I'm sick of hearing about low refinery capacity or outages being a cause of gas prices! Why aren't more built?

I know it's not the only cause for gas prices, but why aren't more refineries being built? If it's an environmental issue, then why not just find a small to medium size town, build the refinery 20 miles away downwind, and have people commute to it? If it's because oil companies don't see the profit in paying for a new facility that results in lower prices at the pump, then why doesn't the government just step in and subsidize one? I'm sure the cost to the taxpayers would be outweighed eventually by cheaper gas and jobs created.

Answers:
This question was on the news yesterday. The answer given was, "People are saying they don't want such a thing in their home town or near their backyard."
That is a bunch of b.s. in my opinion. If the government allows the takeover of land by eminent domain to provide it to developers, why can't they do that for this fuel crisis?
Under this current administration, this and everything else has gone off the drawing board and went well beyond the 'nine yards.' I believe a march on Washington would be in order.
Oops, I got myself on a soap box.
The lack of refineries is a red herring used by the government to rationalize the drastic increases in prices in recent years. It is totally unrelated to the price of crude oil (also skyrocketing) and we have enough refineries for our needs. Gas prices are set by the oil-producing nations in combination with the major gasoline providers. The US government is in the pocket of the Saudis, which is why we have not put up a fuss. Everyone needs gas, and Saudis and oil companies like large sums of money, so we will be paying an exorbitant amount for gas forever unless someone stands up. It will take a concentrated civilian action to reduce the price, and even then they'll probably only throw us a bone of a few cents per gallon.
The oil industry is making unprecedented profit levels and will make even more as U.S. gasoline prices go up to $5 a gallon, so they have no incentive to change things. The U.S. government could step in and do something, but remember the president and vice president both belong to the oil industry.
Because low refinery capacity is a lie. If that were true, they would have plenty of time to stockpile ahead for the summer demands of gasoline.

It's purely supply and demand. People will pay whatever price is named if they want the product - in this case gasoliine.

That is the reason why we are in Iraq. The people that live there have nothing to do with it. Cheney and Bush want to control the oil.

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