While I hate to see job losses, I don't think it's justified to lobby our government to bail out one business and not another.  Visit every single industry in this town, and all of them are suffering due to the economic slow down.  Current unemployment here is above 11%. 

Even if we somehow boosted Big West out of this predicament, there's no gaurantees that the facility would be able to stay afloat for much longer.

Suffer like everyone else... 

There are never any guarantees, Florida. However, sitting by and doing nothing guarantees nothing will change.  If the valley didn't have a huge oil resource, your argument might be better.

This refinery has been viable for decades.    All refineries that rely on outside oil sources have been hit hard.  Unfortunately Big West was hit harder than most.  When oil drops that significantly in such a short period of time, stock on hand is suddenly worth pennies on the dollar.   It is just too bad that Big West does not have any production in the valley.  That is a big part of the problem. Should it sell, the best fit would be for a buyer who does have production in the valley/California.

There are still plenty of oil refineries in Bakersfield.  You're speaking as if Big West was the only one.  As far as the price of oil, look at the reality - at more than $40/barrel, oil is currently still more expensive than it was from the late 1980's through 2004/05:

While every company in town is struggling just a bit, there's still plenty of oil being pumped and refined here, and that's not going to stop.  The loss of the Big West Refinery will have a small impact on what is a very large economic slump.

In case you weren't aware, the refinery supplies 6% of the diesel for California and 2% of the gasoline.  I do believe that it is SIGNIFICANT in the valley.  The others are MUCH smaller.

alex - so this gives the other refineries an opportunity to grow their business and expand.  I'd personally rather have an oil company who knows how to run a refinery buy up the property, and I wouldn't be surprised if that's what winds up happening.  Flying J should have stuck to what they knew, instead of trying to expand into an area where they're not experienced.  It was a bad business move on their part.

You're making a mountain out of a molehill, especially in this economy. 

I am not opposed to sale of the refinery.  If there is a viable buyer out there, that would be great.   I am opposed to closing it completely. People will lose jobs and the county will lose a huge tax revenue source.  I don't think that is a molehill, but I'm not going to argue with you. 

I don't want to see it shut down either, but I refuse to support our tax dollars going towards keeping it alive, as that becomes counter-productive in our current economy. 

Out of curiosity, alex, what do you do for a living?

I never suggested that we send our tax dollars to bail out Big West.   There are other ways that government could  intervene.  It will remain to be seen.  Selling it to a major oil company would be a Godsend.

What could the government do to intervene without either funding the venture or forcing someone else to do so?

As I've said before, let the laws of economics work themselves out.

What "major" oil company would want it? Why the hell would someone buy that place and put themselves in the situation of dealing with all the NIMBY's around here? Let it close. If anything, the government could help by making some of the millions of BLM lands in the middle of the Mojave available for building a refinery or two. Get them out of the Valley and in a place no one will ever see them. I hope gas prices go back up anyway. I wanted them to get over $8.00 a gallon and stay there long enough to choke us off oil all together. It will happen eventually.

Well, Florida.  I'll make an attempt to answer your question...although it remains to be seen just what exactly CAN be done.

At this point, I would say that if the refinery doesn't sell, it will be mothballed.  That would take 6% diesel and 2% gasoline refining capacity off the California market. (not to mention the increased capacity the new Clean Fuels Project could bring in) .

We would lose hundreds of jobs, scar numerous small businesses and lose a huge chunk of tax revenue.  If anything can be done to stop that from happening, it should be pursued.  I don't advocate pouring governmental monies into the bankruptcy situation.  However, if the government can help in any way to market the plant via tax credits (remember....some tax revenue is better than NO tax revenue)  or to call up their contacts with the big oil companies (like Chevron) to see if there is interest.........WHY NOT?

If there are any employees at Flying J that are searching for resources...or have questions about benefits etc.  please use this forum to ask away.

Because layoffs were done with virtually no notice last week, many people don't know how to contacts others that  might be able to help them.

If any of you have any trouble receiving unemployment monies, please contact  the office of Jean Fuller or Roy Ashburn.  They may be able to expedite your claim if for any reason there is an unexpected delay.   Good luck everyone!