Who's fault is it that gas prices are so high?

Question

At work, this one guy was telling me that is was completely the fault of environmentalist. And because of the greenies gas prices are so high. Plus he said that because of the environmentalist, we are not digging up more oil.

I do not think its true, can you please help me understand more. - with facts if possible.

Answer 1

The buck stops with the Commander in Thief who is also an oil man.  We will need to eliminate the need for fossil fuels. Our government is rewarding oil company  windfall profits with tax incentives.  That should tell you something.

Answer 2

Its the fault of our selfish government who cares more about their own agenda instead of the will of the citizens of the United States.

Answer 3

Its the fault of people who didn't want to pay their next door neighbor a decent wage to make their tennis shoes.  So they got him fired and bought tennies made by Chinese slaves for $1 a day.  Only now those Chinese have saved up enough money to buy a car.

Answer 4

environmentalists are one reason [not a big one]...reasons are 1..oil is bought/sold in dollars...value of dollars has been falling for years....2..many oil fields are old and drying up....Mexico ,USA, North Sea...3..Fear in the middle east,Africa...4 increased demand...10 years ago India and China had a few hundred thousand cars...now a few hundred MILLION.. and you environmental problems...less drilling and stricter pollution limits...diesel is more refined to lower sulfur from 50 parts per million to 15 ppm..a huge difference..its why diesel and home heating oil has gone up 200 a gallon

Answer 5

If the fault can be laid at the feet of one man I say it's Jimmy Carter.  He proved to the entire world that the USA was no longer the great nation it once was and no longer had the muscle or the resolve to fight for our interests in the Middle East.

In short,  he let Iran p**s on us and as a result most of the world has been pissing on us ever since.

Answer 6

i think only india, china and US can actually influence gas/food prices as consumers. they are the big players in global price as of now

Answer 7

There are many many reasons why gas prices are so high.

Yes, environmentalists are a reason, but not by far the biggest one.

If you look at the fact the US imports the majority of its oil instead of digging our own wells, and the dollar is tanking in the world market due to many different factors (including the housing market/bank loan/credit crunch), we just can't buy as much oil for the dollar as we used to.

When the Middle East got pissy with us back in the 70's and early 80's, we started buying a large portion of our oil from Venezuela, who had just started developing their oil reserves.  Now that Chavez has decided that he is a dictator and hates the US, he nationalized all of the oil production and refining in his country.  Now Exxon, Chevron, and Phillips who all had refineries there have had their operations taken over at gun point and have lost all of the resources they previously had, costing them billions.  When you buy Citgo products, you are supporting a Venezuelan Dictator.  We now have to go back to finding other sources, Including but not limited to the Middle East.

The problem with that is we have to bid against developing nations like China and India for the oil.  And they can afford to pay more for the actual oil since it doesn't have to be shipped so far.  Again, causing the prices we have to pay to rise.

Back during the late 70's, a huge portion of the wells we had in Texas and Oklahoma were capped due to environmental concerns.  Drilling in Alaska is being protested by environmentalist with agendas.  Offshore drilling is still an option, but it is hideously expensive to do, and you still have to be careful of shipping lanes and environmental hazzards.  

And there is always greed to deal with.  Gas prices will always go up during the summer and on holiday weekends because that is when people travel the most.   Greed is what runs the county now, not reasonable profit.

Answer 8

welcome to the real world.

in this world, we have a market that determines prices with a system called Supply and Demand.

When we demand 27million barrels of oil per day and the supply is max'ed out at 25 million barrels perday, that is a shortfall of 2 million barrels PER DAY...

So now the oil goes to the highest bidder.

The answer to this problem is to increase the oil supply.

Increase oil production or decrease oil use - or price it to the point where the lowest bidder doesn't get oil.

Congress just defeated a bill that would increase the oil production.

Congress is ANTI-AMERICAN.

Answer 9

the gas companies are greedy and george bush owns oil wells and stock in them

Answer 10

Simple supply and demand.

China and India along with Asia are ramping up demand. Meanwhile many in government prevent upgrading and building new refineries(no new refinery in the US since the '70's),prevent exploration and drilling in the US. They tax the c**p out of oil companies who will happily sell to other countries. This constricts supply and compounds our dependence on OPEC.

The big profiteer is the Fed but they want to make you believe it's "big oil". Big oil is people like you and me with 401k investments.

The bill just shot down in the Senate would have drastically raised the price of gas, created the biggest tax hike in US history, and made the biggest increase in  the size of our bloated Federal government since the new deal.

Your local socialist gubermint school will tell you otherwise and blame it on free enterprise.

Answer 11

There are many factors for gas prices. Basically it comes down to supply and demand.

Major things that affect supply:

War / conflicts in the middle east

Natural disasters

Government regulations (this is where environmentalist can play a role)

(Oil companies controlling supply - not conclusive but some people believe it is being done)

Major things that affect demand:

Countries trying to develop their economy through production

Travel (airplanes)

Price of alternate fuels (natural gas)

So yes in a way I could see how environmentalist could affect the price but I would not put them on the top of the list.

Answer 12

It is not who but why that gas prices are so high.  Why, greed and financial gain.  The price of crude oil has sky rocketed over the last couple of years, especially the last few months because the US dollar is not doing well compared to other currency (thanks george).  So investors buy things that have more security like oil futures.  Here is one part of the supply and demand theory, there is a limited amount of this commodity so as the demand rises for this investment opportunity, the price also rises.

The oil companies and their investors also add to this spiral.  If the corporation is not earning at least 6% - 8% on their investments then corporate heads will roll.  So after paying $134 a barrel for oil futures, then there is a profit margin that is tacked on to that price.

Lack of oil (?).  In many ways it appears there is an inadequate supply of oil on the world market and that is probably true.  Here it comes down to why again.  Because the environmental movement has little or no influence in places like the middle east, south america and russia (very big oil producing areas) it is not likely that is wholly to blame.  In the 1970's there was the Arab oil embargo where the middle east was punishing the west for certain undefined sins.

This time the "embargo" is more general and not limited to the middle east.  Every oil producing nation, including the US, is cashing in on $134 a barrel oil futures.  When I say each nation I mean the INVESTORS in each country.  A few  years ago when the price of gas over climbing over $2 a gallon, the oil companies claimed there was a shortage of product because Hurricane Katrina, refinery fires, planned shut downs, etc...  Well yes there was a shortage of sorts but it was not gas but profits.

I've rambled/ranted enough except in one regard.  Since the present administration has been in Washington the US has never seen/experienced the kind of personal wealth of the top part of the economic stratum since the robber baron days of the late 1800's and early 1900's.  I often wonder WHY that has occurred.

Answer 13

Ditto on what Piefkeho has posted. There is plenty of oil in the world. There are many reserves and new wells being put in place, the industry is holding back production to keep the money flowing and speculators are biting like sharks, the more they bite, the higher the price. Worldwide Investment bankers and speculators are the biggest culprits here. People are starting to smarten up to their game. Wait until investment regulations kick in, then we will be better informed. Things will have to get much worse before anything can happen. When economies start collapsing and people start going hungry, riots and pandemonium will take over.

Answer 14

It is called supply and demand. The more the world uses oil the more the demand so they can raise the price till people stop buying it. What is also adding to the dilemma is what is called "Index speculation", big investors using pension funds etc. are buying what is called "Futures" you can buy them in any commodity and this is like buying a bunch of oil at the current price in anticipation it is going up. This is wrong as it creates a false demand for the oil thus driving up the price.

Answer 15

the truth that we don't much oil resources to dig up

the environmentalist are just saying to reduce the rate of use of petrol so that it lasts much longer

the rise in petrol is due to depletion of known resources in the planet and our excessive use

Answer 16

We need to to this .............

The Democratic Comprehensive Energy Plan To Lower Gasoline Prices

This is how we will do it. And this why we will do it.

This country has so much under used industrial capacity in our

Auto Plants, Airplane Plants, Steel Plants and Electronics Plants to

make America Energy Independent in 2 to 5 years. We can build enough

windmills and solar power and wave generation energy plants to

replace 90% of all of the electricity generated by COAL and NATURAL

GAS.

For $400 Billion we could build 400,000 windmills and provide

electricity for every home in America .

The Coal and Natural Gas saved by Green Replaceable Elecrrical

Generation can now be used to make fuel for cars, trucks, busses,

boats and airplanes, and or plastics, chemicals, fertilizers and

pharmacuticals.

We need a comprehensive plan that puts America back to work in

endeavors that benefit 99% of America.

Howard Scott Pearlman

and

Tony Mullen