Don't blame Big Oil. Look in the mirror

I am for Big Oil. Charles E. Crouse's letter is full of inaccuracies and shows a lack of understanding of both the petroleum industry and basic economic principles.

Big Oil, through combined genius, research and development efforts, has become the most efficient industry in being able to convert a natural resource (crude oil) into myriad useful consumer products - fuel, lubricants, plastic bottles, fabrics, etc. - all while holding the line on costs.

The last refinery built in the U. S. was in Garyville, La., and was brought on line in 1976. The environmental do-gooders, such as Al Gore, have a stranglehold grip on manufacturing efficiencies.

Sen. Durbin, Mr. Crouse and anyone else who proposes a windfall profits tax on Big Oil are deceiving the very people they pretend to want to help - we little guys. Corporations do not pay taxes. They only collect them from us little guys and hand them over to the government.

The bottom line is all about the law of supply and demand. Since Col. Edwin Drake brought in the first oil well in Titusville, Penn., in August 1859, Americans have continued to develop an insatiable thirst for refined petroleum products. One-car garages used to be the norm. Now, everyone has to have a car, a truck and a Hummer and a three-car garage. And the oil companies are doing their very best to satisfy this thirst of the American gasoline consumers.

L. Dean Hufsey

Elgin