Another crisis manufactured on the left
Investor's Business Daily has a few words on rising gas prices - Refined Tastes:

Energy: Gasoline prices are soaring again, especially in the West. Is this another oil company "conspiracy" to jack up prices? Or is something else at work?

You've probably seen the images on the evening news: long lines of frustrated drivers snaking out of Phoenix-area stations, sometimes waiting hours for a turn at the pump. You might also have seen pictures of gas station marquees in California, where prices topped $2 a gallon.
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It didn't take much, really. A few unplanned refinery shutdowns in California for maintenance and the like. A refinery breakdown in Washington. A ruptured gas pipeline in Arizona. That kind of stuff.

But it had an immediate impact on gasoline prices. Is this just another instance of oil industry "gouging"?

Hardly. Go back to the last time gas prices soared, in 2000. After that, Congress turned its dogs loose on the oil industry to find out what malevolent role, if any, it played in causing the sudden price surge. The answer came back: none.

This time around, the oil industry may again provide a tempting target for PR-hungry pols and angry environmentalists.

Ya think? Howie Dean is probably warming up his tonsils.

Again, it's the wrong target. Crude oil prices are actually edging down; only gasoline prices are rising. Something else is at work.

Who deserves the blame? There are many culprits. The green movement. America's rampant NIMBYism. Washington's urge to overregulate air quality.

No matter how it's argued, our current energy woes stem from one thing: We don't have enough refineries to make fuel.
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The last time a new oil refinery was built in the U.S. was in 1976, and obviously quite a bit has changed since. Like about 28 million more cars on the road. And those cars, though more fuel-efficient, are guzzling more gas than ever — 40% more, the Federal Highway Commission says.

We have fewer oil refineries to make more gasoline — and more types of gasoline — than ever. Today there are about 150 refineries in the U.S., down from more than 300 as recently as 1980. From just a few types of gas back in the 1960s and 1970s, the U.S. now requires 13 types across the country.

So any shortfall anywhere, as now in the West, instantly turns into higher prices. You see, people can't just go elsewhere and buy more. That's the tragedy of so-called boutique gasolines.

The shortage of refineries reminds me of the creaky power grid. And the asinine requirement for 13 different types of gasoline is typical bureaucratic Wonderland. Thanks, ecoweenies!