Green has nothing to do with it, except folding green
It would make it hard to get the "green" agenda pushed threw if we were paying less than a buck a gallon.
The big oil companies have no interest selling you oil that cheap. It has nothing to do with the environmental aspects. zero,zilch,nada, none.
They use the old "divide and keep them conquered" routine, effectively. They want you blaming those folks, the "greenies", when it is the big global companies, the cartels, and the big banks and wall street speculators that control prices. They want you to keep voting in politicians that are in the pockets of those big bucks guys, keep you faked out. They want top dollar forever and they know that you will pay it as long as they control the supply.
A lot of guys here are in the wood business, say they sell a cord for 200 bucks. So, why don't they sell a cord for 25 bucks? I remember when cords cost that much, so why not today, when will we see "good old days" firewood costs?
It's the same with oil. They charge those high prices because they can get it, and if it costs them less to produce, they still don't care, it just means they make more. If it costs them more, they still don't care. They could care less about epa costs driving up prices or whatever, they'll just bump up their prices because they can, and they know you will pay it.
In other words, you ain't ever gonna see real cheap fuel prices again. Them days are over. Look at demand rising in places like india and china, it is a TREMENDOUS growth level there. Just between those two nations you have 3 billion people, in a transition stage from ox carts to cars and trucks.
Oil is a *globally* traded fungible. It doesn't matter where it is produced, and there is no such thing as "our oil" speaking as someone who just goes to the local truckstop to fuel up, it isn't yours and it isn't mine it is THEIRS, it is THEIR oil unless you personally own the complete vertical stack from pumping it out to refining it and delivering it. If that ain't you, then "you" don't have any oil, it doesn't matter what section of the globe it comes from. And they'll charge what they want, and if you balk at the price..tons of new markets out there elsewhere that will take it, all of it, every drop of it. If you want "our" oil, the only way to do that is to nationalize the fields and refineries, etc. that's it. Two choices, let the global oil companies run things, or nationalize it. Places where it is nationalized, yep, cheap for the people there.
That ain't the US though, the big oil dogs/wall street/banks like goldman sachs make damm sure that don't happen. They sorta like being billionaires and have no probs buying off government, no matter what batch of R or D sockpuppets are in charge.