Gas Prices

Here in the South we have some panic attacks on the gas pumps since the word went out that there would be no or not enough gas soon. Everyone is faced with pump price shock here in the wake of Katrina. However, as you stand watching the total being summed up as you pump gas, keep the following in mind:

1. If ANWR drilling had been approved in 1995 when Clinton nixed it, we would be producing another million barrells of oil a day (5% of our total consumption) which would reduce gas prices, oil imports, and our susceptibility to things like Katrina.
2. Federal law prohibits energy exploration in the eastern Gulf of Mexico and the Continental Shelf plus much of the Rocky Mountains and the waters off California. According to the latest studies by the Industrial Energy Consumers of America, this has increased the price of natural gas by 83% in the past 41 months and cost consumers more than $111 billion.
3. We haven't built a gasoline refinery since 1976 because of environmental regulations and on top of that Congress has mandated 13 special blends of gasoline which add 4 to 8 cents to a gallon of gas. This also makes it more difficult to refine, store, and distribute these regional blends. The latest is a requirement to double the amount of ethanol used in gas which will raise gas prices and do little to clean the air.