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" The letter writer is correct. one thing he did forget to mention however is that Maxine Waters has clearly stated what the democrats plans are for exxon mobile and other oil companies in this country. they want to take over the oil industry and make it socialist somehow. they want to control all of it. check out youtube. it comes from her own mouth. the federal government has no right to tell a business owner how much profit they can make. no matter how small or large. people have lost sight as to what the job of the federal government is. "

" It is now the equivalent of an urban legend that restrictive environment regulation is the reason that refinery capacity is insufficent. Every country closely regulates such matters, not just the U.S. The real reason for restricted refinery capacity is that until fairly recently, it provided ample supplies of oil. The oil companies didn't build because its wasn't an issue. Now with catastrophic profits, they are also slow off the mark, which is hardly surprising, but a very different story. "

" Leroy Republican asks a pertinent question "Why aren't the oil companies updating the infrastructure?

Let me take a crack at answering that. It takes about 20 years to get the permits to start up a refinery. I am not speaking in any theoretical sense. A consortium of oil companies that is trying to build a refinery near Yuma Arizona has spent that much time threading the tortuous path of regulatory compliance at federal, state, and local levels. Oil companies prefer to incrementally increase the production at existing plants, but what the country needs is a bunch of smaller plants so that when one plant burns down, as the plant in South Illinois did a few years ago, it doesn't take away 10% of the refining capacity for the whole region.

Electric companies are required to have 10% spinning reservings. We should require the petroleum industry to have excess capacity and Congress needs to get off the dime and create a path so companies can build more refineries without having to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in regulatory compliance costs. "

" to Leroy and Wat, did you notice the shortage of gas at every gas station? If not, then maybe there is not a shortage, you think? "

" I agree with Wat Tyler and the biggest question one must ask is: WHY aren't the Oil Companies updating the infrastructure? With record profits every year it's not like they don't have the money. "

" The biggest problem with Oil right now is that we have not increased our infrastructure as much as we have increased our demand. Shipping is maxed out, ALL oil tankers are currently booked up for the next 5 years. We need more super tankers to move the oil from Nigeria, Venezuela and the Gulf. We need a pipe line to move the oil outside of the straits of Hormuzz to avoid the massive congestion there.

We need more refineries. Refineries are currently running at about 97% capacity and the USA does not have enough refinery capacity to meet demand. We need more pipelines to move crude and refined petroleum products to the markets. And we need to reduce the regulatory burden on construction of Oil infrastructure. Alternatively we can continue to pay these high prices and watch our economy go into the dumpster.
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" Thank goodness Congress can't prevent oil drilling in Alaska. While they have been able to prevent drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve, the National Petroeum Reserve, a 23,000,000 acre tract is available. President Bush has authorized the Bureau of Land Management (BLM to you TLA addicts) to sell leases for oil and gas exploration. There are currently 8 approved APDs (Applications for Permits to Drill) and 36 pending. Don't hear too much about the successful efforts of this administration to improve oil supplies, I guess the administration doesn't want to rile the environmentalists. "

" Speculation of oil prices costs us an additional 60% and the devaluation of the dollar. "

" Oh Ryan, did you forget about the over $18 billion in corporate welfare that the Congress GIVES to the oil industry each and every year? Give it a rest. Blame does not solve the problems. Yes, the Congress is the problem. They cowtow to big oil money, to big insurance money, to big pharmaceutical money, to private bankers running the Federal Reserve, which is not really Federal but private corporate banks. If you just have to blame, blame GREED. Greed in the mindset of the individuals in all of the above mentioned groups. "

" In 2006, before the elections, Nancy Pelosi told us that she had an energy plan which would lower the cost of gasoline and would be passed by Congress within 100 days. So far, that plan has never been submitted. Must have slipped her mind. "

" Ryan, you're correct that we should be tapping ANWR, etc., but that's not why oil prices suddenly skyrocketed from before the war at $27 to currently $127. Congress indeed SHOULD be blamed - not only for closing off ANWR, but for the REAL reason for $127 oil which is the idiotic, insane, ignorant war in Iraq. Let's also not entirely let off the oil companies. Who do you think killed the electric car? I suspect it was not only our OWN oil companies but OPEC, and indeed, Bush is controlled by both, not the auto companies. Also, frankly, I think it's possible that the oil companies were in on getting the war going as well and literally have inside information. If an oil driller DOESN'T know what oil prices will be in the future, he shorts his supply so as not to LOSE money if the price goes DOWN. The fact that oil companies are making record profits means they're probably doing some long speculating on their own product, which presumes inside information on oil prices. "

" You're living in a fantasy world if you think our heavily regulated economy bears any resemblance to a free market economy. "

" take a look in sunday's viewpoint section to see how our lib dem senators voted on the GOP energy plan to open Anwar and coastal areas to oil drilling. I'm sure it's Bush's fault that the wacko libs won't let us get some of the oil in our own backyard. if only we could figure how to tap all that wasted, two-faced hot air that pours out of both of our senators mouths!! "

" This writer is almost completely wrong. 1) More revenue does not mean more jobs. Look at the coal industry in Illinois. 80 years ago there were twenty times as many people mining coal than today and yet more is mined today and with higher profits. Higher profits can be accomplished in multiple ways but the two best are artificially raising the price and cutting labor. 2) The oil industry stopped exploration years ago as they know where most of the oil is already. 3) The oil industry is one of the biggest controllers of Congress and the White House. Look at Cheney, Bush, etc. all oil men. 4) 20 billion barrels of oil wouldn't even supply the US for three years. I could go on, but it's short sighted thinking like this that is the problem, not any one group of people. "

" As long as weare forced to buy oil from foreign countries we are slaves to the speculators that buy the oil futures. There is no shortage of gas at the pumps. Simply stop buying from OPEC at $126.00 per barrel and start pumping it from the local sources. Send it to the refinery for 50 to 60 dollars a barrel and watch rthe price go down. Oil can be harvested and transported with very little impact on the invironment!!! "

" Oh Ryan, set back and count your oil stocks. "

" It's not so much the un-tapped oil as it is the fact that we haven't increased refinery capacity in over 30 years. You can pull all the oil out the Gulf of Mexico, ANWAR, and other places, but our refineries are already operating at over 95% capacity. "