There have been no new refineries built in the US in thirty years. It is a NIMBY issue apparently but I suspect that is an excuse from the Oil companies. To believe that they don't have the clout to get a refinery built is silly. I notice that all the moves by the Bush admin regarding replacing oil are towards a similar distribution system or adjuncts to the current gasoline itself. Pretty muchly protecting their interests for sure. A better answer is solar conversion to electricity or solar conversion to hydrogen, the former is proven working technology and the second one seems to be coming online in a small way. Maybe the market place can defeat even big oil if they gouge too much.
This is the first time where ethanol was mandated. The rest of the country was using MTBE as thier main addictive. Like I said ethanol wasnt ready for prime time in the states. It seemed like a good idea b/c some states were using it. But when it was mandated, the logistics of supplying all of the refiniers in the states was just too daunting in such a short time. Ethanol has tobe shipped into refineres by barge, truck, etc, while mtbe can be just piped in. And their wasnt a large enought supply of ethanol to supply the entire country. You know the story, the bush has good idea, but when it came to executition, they fell down.