After Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and again after Gustav and Ike last year, gasoline prices shot up because many oil refineries were temporarily shut down. If the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill becomes law, it will permanently close some domestic refineries, which could permanently raise the price of gasoline.

The bill caps the amount of carbon that can be emitted, but allocates credits that allow companies to exceed the cap while transitioning to cleaner technologies. It allocates only 2 percent of allowances to oil refineries.

Because of this, the vice president for refining of Lion Oil Co. of Arkansas testified before Congress that the bill would put his company out of business.

“He calculated that under a 2 percent allowance, the company would have to spend $180 million buying credits during the first five years of the program, and that the price would increase significantly after that,” the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported.

“He said that over the past 23 years, the company’s average annual net profit was $13 million.”

Running for Senate last year, Jeanne Shaheen laid out a five-point energy plan. Point No. 3 was: “Demand that refiners increase their production of oil.”

Will she vote for a bill that decreases production by forcing refineries out of business?