According to Austin American Statesmen, California has the most expensive gas and New Jersey has the lowest price, and Texas is in the middle. In the Dallas Morning News, it was stated that Forth Worth has the most expensive gas. It is averaging $3.49 per gallon, which is about 13 cent increase. The shocking news that scares all citizens, gas price in Texas might or WILL be over $4.00 per gallon.
I am pretty sure all citizens in the United States are affected by the dramatic gas price increase. But within Texas State itself, what are some problems does Texans face? For the lower income citizens and families, the price increase is a major problem for them. According to the Center for Public Policy Priorities, minimum wage is $6.55 an hour, and there are actually mothers, fathers, students or any citizens that work for $6.55 an hour. With the financial income, they cannot afford to pay the price gas, especially at what it is now.
Of course, we look at alternative method for transportation, such as riding the bus, car pooling, bicycling, using electric bicycle or scooter or simply just walking. It brings up the inconvenience for time, it might be a handful of hassles, might be uncomfortable because of Texas’s weather and other factors that come along with not driving your own car.
I want to bring up the question about the oil fields in Texas. Do we [Texans], even have oil in our land? What are we doing with the oil fields? Why aren’t we using it? If we are not using it, why are we saving it? I do not know exactly who to turn to for answers, or I don’t even think there are any correct answers for my questions. But my assumptions are, we [Texans] are saving our oil for the future. The United States are purchasing gas overseas and those countries are charging a lot. When those foreign oil is all out, we have oil from Texas’s oil field to keep our economic going. It will be supplied for Texans to use and for other states or countries to purchase. And Texas will charge A LOT for our oil since we have a lot of oil fields.
Being a Texans, I am not too worried about gas. We have a lot of oil in Texas, and Texas is a smart state. We have good, smart officials that will take can of the Texan citizens.
Friday, April 25, 2008
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Yes, we do have oil in Texas! And wells across Texas have been producing oil since 1901. Oil production taxes are collected by the state, and the benefit to the state treasury is in the hundreds of millions. Historically, oil has benefited higher education in Texas, as well as public schools, scientific research, environmental protection, and has prompted philanthropy throughout the state.
The problem is that our cars cannot run on oil-they need gasoline, which requires the crude oil to be refined. There are 149 operable petroleum refineries in the United States, alone. Texas happens to not only have the largest number of oil refineries in the nation (27), but it also has the largest refinery in the United States. This particular refinery in Baytown, owned by ExxonMobil, produces over half a million barrels per day. I'm fairly certain that Texas is not “saving our oil for the future”…although the U.S. does have petroleum reserves. According to statistics from the U.S. Government, in 2005 the total world oil production was 82,532,000 barrels/day. This sounds like a lot, however, the total world oil consumption the same year was 83,607,000 barrels/day. (It’s impossible to consume more than we produce, so there must have been some carry-over from the last year.)
Remember when we the article read about the effects of concentrated control of the media? Seven giant corporations control the majority of our nation's newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations, book publishing houses, and movies. Likewise, oil industry consolidation is limiting competition in the oil refining sector. For instance, the largest five oil refiners in the United States are: ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, BP, Valero and Royal Dutch Shell; they now control over half (56.3%) of domestic oil refinery capacity. A May 2004 U.S. Governmental Accountability Office (GAO) report found that mergers in the oil industry directly led to higher prices—and these actions have not been challenged by the U.S. government. In summary, it is uncompetitive actions by a handful of companies with large control over our nation’s gas markets that is directly causing these high prices. We are all feeling the pinch. The most effective way to protect consumers is to restore competitive markets.
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