Refiner's fire: Uinta Basin on a quest for its own refinery

Salt Lake refineries currently accept about 17,000 barrels of black wax crude a day, which amounts to 20 percent of the available capacity for that product, according to Utah oil producers. Essentially, producers say, they could supply five times as much if refineries weren't buying cheaper non-Utah crude.

"We are building this huge inventory, and we are having to shut wells," Jurrius said of the eastern Utah oil producers. "That's bad for the state."

He doesn't want to direct blame at the refineries, but Jurrius said the trouble is "economically tearing our head off.

"If they want to use their capacity in a different way, that's fine, but it's still a huge problem for the state, and the state should be saying, 'Let's solve this problem."'

U.S. Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, said it is "incredibly frustrating" to see high gas prices while a Utah resource like black wax crude sits with no place to send it.

"I think we need more refinery capacity," he said. "If we had that, it would create price relief for Utah consumers."

There are currently 132 refineries in the country. Hurricane Katrina wiped out 20 percent of the nation's refining capacity.

Rep. Joe Barton, a Texas Republican, has led a push in Congress to fast-track refinery construction. Federal Election Commission documents show Jurrius is a contributor to Barton's political campaign.

President Bush, on the heels of Hurricane Katrina, also urged more refinery construction.

But with property, permitting, environmental and transportation concerns to consider, actually fostering that type of construction is arduous.

Although more than 200 refineries have closed nationwide in the past 25 years, capacity has increased through expanded facilities. Matheson said that might be a better way to go than building entirely new refineries. He co-sponsored legislation he believes would encourage investment by allowing refineries to write-off capital expenses in one year rather than over time, giving them a tax benefit in that year. It has not come up for a vote.

Energizing the economy

When Jurrius moved to eastern Utah in 2000, he remembers driving past the row of businesses that supply equipment and support to the oil and gas industry. All was quiet. In the past year, business has been booming in the basin. Companies can't find enough workers, and the hub communities of Vernal and Roosevelt can't build houses fast enough.

"What drives that economy?" Jurrius asks. "It's not tourism. It's the energy business."