Gas prices will rise until concrete changes are made

I remember when gas was 89 cents per gallon no matter where you went.

Of course, I was not driving in the late 1980s and early 1990s, but I can still see the Exxon signs 50 or so yards away from those Tiger Marts doted across northern Maryland landscapes. Sadly, I also remember getting gas late last week and paying $3.19 at the Hess station down the street.


In 2005, many of the largest oil companies were brought before the United States Senate to be questioned on the increasingly higher energy costs presented in gas stations across the U.S., and yesterday Congress brought these same oil companies back. They questioned five of the largest oil companies, Exxon Mobil, Royal Dutch Shell, BP, Chevron and Conoco Phillip, as to their record profits over the last year, roughly $123 billion. Also, many Democrats questioned why $18 billion in tax breaks have accumulated in a 10 year period and also why some of these companies, Exxon Mobil mostly, are not accepting the renewable energy revolution that the others have supplied billions of dollars toward. The record high price of gasoline that suspends our infrastructure, though, was a main focus.

In hearing this I was outraged and lost additional respect for widespread corporations. It takes me roughly nine hours to drive home on breaks, and the next time I will be taking my trip back I should be expected to pay nearly $4 a gallon for gasoline, which is supposedly going to be the norm this summer. The entire hearing was upsetting to me, but beside the record-high profits that these oil companies have been experiencing over the past couple of years, was the fact that Exxon Mobil has supplied Stanford University with $100 million for research in climate change, according to Yahoo! News. Exxon Mobile pocketed roughly $40 billion last year alone and the best thing they sought to do was to supply a single university with a fraction of what they had made. I find this rather ridiculous as the middle and lower classes of America pay the $3 to $4 a gallon price.

Collegiate Times