Before the pandemic hit, the nation’s manufacturing sector — including the refining and petrochemical industries — was wrestling with how to find and train enough young people to replace the wave of Baby Boomers retiring from the workforce at a rate of nearly 6,000 per day.
This week, AFPM joined API and industry associations representing fuel retailers, gasoline marketers, convenience stores and tank truck carriers to field questions from the media about the ongoing fuel distribution challenges resulting from the Colonial Pipeline shutdown.
It was 2010 and Jerry Wascom, ExxonMobil’s Americas refining director, was worried. Despite fuel and petrochemical manufacturers making significant improvements in the safety of their individual operations, across the industries there was an uptick in serious incidents. Workers were getting injured, surrounding communities were losing confidence, the reputation of the industries was being tarnished and regulators were becoming increasingly engaged. Wascom turned to his counterparts within the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers Association (AFPM), the industry trade group, and asked, “Are we doing enough to protect people?”
“Information security is the immune system in the body of business.” This cybersecurity saying has gained new weight in 2020, with the COVID-19 pandemic reinforcing the need for cybersecurity to be robust, flexible and agile—just like a healthy immune system.
Last week the Energy Information Administration (EIA) released its latest alternative energy update. Wind and solar power continue to lead this energy mix.
Over the last few years, AFPM has increased its efforts to attract people to the wide range of careers in the fuel and petrochemical industries in anticipation of not only a wave of retirements that will hit the industries in the next 5-10 years, but also tremendous growth thanks to the shale revolution.
Although President Obama’s controversial Clean Power Plan (CPP) has been debated at length for several months, its legal failings finally came under the microscope during oral argument in W Virginia et al. v EPA et al. in the DC Circuit Court of Appeals on September 27.
The beginning of fall once again marks the start of another school year filled with endless possibilities for wide-eyed students eager to learn. For AFPM, the beginning of the school year is yet...