Congress is finally back in session and, suprisingly, it didn’t take long to find a Republican actually being a Republican. Sen. Inhofe (R-OK):

The minority is so eager to blame others for high gas prices they seem to ignore the fact that they do not bother to consult the media when they have a deadline. I am more interested in reducing high gasoline prices for American families than to bluster the selfish political advantage, unlike the minority.

I took the time to consider the nonpartisan experts of the Energy Information Administration and what they had to say. According to the EIA, there are three reasons leading to high gasoline prices. First, the Nation has not fully recovered from hurricane damage. Twenty percent of the domestic oil production and three refineries, representing nearly 5 percent of refining capacity, remain offline. However, offshore production is resuming and refineries are restarting. The EIA points out that the industry delayed maintenance to maximize production following the hurricanes. Today they must switch over to summer blends.

Yet the focus is on the politics. The senior Senator from New York charged the refiners are purposely withholding capacity from traditionally operating at 90 percent to the current operation of 85 percent. In demanding an investigation, that Senator also implied that the refiners should not maintain their facilities to ensure a safe work environment for employees or they should not switch to special summer blends.

One thing was clear. The senior Senator from New York did not bother to consider the fact that nearly 5 percent of domestic refining capacity is still offline due to hurricanes. Mr. President, 90 percent minus 5 percent equals 85 percent, as the investigation found.

Second, companies are increasing inventories to hedge against potential disruption in the future. Most of the time, the minority would call such risk management responsible but not when they celebrate the misfortune of the American people.

The third reason has to do with MTBE, and I won’t get into that. I will only say this. I am the chairman of a committee that is called the Environment and Public Works Committee. It is our responsibility to handle most of the problems. We are in an energy crisis. There is no question about it. But for any Democrat to stand on the floor of this Senate and try to point the finger at Republicans for high gasoline prices is really absurd.

I have sat there and watched the votes take place. We are not able to vote on ANWR in northern Alaska. Right down party lines, Republicans are supporting it, the Alaskans are supporting it, the Democrats are opposing it. We are not able to go offshore and take advantage of the tremendous reserves that are there. It is right down party lines. Right down party lines they stopped us from being able to have tax incentives to go after marginal production.

I am from a State that has marginal production. There is a statistic that if we had all the marginal production flowing today that has been plugged in the last 10 years, it would be more than we are currently importing from Saudi Arabia.

Lastly, in the area of nuclear energy, it goes right down party lines.

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