Grampi, you don't have to believe me. If you don't believe what I have linked below, I won't bother trying to explain anything nuanced, as this is not a nuance of an issue...it is a major issue in itself.
From one article that a quick Google revealed. Even if you don't like Liberal or Conservative or (insert label) press, they are all reporting the same thing....
"Kloza noted that while about 25 percent of total U.S. refining capacity is offline, something on the order of 40 percent of capacity that serves Americans east of the Rockies had been affected."
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=texas+refinery+offline+capacity
Originally Posted By: grampi
Originally Posted By: Coprolite
With the current refineries offline, we went from having surplus capacity to having negative capacity measured in millions of barrels. The prices are rising in response to this change. The oil companies are not the ones raising the prices, the market is.
Whether you like it or not, all the US is impacted by Houston going offline. This also allows those refineries to reroute fuel to the damaged areas so that life can continue and people can go on rescuing people in danger.
The current economy is globalized, so things seemingly unrelated will impact you.
Gouging has a definition in TX and many other states, including FL. Prices going up across the board from every single supplier isn't gouging, nor is it collusion.
I don't buy the notion that one or two refineries being offline takes the entire country from a surplus to a negative supply wise...