Second, U.S. oil refineries are currently not operating at full capacity. Not all of the Gulf Coast refineries damaged by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita are fully operational, but reports state that most should be back online in the coming months. In addition, many Gulf Coast refineries are undergoing routine maintenance that was either scheduled for this spring or put off following the hurricanes to keep the nation supplied with as much gas as possible during that critical time.

The third factor contributing to increased oil and gas prices is market uncertainty, caused by barrel-rattling rhetoric from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Ahmadinejad is taking steps to acquire greater nuclear capability for Iran, and has said of Israel that the “Zionist regime is bound for destruction.”

Meanwhile, Chavez is telling other South American leaders that the U.S. is plotting to overthrow his government so it can control Venezuela’s oil. He has threatened to “blow up our own oil fields” if the U.S. launches a military attack against him. Experts claim that market uncertainty caused in part by Ahmadinejad and Chavez currently accounts for $10 to $15 of each barrel of oil.

The tragedy – produced by the political hot air – is that Congress could have taken steps long ago to avoid high energy prices, but they lacked the will to do so.

The first step to meeting our long-term energy needs is to increase production and refining of U.S. domestic oil supplies. The U.S. currently imports over sixty percent of the crude oil it consumes, leaving our economy too dependent on the whims and rhetoric of fanatical foreign leaders and terrorist organizations. Increasing our domestic supply will lower energy prices, and will provide us with a supply hedge against times of national catastrophe and trouble in other parts of the world.

A second step to controlling gas prices in the long-term is to lower state and federal gas taxes to an amount that pays only for new infrastructure and improvements. The consumer is burdened by an average state and federal tax bite of 46 cents per gallon. If you thought all your gas tax dollars were earmarked for infrastructure improvements you are sorely mistaken. According to Citizens Against Government Waste, pork-barrel projects in the 2005 Transportation Equity Act totaled more than $24 billion.

The solution to meeting our long-term energy needs starts at home. We must tap our domestic oil supplies, increase refining capacity and lessen the tax burden on American consumers. Otherwise, the price we pay at the pump will be overly controlled by worldwide supply and demand and the pontifications of pipsqueak potentates. Hot air from our elected officials will not lower gas prices. The refusal by Congress to consider common sense, market-based solutions to rapidly escalating energy prices is failing the American people.