but Senate answers grills lie elsewhere Big Oil,

It’s generally not a good sign for an industry if its top executives are hauled before Congress. But that is where Big Oil found itself Wednesday as executives from ExxonMobil, Chevron and three other companies were asked to tell a Senate panel why industry pro * ts were so high.

The event had the look and feel of another hearing 11 years ago when tobacco industry executives came to defend cigarettes. Then, as now, wealthy men in suits sat in a row and *elded hostile questions.

The tobacco hearing was a watershed moment that exposed the cigarette- makers’ duplicity when they asserted that nicotine is not addictive. But this time, industry critics had far less to work with. None of them provided evidence that people in the oil industry had engaged in untoward behavior, such as manipulating markets. And the recent drop in gasoline prices to pre- Katrina levels drained some of the righteous indignation from the proceedings.

The hearing was driven by what several lawmakers described as a widespread anger among their constituents. There is no question that surging gas prices have in K icted pain, particularly on lower- income drivers. Even so, Congress could do more to alleviate that pain and anger by addressing the underlying causes of high prices than by staging events such as the hearing Wednesday.

Even as senators were asking why oil is almost $60 per barrel and why industry pro * ts

were at record levels in

the third quarter, they

were backing policies

that contribute to the

imbalance between

supply and demand.

Many of the same

lawmakers quick to

point a *nger have

helped keep vast oil and

natural gas * elds offshore and in Alaska off

limits to drilling. This

has led to a dangerous

overconcentration of

the nation’s energy production in the hurricaneprone Gulf of

Mexico. Members of

Congress, along with

state and local of * cials,

have backed Byzantine

regulations that hamper

re*nery construction and expansion. Some are now pushing a counterproductive windfall- pro * ts tax.

On the conservation side, lawmakers of all political persuasions have repeatedly failed to impose sensible gas taxes to dampen demand. They have never considered a dramatic effort to promote alternative fuels, convenient and widespread public transportation, and more-ef * cient homes and of * ces.

It doesn’t take an economist to understand why multinational oil companies are earning billions of dollars every month. Consumers worldwide will buy about $ 2.5 trillion worth of petroleum products this year, much of it from Middle Eastern dictatorships.

This situation demands innovative energy polices that will wean people off at least some of their petroleum addiction. Energy industry leaders are hardly saints, but it’s too much to ask for them to be in charge of convincing consumers not to buy their products.