Gas prices have climbed 53.4 cents in the last year, and a gallon costs $4 in some parts of Cali-fornia, with prices still climbing.

Some would have you believe that this is a ploy by Demo-crats to scare you into voting for either Sen. Barack Obama or Sen. Hillary Clinton, come November.

But fuel is so expensive that Democrats can’t take all the blame. The environment is championed, first, not only by Democrats, but by Republicans. The governator himself, Arnold Schwarzenegger, insists that environmentally friendly practices can co-exist with business practices.

Consider the proportions: Our country is now No. 2 in carbon emissions behind China.

It took the output of a nation of nearly 1.5 billion people to overtake that of our country, with its 300 million people, in carbon emissions.

Increasing fuel prices in the United States have not reduced driving enough to even make a dent in emissions.

Second, the government is not stealing money away from oil companies in taxes. Oil company Exxon Mobil Corporation had a profit of $40.6 billion, and Chevron Corporation, a profit of $18.7 billion, in 2007. A company must possess great ineptitude to squander those profits, and incredible gall to ask the U.S. taxpayer for more rebates.

Furthermore, oil companies could practice self control by reducing their CEOs’ large salaries.

In 2006, oil lobbyists from Exxon Mobil spent $82 million lobbying congress, Democrats received $2.5 million in campaign contributions and the Republican Party received $10.8 million.

Missouri’s own Jim Talent was No. 5 in money received, and Gov. Roy Blunt was No. 16. No Democrat was in the top 10 in money received from oil companies.

Third, consider refineries and energy policy in the United States. Vice President Dick Cheney has taken it upon himself to head energy-council meetings while he has been in office. Cheney is a former oil executive with Halliburton Energy Services, a multinational corporation that works with oil and gas exploration and development. He invited numerous oil executives to visit at a time coinciding with U.S. energy policy revision.

A former oil executivemaking energy policy sounds like the fox running the henhouse, to me. Refinery production is under stringent control because of the environmental and health concerns they possess.

A 2006 study by the Environmental Integrity Project found that nine oil refineries account for 15 percent of U.S. oil production and a third of total cancers in the United States. A new refinery cannot be built just anywhere, anyhow, because of the health concerns and environmental impact.

Clean water, clean air and green grass are not too much to ask from oil companies to protect in their production of fuel.

The National Environ-mental Policy Act of 1972 was signed by former Republican President Richard Nixon, and the Democrats did not have the majority to override a veto.

Finally, speculation about the vast oil reserves lying under Arctic National Wildlife Refuge has everyone salivating over dollars. Even if the drilled areas are barren of vegetation, someone must still build roads for hundreds of miles to truck the oil out. These roads will cross over pristine, virgin wilderness area, untouched by humans. It will interfere with migratory patterns, breeding and hunting habitats.

The United States needs to think of ANWR as a last resort, for when the rest of the world’s oil has been used. Already, vast oil fields have been discovered off of the coast of Brazil, a U.S.-friendly nation, that reportedly rival those of Saudi Arabia.

Members of Congress are not making energy policy with the public’s interest at heart. They are lining their pockets with oil money as they allow these companies to gouge prices for the public. Oil executives are waiting for their own $350 million parachute, similar to the one that the CEO of Exxon recently received.

Pressure from the voting public must be applied to our members of Congress to let them know that we will not stand for this gouging by big oil. People need to know that U.S. citizens will not stand for them to be on the payroll and that we will vote those who receive out of office.

Lew Griffith is a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences.