Do you really believe that if more drilling were authorized, refinery capacity would remain the same?
No, but it wouldn't expand any faster either.
Existing refineries are already expanding as rapidly as the greens will permit. New refineries are being attempted and thwarted.
Please explain how US refining capacity would increase any faster with more crude on the market? Should we assume it would happen by magic?
I'm all for more domestic crude production, don't get me wrong. But it wouldn't do much to the consumer price of fuel when all our refineries are running at 95-100% of capacity.
Other countries are expanding their refining capacity where we cannot, so the US market will be importing not only foreign oil, but more and more foreign gasoline and Diesel fuel in the coming years.
The envirowackos will ensure that the USA remains dependent on imported energy, one way or another.