Cost of Gasoline

I received a newsletter from Rep Chris Murphy about his efforts on the cost of gas. He stated their is little that can be done and touted the mandating of renewable energy generation as a good thing and that the President as opposed that. Just like ethanol, renewable energy cost more than current forms of energy to produce. Mandating the use of energy generated by renewable sources will drive the price of energy to the consumer. These forms of energy generation will need to be subsidized until they are large enough to compete with current forms of generation. Ethanol is a giveaway to big farmers which is a popular tactic in an election year. But it only drives up food costs. Other ideas form Rep. Murphy include not adding to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve which I can't argue with at this time. Also stop gas price gouging which all studies seem to indicate is not occuring. And prevent price fixing by OPEC. A lot good that will do. What are going to do not buy from them?
Since the 70's, Democrats controlled Congress for all but 8 years. During that time there was little done to get us of the oil addiction. Environmentalists have prevented refinery construction since '76. Drilling offshore and in ANWR have been turned back. Windfall profits tax has been threatened even though the oil industry average profit is 8.3% which is comparable to other industries. But facts never stop a good thrashing during an election year and big oil is the target. The gov't needs to back nuclear plant construction which has been used extensively by France for electricty generation but has been stalled here by costs and environmental reviews. We need a group of experts to establish a path to energy independence.
The Democrats have no new ideas. Senator McCain has suggested rolling back the Federal Gas Tax for the summer. If the state legislature added their tax it would cut 62 cents from a gallon. Sounds like a good idea to me.