and in the Gulf of Mexico, which would have increased supply and reduced our import of oil from the volatile Middle East. If we had started drilling in ANWR when first approved by Republicans, and had encouraged construction of new oil refineries, we simply would not have the shortages - real and imaginary - that we do today.
Democrats also added to today’s crisis by passing a Windfall Profits Tax against oil companies in 1980, right after a similar big jump in retail prices. The effect was a decline in both new or improved oil refineries, and a curtailment of exploration for new oil reserves.
The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service reported in 1990 that the effect of the 1980-87 Windfall Profits Tax, "reduced domestic oil production between 3 and 6 percent, and increased oil imports from between 8 and 16 percent ... this made the U.S. more dependent upon imported oil."
2007-05-29
01:49:32
·
17 answers
·
asked by
ThorGirl
4
in
Politics