why is gas so freakin high????? and why can we not make gas from our oil???
Ok, so I know we are TOTALLY dependent on foreign oil…but for 10 points and a best answer….why oh why can we not refine the oil we drill all across the United States and covert it into gasoline???? are we Americans not smart enough?? If you know the answer you should be rich and I wish it would work!!! remember 10 points for the Best answer!!!
May 9th, 2010 at 5:44 am
It became popular to shut down American refineries about the same time we shut down American steel mills. In the 70’s. Foreign oil was cheap, American oil was cheaper. President Carter raised taxes on business, and added tax to gasoline (it is now about 80 cents a gallon). Then Congress put a hold on American oil, "won’t allow our reserves to be used". Now the government is subsidizing alternative fuel, (which is more costly to manufacture than oil). They still won’t release our reserves, but, want us Foreign oil free in 20 years. We are smart, but, with special interest groups lobbying incompetent congressman and Senators for favors, it won’t change.
May 9th, 2010 at 5:44 am
Sunoco refines domestic oil.
May 9th, 2010 at 5:44 am
I wasn’t aware that the oil that we’re drilling isn’t being made into gasoline. The oil’s probably being used for other important uses like plastic if that’s true however, and if we started to use it for fuel, the price of other oil made products would go up. Gas is expensive though because we’re running out of it, and as the supply decreases and demand stays the same or even increases, the price increases. Another reason is that oil companies are likely gouging our gas prices, making them much higher than they should be selling it for. I think it was Chevron that just made the most profit it has ever made last year (that’s considering inflation, so it’s the most profit in proportion as well) as did several of the other leading gas companies. We need to investigate into these companies more and work to regulate on them more and make sure they’re not doing anything illegal.
May 9th, 2010 at 5:44 am
We are smart enough, but the government of our country doesn’t give two shits about us. All they care about is padding their own pockets. They’re the REASON for all of the problems we have in the country today. Take a look at it, most of the "hot issues" in the USA are ignored by the government. There’s what the people want and what they do…and they never match.
Don’t get me wrong, I love America, but we need political officials who actually care about the people, not their own personal agendas.
May 9th, 2010 at 5:44 am
The short answer is that the US is already converting its considerable petroleum production to gasoline, as fast as it can. But US petroleum production has been declining for years, and political difficulties (we could be drilling more on Alaska’s North Slope, and on the US coasts) have kept production down. The petroleum market is worldwide, and Chinese drivers are competing with US drivers, as well as people from hundreds of other countries, for the available oil. With oil now at about $100 a barrel, gas prices have no place to go but up. The next time you feel like griping about high gas prices, ask how your Representative and Senators voted on the proposal to drill for oil in the ANWR. (At present, every caribou on the North Slope effectively gets a subsidy of about $25,000 a year so as not to have to look at an oil rig.)
May 9th, 2010 at 5:44 am
Hello,
Well the reason why gas prices are so high is because the USA is heavily dependent on foreign oil as stated in your question. The reason why is because the United States does not get enough oil from there own sources to supply the demands of the country. There for country’s like Canada, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela, Iraq, and other country’s.
A large amount of the oil that the US imports is from the middle east, if you want a straight forward answer, war in these regions has threatened the oil resources and operations in these areas. Most Recently Pakistand has become extreamly unstable and the threat of Islamic extremist getting there hands on nuclear weapons from Pakistan has caused fear in the markets.
As well, after Hurricane Katrina, Oil company’s learned that people will complain about prices but are still willing to spend over $3.00 a gallon or $1.10/L CND for gas. now the Oil Company’s are now using fear from conflict to increase Oil prices….