Gas Prices -- Help at last?

Jay Honeck wrote:
Agreed, OT, and just another win for BIG OIL. I hope the senate has a
better handle on what subsidies look like and what profits are for...


Did you READ the article? There hasn't been a new refinery built in the
U.S. since I was a senior in high school -- 29 years ago!

Gee, don't you think that *maybe* we might have gone a wee bit too far with
gubmint regulations?

Yes, Jay.. I read the whole story.. and I knew that fact long before it
was posted in here.. (gasoline refineries). There HAVE however, been all
sorts of OTHER petrochemical units and operations built since then. I
participated in the new construction of a Polypropylene unit a little
over 10 years ago. The truth is.. the OLD gasoline refineries were all
grandfathered. They were permitted to operated DIRTY, and CHEAPLY. Tis
is all about profits.

The oil companies havent gone into bankruptcy in droves over 20 odd
years, if anything they have made money hand over fist. They have not
increased their refining capacity because it would decrease their
overall PROFIT margin. Building new refining capacity to "standard"
would drive their incremental cost of production UP, and eat into the
stockholders dividends. But make no mistake, it would still be PROFIT.

What we are celebrating is the deliberate browbeating of the elected
Republican representatives of the House by the Republican Leadership. I
will bet dollars to doughnuts that they made it clear - vote against us
and we will REPLACE you at the next election with another fellow
Republican who is loyal. The fact that the election was held open until
the bill passed supports that claim.

You want the truth about oil and gas prices? 5 weeks ago when the oil
prices his $70 or so a barrel, the gas prices popped up over $3 a gallon
within days. The OIL that was that expensive was still to be in the boat
being shipped over from Saudi and Venezuela for days to weeks longer. We
paid a premium on refined product that was already in the inventory.
Legalized price gouging, anyone?

You wanted OT.. you got it
Dave