President Bush is Not at Fault for Rising Gas Prices
As gas prices continue to skyrocket, many political experts believe Republicans will pay the price in the voting booth come November. Though most bipartisan observers of the oil industry say the President has little impact on the price of fuel at our nation's gas pumps, Bush needs to be defended in this particular case.
Many of the reasons oil prices have reached new highs stems from environmental restraints upon the industry. For example, there are ten refineries nationwide which have the ability to convert the crude oil America imports from nations like Saudi Arabia into gasoline. With the help of Democrats, radical environmentalists have made the construction of new refineries virtual impossible. Environmental restrictions have limited the number of refineries to ten when 100 would be a more appropriate number to serve America's oil consumption. The U.S. currently produces 46% of the oil consumed at home. Canada provides 11% of the crude used in the U.S. and the balance of oil comes from OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries), many of which are hostile to the United States. Experts point to the fact a ridiculous number of gasoline blends are required to meet EPA standards across the nation. Absurd restrictions have also been put on research and drilling in new sites like the minute area in ANWR (Arctic National Wildlife Refuge). In addition, environmentalists have put a virtual halt to the construction of nuclear plants in America, putting further pressure on exhaustible fossil fuels. This, in reality, has a negative impact on the environment, while nuclear energy is far safer and cleaner than many alternative fuels. Environmentalists have also restricted offshore drilling, which would further lessen U.S. dependence on foreign imports of oil.
Indeed, the strategy of many radical environmentalists, including former Vice-president Al Gore, has been to drive up the price of oil and gasoline to the point where its use is beyond the means of many Americans. Unfortunately, these policies primarily hurt the poor who do not frivolously take long vacations by car or by air. The poor use gasoline to get to work or take their children to school or to the doctor. Since many Democrats have decided to make oil prices a partisan issue, it's time to place the blame where it truly belongs.
Have the profits of the oil industry been exorbitant? Yes. Should the industry make a better effort to chip in at a time when America is at war? Again, the answer is "yes." But if Americans are truly looking for someone to blame, besides the oil industry itself, the first place they should look are to those who support restrictions on research, development and refinement of new oil sources and those who see nuclear energy as something which cannot be considered. For the most part, responsible environmentalism is something we can all agree on. But there are those within the environmental movement who are not responsible and deserve much of the blame for skyrocketing gas prices.
