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.
Last week, California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones launched the latest salvo in his relentless crusade to coerce the nation’s leading insurance companies to divest from oil and natural gas company holdings.
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?”
A nationwide 95 RON octane standard for vehicles can deliver major carbon reductions in the nation’s light-duty auto fleet faster and at a lower cost than any other proposal being considered by policymakers right now, especially policies seeking to force nationwide vehicle electrification.
Building on decades of broader efforts alongside automakers to advance fuel-efficient technologies and vehicles, refiners are leading the effort to transition the U.S. to high-octane gasoline.
Often overlooked in the compendium of efforts toward a cleaner vehicle fleet are bold, industry-led innovations inefficient liquid fuels, vehicle designs and internal combustion engines that continue to dramatically reduce tailpipe emissions.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – “AFPM joins other industry groups and the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee in support of the EPA’s proposal to retain current health and environment air quality standards.
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.
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...