Grr, oil and gas prices

[Lady's Human]

Actually, between taxes, restrictions on drilling, weak (nonexistent) fuel economy standards, restrictions on exploration, and not providing a regulatory environment friendly to alternative energy sources and research, (when was the last nuke power plant built in the US), the US Government does a great deal to give OPEC power they would not otherwise have.

NIMBY (not in my backyard) also plays a giant factor. Alternative energy is a nice thought, but when people try to get windfarms going, they are fought tooth and nail by the same people who are, on the surface, pushing for an end to dependence on oil. Senator Kennedy has killed a very promising windfarm in Massachusetts because it would spoil his view. There has been a wind farm proposed for central NY, but it too has been killed by people who don't like the asthetics of the proposal.

We only charge as much as is necessary for the government to keep buying it.

The government doesn't buy petroleum products other than those the government needs, which are purchased at market prices minus federal and state taxes. All other petro products in the US are controlled by private enterprise.