Drevna: Tax on fuel exports wouldn’t cheapen gas here

But it will kill jobs and economic activity.

American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers president Charles Drevna writes in the Washington Times:

… The best way to put downward pressure on the oil prices that are the main component of gasoline prices would be to tap into our abundant supply of oil by allowing increased production of oil in the United States and off our shores and by bringing more oil from Canada to U.S. refineries.

Unfortunately, President Obama is doing the opposite of what is needed to hold down the costs of oil and fuels. He is keeping vast amounts of federal land and waters off-limits to oil production; has blocked construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, which would bring the U.S. 700,000 barrels a day of oil from Canada; supports environmental overregulation that raises fuel manufacturing costs without benefiting the environment; and seeks tax increases on fossil fuels that also would raise costs.

Some politicians and pundits, including Bill O’Reilly of Fox News, are proposing a “solution” to the problem of high gasoline prices that actually would make it worse. They have called for a tax or other restrictions on fuel exports, arguing that this would cause gasoline prices to fall. They are wrong…

Fuel exports enable refiners to preserve and create jobs, pay billions of dollars in taxes and fees to all levels of government and reduce America’s trade deficit.

Ending fuel exports would mean America would no longer need as many petroleum refineries and refinery workers. The Department of Energy notes that in the past 20 years, 66 refineries in the United States have shut down, wiping out the jobs of thousands of workers. Two refineries in the Philadelphia area recently shut down, and a third is threatened with closure this summer.

Closing more refineries also would weaken our economic and national security because it could lead to America relying on foreign nations to supply us with vital fuels. Right now, nearly all the fuels Americans use are manufactured by American workers in our own country…

Read the entire commentary.