When it comes to ethanol, Congress is guilty of more irrational exuberance than on any other issue.

The two worst-case scenarios for the impact on the refining industry would be what happened with Katrina and what looks like could happen with this one.

You have new competitors both for the gasoline and for the ethanol.

These areas must follow the example of Louisiana and many other states in sharing these energy resources.

Many of them, given the supply situation last year, delayed maintenance. So we’re at the point right now where they had to do it to get ready for summer driving season.

It looks bad. They’re preparing for the worst.

You’re going to have to be careful that you’re not upsetting a plan that already is in the last stage of implementation.

The ones that are not on yet are probably the ones that are going to require more time and attention. Now we are really getting into the tougher part of the job. I don’t think...

There are many factors driving the transportation fuels market.

What’s happened can be explained by the higher cost of crude oil, the difficulties in building new refineries and the disaster that cut right through the heart of the industry.

It’s too late now, but Congress has consistently failed to sequence regulatory requirements in a responsible fashion.

If there’s significant damage done in the Gulf, there’s going to be a supply impact on gasoline, diesel and natural gas.

We all want cleaner fuels, but we have to be sure we can deliver on our promises. And we’re not sure we can deliver on the promises EPA is making with this rule.

It’s potentially a bigger threat than Katrina because there is more refining capacity in the Houston area. This is a double whammy for the industry it’s an amazing thing to contemplate.

This year presents the refining industry with several significant challenges. But we are experts at trying to make the whole supply system work.

The experience we went through with Katrina is about as difficult as we can imagine. The truth of the matter is that things came out fairly well. There were some spot shortages involved. They were...

Federal policies must fully consider the impact of environmental regulations on fuel supply.

The energy price and allocation controls of the 1970s resulted in supply shortages in the form of long gas lines.

The most effective means of achieving this goal is continued reliance on market mechanisms, not price regulation.

It follows that U.S. energy policy must continue to target its efforts on increasing domestic production of petroleum products and natural gas supplies, and the efficient usage of these fuels while maintaining environmental progress.

The damage left in Katrina’s wake made the already troubling supply and price situation significantly worse.