http://energycommerce.house.gov/108/...Refineries.pdf
From the link above;
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Lack of U.S. refineries drives up costs at the pump. No new refinery has been constructed in the United States since 1976. There are 148 operating refineries in the United States, down from 324 in 1981. For the first seven months of 2005, total capacity at operating refineries was 17 million barrels per day, while total United States demand averages nearly 21 million barrels per day. This growing gap is met by an increasing amount of imports of refined products from foreign sources. We currently import 12 percent of our refined gasoline.
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Merlin;
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My point was simply: the more oil produced in the U.S., the less that needs to be imported (a somewhat costly activty that tends to increase the price). Was any part of your reply aimed at that fact?
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WE, us, the United States doesn’t have enough refineries to supply our countries needs! Having more oil available to process doesn’t mean they can refine more or faster for that matter, the way you are suggesting???
Are we talking about the same thing???
Same link;
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According to economic analysis, households are conservatively estimated to spend around $1,900 this year on gasoline, up 45 percent from three years ago and households with incomes under $15,000 (20 percent of all households) this year will spend, on average, more than 10 percent of their income just on gasoline.
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Merlin;
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Actually, it does, but that's neither here nor there. In any case, it sounds like you are describing a phenomena known as "inflation". For example, in 1920 the real price of gas (excluding taxes) was twice as high as in 1995.
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We talking about the same 1920’s when most people didn’t have cars, or for the most part never went more than 50 miles from their home in their entire life, except maybe when they fought in the war, or were not dependent on gasoline in general??? Nice cover but it’s not in any way comparable to 1995 by any stretch of the imagination!!!
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Inflation- economics higher prices: an increase in the supply of currency or credit relative to the availability of goods and services, resulting in higher prices and a decrease in the purchasing power of money
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Call it what you want, but 45% more in 3 years is a bit higher than the inflation rate for the same 3 years??? But you think it isn’t the cost of the product rising, but inflation??? I don’t think so???
Merlin;
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If I am naive, shouldn't it be rather easy for you to present mountains of evidence proving that every Justice on the Supreme Court is in the pocket of Big Oil? I'll just wait for that, then...
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Actually you are the one trying to make the case for their favoritism’s, not me?? I asked you if you believed;
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Never in the history of the US has there ever been any evidence that a judge took a bribe or had personal opinions that swayed their decision, or ever based their decision on other beliefs such as religion, race, creed, or the simple threat of financial stability???
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Do you believe no judge has ever made a decision based on other beliefs other than the “law”?
Then I offered an excellent example of how the court justices have ignored the law, and made decisions on one of those other variables;
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This the same supreme court that said we have to provide medical and educational benefits for illegal trespassers, so they can continue to live illegally among us??? Hmmm, you don’t suppose they might have been swayed by the fact that sending all those Mexicans back to Mexico, where they belong, would have a considerable short term negative effect on their personal portfolio, would it???
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Cause in this example, they certainly didn’t make that decision based on the laws on the books, that says it is illegal to hire, harbor, transport, or aid an abed, known criminals, AKA illegal aliens!!! It would seem highly probable that they took into count the damage that may be sustained, overall, in areas like the stock market, or their own pocketbook, if they put a legitimate choke hold on any industry for any and all indiscretions???
Still from the link above;
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Our national security is threatened by a growing reliance on foreign sources of refined petroleum products. It serves the national interest to increase refinery capacity for gasoline, heating oil, diesel fuel and jet fuel wherever located within the United States, to bring more supply to the markets for use by the American people.
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And as I said before, neither side of the extremist level (environmentalists, or corporate oil companies) want them built!! Environmentalists because of the oil companies blatant disregard for the environment, or the oil companies, creating a situation where prices would “have” to go down!!
Merlin;
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My point is that innovation is quite capable of occurring independent of government funding (as was the case with the first oil well drilled in Titusville, PA in 1859).
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To replace whale oil with kerosene, not gasoline??? Not yet anyway!!!
http://www.priweb.org/ed/pgws/histor...sylvania2.html
Interesting story!! Investors were in the process of shutting down the operation when the drilling crew saw oil seeping! At about 69 feet they struck oil, but they weren’t the first!!! The first actual oil wells were dug for water and faithfully abandoned when the dreaded oil came to the surface. Pennsylvania became the supplier for ½ of the worlds oil needs, until the boom in Texas, and again they stepped down with the Texas/Saudi connection, that granddaddy Bush was instrumental in creating, that still survives today!!
Yes I believe it is possible for an innovative individual to stumble across the answer to most of our prayers, a viable alternative!! But with the government catering to corporate entities, many of those innovative ideas are squashed before they get a chance to fully develope!!! The sad part is the idea may be collecting dust on the shelf of the patent office??
Which is why I think it is a total waste of money to give oil companies access to more government money to try and put themselves out of business???
Since it is a matter of national security, we should put every effort into seeing that research (real research) is accomplished to find a "real" solution!! NASA, has already shown that we as a country can indeed “do” the impossible if we put our collective resources together, to find an alternative, or refine one of the many innovations we may already have like solar, etc…
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