Refining Refinery Hypocrisy
Those opposed to “big oil” never examine the hypocrisy of their own arguments. One of the driving factors in the increasing price of gasoline is the fact that no new refineries have been built in decades, thus constraining the supply. All the refineries in this country are working at 98 percent capacity and cannot do more safely. More refineries need to be built. As reported today the reason for the lack of new refineries and the high price of gas is:
We have not built a single new gasoline refinery since 1976, mainly because of environmental regulations and resultant costs, but we do have 13 special, congressionally mandated “boutique blends” of gasoline that add 4 to 8 cents a gallon to the price of gas.
Now contrast this with a statement reported today in the Honolulu-Advertiser by Jamie Court, president of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights:
the industry hasn’t built new refineries in decades and otherwise keeps supplies low, “so every disaster means a big hike in profits.”
Now, there is no doubt that Jamie Court and other NIMBYs would be the first to protest the building of new refineries anywhere based upon their narrow environmental considerations, yet these same people claim that lack of new refineries is due to some sort of planning and collusion upon the part of the oil industry.
The hypocrisy of this statement is beyond imagination. Logic and reason doesn’t matter to these people, only the advancement of their dreams of ever more government control of every aspect of life. As the article goes on to note later Court says:
The Congress and the statehouse need to focus on regulating (fuel) supplies in the same way they regulate electricity supplies,”
Oh yeah, that’s going to help assure an equitable supply of gasoline to the public. Just look how efficiently government bureaucracy operated in New Orleans.
Do these people ever learn anything?
(dn)