From today’s Houston Chronicle (H/T Prairie Pundit).

Refiners right now have to pay $3 — roughly 84 percent of the current gallon of gas price — just to cover the cost of crude on global markets and gasoline taxes, said John Felmy, chief economist with the American Petroleum Institute, the main oil lobbying group.

While more refinery output could cause a drop in the price in the short term, the long-term solution is to boost U.S. oil production, Felmy said.

“More U.S. barrels on crude markets would help drive down crude costs,” Felmy said.

The industry group has criticized the Obama administration’s energy policies that the API claims limits companies’ ability to lease and drill in offshore areas and on federal lands.

Felmy reaffirmed the group’s position on those issues and also restated API’s support of the Keystone XL pipeline, which could bring 700,000 barrels of crude a day from Canada to the U.S.

“The administration has not stepped up to the plate on any of this,” Felmy said.

Last week, the House passed a bill aimed at approving the 1,700-mile pipeline, expanding oil and gas production in new offshore areas and opening a small portion of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling.

Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, has called the bill “an action plan” to cut gasoline prices in the face of what he views as counterproductive Obama administration policies.

Democrats have panned that bill as an environmentally destructive measure that likely wouldn’t have any near-term impact on gasoline prices.

Notice a few things here.

The United States, if it developed its resources, would have the ability to be independent of the rest of the world as far as petroleum is concerned – or could at least rely only on friendly nations (Canada and Mexico, for example) for its oil needs.

Second, the oil industry and the GOP are actively trying to achieve that energy independence. Democrats – from Obama on down – are thwarting that goal.

Third, and most important – Democrats have done precisely this for years and then complain that the plans put forth by the GOP won’t solve problems in the “near term”. And they keep making that same complaint year after year after year – when getting out of the way would have meant that the problem would have been solved and they would have had nothing to complain about or criticize. For example, John Kerry complained that drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge was a bad idea because it might not bring any oil to market for a decade – back when the GOP proposed such drilling in 2001. He and his fellow Democrats still use that excuse today, in 20012 – despite the fact that it is now clear that drilling back in 2001 would have meant we would have access to that oil today as gasoline prices skyrocket. They refuse to act with a view towards the long term – and that is bad for America.

And that last point leads me to ask a question about Democrat politicians – do they ever get hungry? When they do, do they make themselves something to eat (or more likely their cooks – you can’t expect powerful Democrats to cook for themselves)? Or do they recognize that it will take time to prepare something to eat and therefore do nothing – after all, cooking a meal that won’t be ready for an hour does nothing to solve the problem of being hungry in the “near term”? Of course not, because they aren’t stupid enough to starve themselves to death (what a pity!) – merely to starve this nation of its needed and available energy resources.

By the way – Obama’s hand-picked DNC leader demonstrates the cluelessness of the no-drill Democrats when she COMPLAINS that the GOP wants to pursue proven energy resources rather than stake our future on speculative ones that have not been proved technologically or commercially viable. But then again, Obama is taking the same tack as he campaigns for reelection. They are, of course wrong – since nobody on either side of the partisan divide is talking about drilling only and not looking to the development of alternative fuel sources.