Senior executives of the five largest U.S. oil companies were at one table, explaining how government regulation, environmental protection, world markets and the basic principles of supply and demand were conspiring to make it a tougher job for them to keep gas prices down.

Congressional representatives were at another table, citing corporate greed, questionable tax breaks, misplaced priorities and an obsession with short-term financial goals as reasons why gas prices have skyrocketed.

Feel better already?

They have done this dance before, too many times. If Congress is serious about ending this charade, it should look at the numbers. The five companies — Exxon Mobil Corp., Shell Oil Co., BP America Inc., Chevron Corp. and ConocoPhillips — turned about $123 billion in profits last year, mainly as a result of soaring oil and gasoline prices. Exxon Mobil posted the largest annual profit by a U.S. company — $40.6 billion — while millions of Americans struggled with higher gas prices. Yet oil companies also received about $18 billion in tax incentives that should be going to where the country must head anyway: Bringing viable alternative fuels to the market.

To be sure, Big Oil is an easy target. The United States has not made it easy to increase domestic production of oil, and with good reason. Do Americans really want fewer protections around the Rockies, in the Gulf of Mexico and in other environmentally sensitive areas? Doubtful. But our reliance of foreign oil is, indeed, problematic. And so is the irrefutable fact worldwide demand for oil is growing.

At just about every turn, Congress could have made better choices over the years but has not. Energy policies have relied too heavily on traditional production and foreign purchases and not enough on conservation and alternative fuels. Tax incentives have been unfairly weighted in favor of gas and oil makers and distributors at the expense of fostering efforts to bring alternative fuels, such as wind, solar and biofuels to the market. U.S. Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-Hurley, and many others also have often questioned why the federal government allows oil and gas companies to avoid paying fees — or royalties — for resources taken from public lands, usually through drilling.

Last year, the federal government did take an important step on the conservation front. New regulations will require cars, trucks and sport utility vehicles to achieve 35 miles per gallon by 2020, a 40 percent increase over current standards. But the Senate refused to follow the House’s lead by eliminating the tax credits to oil and gas producers and, instead, plowing that money into helping producers of wind, solar and other renewable fuels.

Unfortunately, short-term solutions to higher energy prices are probably not in the offing. But sound, long-term investments, such as what the House of Representatives wants to do, can lead to a better future, one that makes the United States less reliant on foreign oil and fossil fuels in general. But that would take a serious commitment. Blaming Big Oil without following up with policy changes has been done before. It gets the country nowhere.

— Poughkeepsie Journal, New York, April 3