It's Not Our Fault There Aren't Enough Refineries

This blog is really cool. It is a mixture of Senators, Representatives and other political people. Today Ill. Dem. Rep. Jan Schakowsky had a good post on oil production and the refinery myth.

(Hill blog)The American Petroleum Institute (API) has encouraged oil companies to limit refining capacity in order to increase their profits. Internal memoranda from Chevron, Mobil, and Texaco document this. Oil companies have closed 178 refineries in the U.S. since 1980, and only one company, Arizona Clean Fuels, has filed for a permit to open a refinery. Even though that permit has been twice granted by the federal government, the company never opened the refinery.

Well then why are we hearing things like this?

(The Other WaPo)One way to solve the crunch, Republicans say, would be to speed up permits to build new refineries.

House leaders fast-tracked a proposal by Republican Reps. Joe Barton of Texas and Charles Bass of New Hampshire that would tap the Environmental Protection Agency to coordinate siting, permitting and approving of refineries.

So they use it for a political tool. It's the Democrats fault, they won't let us build new refineries. Whaaa. Maybe they shouldn't have closed so many to begin with!!