Tell Laura, we don't love her...

"My final words? Tell Laura, we don't love her. Nope. Laura, you can just go away and spin yourself to death in the middle of the Gulf. Too harsh? Sorry."  

As a child of the sixties, one of my favorite tear jerker songs from that era was Tell Laura, I love her. But that was then, and this is now. The Laura of 2020, I have no time for. None. This tropical storm in the Gulf, has blossomed into quite the storm. Like a strong Cat 2, expected to reach Cat 3 by noon, and a Cat 4 by the time it makes landfall. The bulls-eye will be somewhere by the Louisiana and Texas border. Right now, it looks like Port Arthur will be dead center.

Port Arthur? Why does that town sound familiar? For reasons that escape me, we have decided to build the nation's largest oil refinery right in the middle of hurricane row. In other words, this town has been hit before, it will be hit tonight, and no doubt, it will be hit again in the future. 

The Motiva Refinery is the largest refinery in North America. It has the capacity to handle over 600 million barrels of oil a day. It is now offline. This Laura storm is so big, so bad, over 80% of all refineries on the Gulf Coast have now gone off line. How bad could this be? First off, the refineries were operating at a reduced rate due to lower gasoline demand because of COVID. But the real kicker is this - not only will Laura be a Cat 4, the storm surge is going to be one for the books. In other words, if the refineries get hit with a big storm surge, it could be a while before they are up and running.

I remember the last big storm which affected the refineries. I wondered then, as I wonder now - is that the only place they can be? They are as vulnerable - as vulnerable as our electric grid. Plus - the biggest of all the refineries (Motiva) is foreign owned. Yes, it is owned by the Saudis. I hate that as much as I hate the Chinese owning a bunch of our stuff. Not a good play. Not at all.

This morning, I am headed out to fill up my truck, car, and spare gas cans. If this storm is as bad as portends to be, gas will spike sooner rather than later. Besides the refineries, Laura could lay a lick on Houston and Galveston as well. This could cost many millions in damages. There could be loss of life. This will not be good.

My final words? Tell Laura, we don't love her. Nope. Laura, you can just go away and spin yourself to death in the middle of the Gulf. Too harsh? Sorry.