They just dont get it.

[DKW 86 7,450]

Link-bodda-bink

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita shut down more than a dozen refineries and disrupted natural gas supplies. Gasoline prices soared and huge increases in heating bills are expected this winter for users of both gas and fuel oil.

Barton says vulnerabilities in the fuel supply system exposed by the hurricanes show that the country needs to build more refineries, especially away from the Gulf Coast region. No refineries have been built in the United States since 1976 as the industry has consolidated to fewer, but larger facilities.

[TexasTiger 13,053]

Link-bodda-bink

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita shut down more than a dozen refineries and disrupted natural gas supplies. Gasoline prices soared and huge increases in heating bills are expected this winter for users of both gas and fuel oil.

Barton says vulnerabilities in the fuel supply system exposed by the hurricanes show that the country needs to build more refineries, especially away from the Gulf Coast region. No refineries have been built in the United States since 1976 as the industry has consolidated to fewer, but larger facilities.

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Also in the article you cited, a contrary Republican view from a state in which all Republicans aren't yet clones:

"The bill weakens state and federal environmental standards ... and gives a break to wealthy oil companies while doing little or nothing to affect oil prices," Rep. Sherwood Boehlert, R-N.Y., said in a letter Thursday to colleagues.

With prices soaring, "oil companies now have all the profits and incentives they need to build new refineries" without government help, he maintained.

You're also several hours late and the title is incorrect:

The measure was approved, 212-210, after bit of political theater as House GOP leaders kept open what was supposed to be a five-minute roll call for about 40 minutes in order to round up votes.

"Shame. Shame. Shame," Democrats chanted in protest.

The scene was reminiscent of the 2003 vote on the Medicare prescription drug benefit when House leaders had to extend the vote for three hours in the middle of the night while President Bush and GOP leaders twisted arms.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/na...-home-headlines

[CCTAU 3,351]

For years the party of GreenPeace has kept us from building refineries, drilling, or searching. And now that gas has gone through the roof, its all Bush's fault. Look back over the years and see how much effect the tree huggers have had on the demoncratic party. Now we all pay..............

But its still Bush's fault!

[TexasTiger 13,053]

Who doesnt' "get it?"

Exxon Mobil posts US$9.9bil Q3 profit

NEW YORK: Exxon Mobil Corp has posted a quarterly profit of US$9.9bil, one of the largest in US corporate history, as it raked in a bonanza from soaring oil and gas prices. 

Record profits for Big Oil at a time when consumers are paying sky high prices for gasoline have brought calls for a windfall profits tax or other penalties on oil companies. 

The companies have been enjoying an unusually rosy environment for months. In the third quarter, oil prices and refining margins rose sharply after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita ripped through the Gulf of Mexico, disrupting energy operations in the region. 

While Exxon's third quarterly profit was up 75% from a year earlier, and revenue rose 32% to more than US$100bil, the results fell short of Wall Street forecasts due to production outages caused by the hurricanes and sharply lower profit at the company's chemicals division. 

The world's largest publicly traded oil company said net income jumped to US$9.92bil, or US$1.58 a share, from US$5.68bil, or 88 US cents a share, a year earlier. 

Excluding a gain of US$1.62bil from restructuring its stake in a Dutch gas transportation business, earnings were US$1.32 per share, 7 US cents below the average forecast among analysts polled by Reuters Estimates. 

The record earnings topped the US$9bil net profit reported on Thursday by Royal Dutch Shell Plc and were well above the best quarterly performances by Citigroup Inc, the world's largest bank US$7.2bil and conglomerate General Electric Co US$5.6bil according to Reuters Fundamentals. – Reuters  

http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?f...12&sec=business