by Tom Port
Opening 12:03 pm
Our virtual meeting opened with: R.I. President is “Holger Knaack” and his theme is: “Rotary Opens Opportunities”, the expectation is for Rotarians to create opportunities that strengthen their leadership, help put service ideas into action, and improve the lives of those in need.
Greeter: Julie McKinney presented the “thought for the day” and led us in the flag salute. McKinney: At end of this day and end of my life I hope I will have contributed more thanhsvecriticized.”
Greeter’s Profile: Julie is expecting an exciting weekend, Renee and Chris will come to lake. She expects a fun boating weekend. Social distancing will be practiced, of course.
Welcome Song – “Aloha” was virtually proclaimed by all attending.
Fun News: Chris offered some humorous excerpts from the “news”.
Announcements:
Online Auction: Terry Koehne and Norbert Walz. Norbert has encountered a slowdown on items being turned over. Please hand them in. The club has voted that each member will contribute $250 cash or the equivalent from their auction items. Gary Sloan has been terrific in recruiting sponsors.
Virtual Gala: Vera says her Lazerex auction was very successful. It raised $300,000 in one hour and one half. Next year it will be virtual again.
Colette Lay: Care packages will be prepared for troops in the next few months. Mike Conklin approves.
Keynote Speaker Oct. 11th: Ana’s father Renan Dominguez will be keynote speaker. Let’s rally behind that.
Julie McKinney: The raffle is returning and starts today. Everybody’s name is in if you are in attendance. Gallagher has contributed a $50.00 gift card. In the future we will sell tickets and the charge will appear on your Rotary bill.
Greeter Schedule: Karen McNamara emailed it. Also, our Guatemala student sent a letter which has been emailed
Recognitions/Acknowledgements
McKinney hit Chris for $25
Birthdays: Hermann Welm – Susette Sept. 11th They went out to dinner. $30.
Norbert Walz – Jo Sept. 20th The had planned on daughter and son in law, but they just had their own celebration. They took a walk around Blackhawk. Fine? $30.
Alan & Jennifer Love (Anniversary) 25th Sat. to Placerville.
Jerald & Dana Marrs (Anniversary) 29th Next Tuesday. He will report
Program:
Robert Brown, Director, Bay Area Region of Western States Petroleum Association gave a virtual talk on the petroleum industry’s role in our economy.
This is a turbulent time for our industry. Many changes are coming. California’s population has increased from 18.6 million on ’65 to 39.2 now. There has been a drop in demand for fossil fuels due to covid-19. There were 40 refineries then; now we have 12, yet the state consumes 15.2 billion gallons per year.
California is an energy island due in part to the state’s clean energy goals. The industry is very highly regulated at the state, local, regional and federal levels. CA has the strictest environmental and safety demands anywhere. We use all the fuels we produce. 30% comes from Kern county, 10% from Alaska. The rest is shipped in. We also share our product with NV and Ore.
The industry provides 365,970 total jobs and 21.8 billion in tax revenue. It is 2.1 % of California’s GDP. The industry employs a diverse workforce with high wages; the average is $80,00 per year. 36 % work in construction and extraction, while 14% are involved with production.
Although California is moving to renewable energy for transportation, as of now, 90% of our transport is fueled by oil and gas and a 30% population increase is anticipated.
While the air is actually cleaner and operations producing 1.7 billion barrels per day are safer, the public may not appreciate these improvements. Meanwhile, the industry is facing very aggressively pro-environment legislators
Regarding the cost of gas at the pump, 47.3 cents goes to excise is taxes; 18.4 cents goes to federal excise taxes, 22.8 cents are for low carbon fuel. 14.3 goes to cap and trade. 7.5 state and local sales taxes. It all totals about 1.12 per gallon.
Our Governor wants to look at hydraulic fracturing and there is pressure from environmentalist, but if you lock up in-state production it leads to more imports and they have much lower standards.
A ban on gas powered vehicles beginning with the 2015 model year is proposed, but many just can’t afford electric cars. They still demand traditional energy products.
The recent blackouts are a reminder to hit the pause button in regard to closing power plants. Renewables will take time. Unfortunately, the Air Resources Board puts out deadlines often without consideration of local permitting delays.
So, the industry faces numerous challenges.
Raffle:
Karen McNamara took the prize.
