N.J. refinery about to shed jobs at the worst time | Editorial – nj.com

In what the trade press calls the first extended shutdown of an oil refinery in the Northeast prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic, PBF Energys Paulsboro Refinery is about to go into mothballs.

The immediate impact in and around Greenwich Township, Gloucester County, where the iconic facility actually is located, is the loss of 250 good jobs at a time when New Jersey cannot afford to absorb more layoffs.

PBFs announcement of the move, first reported by Bloomberg News, offers a sliver of light at the end of the pipeline. The company states the site could return to more-or-less normal operation if coronavirus-squashed fuel consumption bounces back.

PBF apparently will still make some niche products at Paulsboro, but its crude oil throughput will be moved mainly to PBFs Delaware City, Del., refinery.

If, indeed, this is the end of the line for the 180,000 barrel-a-day South Jersey facility, it halts a century of crude oil processing there. The cultural impact of the towers that have stood over Paulsboro and Gibbstown sine 1917 also cannot be underestimated. Known most of its life as the Mobil refinery, symbols of the companys old Pegasus trademark abound in the two municipalities. The refinery was sold by ExxonMobil to Valero Corp. in 1998 and then to PBF 10 years ago.

Nostalgia aside, idling the workers is a big loss to the South Jersey economy, regardless of what one thinks about fossil fuels to run our cars, air transportation and other industrial processes.

The workers are likely to be laid off by years end, underscoring the failure of Congress and President Donald Trump to approve a second coronavirus stimulus package. Shame on them. Unless stimulus legislation is signed soon, the PBF workers are likely to receive just New Jerseys basic unemployment benefits. Both a $600-a-week federal supplement, and a later $300-a-week boost for which New Jersey and several other states qualified, have expired.

If a PBF closure had happened a few years ago, we would have criticized local and state officials for not responding quickly when the cuts occurred, or failing to prevent a shutdown preceded by numerous red flags. That was the case when Gloucester Countys other major refinery, the Sunoco Eagle Point Refinery in West Deptford Township, closed in 2010.

Its doubtful that politicians saw this one coming, so they cant be blamed for not trying to change PBFs mind. At this point, refinery employment must be viewed as not coming back, regardless of what Trump says in his campaign. If Joe Biden really has a plan to replace dirty-energy jobs with green-energy ones, Gloucester County would be a great place to demonstrate it.

A national security case can be made that the Delaware Valley shouldnt surrender nearly all of its remaining oil processing capacity. The Philadelphia Energy Solutions refining complex was destroyed by an explosion and fire in June 2019, taking a whopping 335,000 barrels a day offline. The sites been sold to a developer with no intention to use it as an oil refinery. If its strategically important to add capacity back, the federal government must incentivize any reboot.

Acknowledge, though, that the long-term outlook for fossil-derived fuel is bleak. Electric cars are becoming more numerous. Oil pollutes, and the Paulsboro Refinery relies on hydrofluoric acid, a catalyst that environmental health activists cite as especially dangerous.

Short-term, were about to have 250 workers who need to be retrained. Will we have new jobs for them at that New Jersey Wind Port that Gov. Phil Murphy has vowed to build in Salem County? Piece of cake, since its supposed to deliver 1,500 permanent positions. Or, like the Port of Paulsboro, will a touted 1,000 jobs fail to materialize?

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N.J. refinery about to shed jobs at the worst time | Editorial - nj.com