal” as it contained far more “sulfur” then what is allowed under existing EPA & U.S. Government requirements. This situation should have thrown up the “Red Herring” flag, that something was rotten in Denmark - SHELLS home away from home. A little history helps get the point across. The switch from regular diesel to “Low Sulfur” diesel products started in earnest for the “Union” in 2007, in efforts to remove and limit free sulfur from entering the environment – contaminating the air we breath, that “yellow matter custard” like stuff that causes breathing problems for many Americans. But to make it work, as this was a big ordeal with the logistics associated with the change from the “bad” stuff to the “better” stuff, the EPA went lenient and allowed for producers, shippers, carriers and sellers the ability to be able to mix fuels, wherein 20% of the “illegal” stuff could be mixed up with the “better” stuff and be “legally” acceptable for use on highway vehicles. But the “mixing” allowances were designed to be carried out only when demand outstripped supplies, as you wouldn't want to be in a situation with monster truck vehicles running on empty, once this legislation was enacted. So the “mixing” rules were designed as a last ditch effort in the event something went haywire with the supply side of things. Pretty cool thinking on the EPA's part. But this was supposed to be a “temporary” thing, until such time the supply chain dynamics got used to the new regulations and worked out the kinks for making sure supplies outlasted demand, all across America from sea to shinning sea. It was at first glance a logistics nightmare then some. Yet, the challenge of the beast was not as bad as predicted, and in no time flat everyone one was happy, even the EPA. Why? Low sulfur diesel fuel makes a little more money for the refiners and gives us better air to breath! Unfortunately, it appears that those in the “Chain” may be taking advantage of this 20% rule, and using it not on an emergency basis, but as a ways and means to reap $billions$ in extra profits – based on the sentiment, “Nobody's Watching”. See, even though sample testing is required, there is nobody really witnessing this testing criteria as the “Chain” is huge and very complex with middle man after middle man after the little man, so the EPA bases its violation policing policy on a “Trust Them” mandate. Just keep the paper-work correct and when the EPA sees something it doesn't like, so what! And since the EPA is under the gun, as members of Congress believe they can do a better job at regulating the industry with respect to issues of “Air Quality”, the EPA was required to place even more trust on the industry and many of the oversight police have run for cover. It is sad when we have representatives that feels it is OK to threaten the entity that looks after those that threaten our existence! Why you laughing? Sure the honor system can work, but it is a two-way street! Now the only way that the SHELL flotilla could have taken on thousands of gallons of diesel fuel that was labeled “Approved” but proved differently through testing, this comes by way of the fact that the tanks holding this stuff had been scammed. Using the 20% mixing scam, it can bring upwards an additional 25-cents per gallon. Yes, you think you are buying the stuff that helps in keeping the earth “green”, but what you're really sending to combust in that engine is pure “crap”! And the mixing laws get uglier all the time, as once contaminated it may follow an exponential rule wherein the contaminations starts out at the 20% scale then escalates and in the end we have very bad tasting diesel fuel! Where this took place for SHELL, wherein it thought it was buying boatloads of “Low Sulfur Diesel” as the “Green Label” said it was, this could have occurred anywhere along the coast from out of Seattle, where the flotilla began its journey north. Look, the EPA is under the gun, under the microscope and due pressure form a delegation that wants to tear this entity apart, I have reason to believe that “oversight” has taken a back seat, maybe to the brink and gone over-board! And if Joe Refiner can push stuff out of his refinery gate – mixed-up stuff – he can reap a whole lot of extra money along the way, and if caught, just take the 5th and act dumb and in the end pay a simple fine wherein you smile all the way to the bank – singing that song that crime does indeed pay! This is what may be happening all across America, “crap” diesel being mixed with some good stuff and then sticking it too the consumer. This amounts to $billions$ in additional profits that “We the People” are paying for, with nothing in return as it ain't helping the air quailty out! Sure those fuel station pumps at the corner stations have these fancy labels attached by the “State Commission of Weights & Measures”, wherein it gives the buying public some sense of security that a penny of one's hard earned loot is indeed buying a penny's worth of gas, but that stamp of approval doesn't have anything to do with what was delivered from that tank and pump and now sitting in the gas tank of your vehicle. State's don't require testing the product quality, that is something on the EPA's ”To Do” list. And with so many daily deliveries and transfers, it finds for a ways and means to become corrupt. We are talking millions of gallons each day delivered from refiners through pipelines, from rail cars, from trucks, it is monumental when one thinks that there would not be room for error, or loopholes that makes money for somebody. And when one searches the EPA “violations” of record, there ain't a hell of a lot of cases to assure us that this “Low Sulfur Diesel” program is working the way it was intended, as the law's inherent “mixing” allowances places a kibosh on getting tough. All it takes is for someone to yell “shortage” and the EPA has no guts. And of course this rip-off is occurring, today as it was yesterday and maybe SHELL has stumbled upon something that will stop it from future sabotage of our wallets. SHELL in Alaska with contaminated fuel should be investigated. The evidence supports a “Piracy Conspiracy” as witnessed through a compliance violation case brought against Caterpillar, by the EPA. Not for “mixing” violations, but for copping out to deliver engine components that were supposed to be part of this “Green” philosophy to burn “Low Sulfur Diesel” over the puke me with a spoonful of medicine stuff. Yes, the Cat-man was fined for allowing over 590000 “diesel” engines with a requirement to be assembled and tested for using this “Low Sulfur” stuff, these engines were missing an all important component called an “After-Treatment Device”. Look, this was a massive recall, after it was caught. This was not a quality control issue, it was intentional. Somebody in the engineering department must have realized what was going on in the supply chain, wherein mediocre type diesel fuel was making its way to gas pumps in the neighborhoods throughout the land, as this stuff with higher then normal “sulfur” could and would poison the required component's catalyst used to make the exhaust even cleaner and this would have caused one hell of a recall effort, at the manufactures expense. It could have caused fires! So this company gambled and manufactured these power plants without the proper components and shipped the engines out the door, so they could burn the “crap” that has been secretly molesting the fueling stations – once again not due a mistake or shortage, but for the profit margin. This is the same thing that happened to SHELL. In late December, when the Aiviq lost power while towing the drill ship Kulluk back south after a very limited drilling season, for a modern day ship to loose power in all 4-engines, statistically speaking that cannot happen - unless the catalyst had become contaminated to failure and the engines shutdown on high exhaust temperature. That is exactly what happened. When the flotilla was allowed to leave Dutch Harbor in August to go north for a very brief drilling season, the EPA was strong-armed into turning its head of responsibility and allowed this sailing, of the controversial drilling flotilla even when the fuel tanks remained full with contaminated high sulfur diesel. And over the short drilling season some of the flotilla's engine abatement components went sick, from the contaminated fuels! Not to worry as the flotilla was packing up and heading south, where repairs could be performed without anybody taking notice. It didn't work, as the tow vessel which probably saw more engine hours then the other vessels, it failed during a critical mission. This failure can be tied to contaminated fuel which can be tied to what occurred in August which can be tied to picking up that fuel somewhere along the way, some many thousands of miles of guilt. It is that simple, it is not rocket science. So maybe SHELL has done us a favor herein. Maybe the delegation has done us a favor, by telling the EPA to let SHELL sail north or else, even if it meant the “Green-light” with contaminated fuel. Maybe this has culminated with the uncovering of a conspiracy, a heist at the pumps! Wherein those involved in the “supply chain” of a product that was supposed to tame the sulfur for cleaner and healthier air, which seemed to have good intentions, succeeding in taming only the EPA oversight. Along with a”scam” that saw the loot we pay for something clean providing no such benefit but padding the wallet of greed. And I doubt if this be a regional problem, and more in line to a widespread problem wherein the “Supply Chain” has reaped the benefits of more money on the gallon, because “Nobody is Watching”, and I hope they are listening now and running for cover while reciting the 5^th!