With gas prices surging past $5.00 a gallon, many Americans are wondering what is the problem.

In a recent interview with Fox Business, American Petroleum Institute President Mike Sommers stated that 11 US gas refineries closed over the past two years. Those that remain are running at 94% capacity.

The reasons for those closures are due primarily to governments.

US governments accomplished this through various methods, including increasingly restrictive environmental regulations.

The California government also provided financial incentives for the refineries to produce products other than gas, such as cooking oil, which resulted in two California refineries stopping gas production.

Of course, COVID and the government lockdowns also had a major impact, as they basically shut down the US economy.

In other words, governments and/or the green agenda are the primary reason for the expensive gas.

When a recent Emerson poll asked Americans why they thought gas prices were so high:

• 39% blamed Joe Biden;
• 21% blamed the Russian invasion of Ukraine and resulting sanctions; and
• 18% blamed the gas and oil companies.

READ: Survey: Plurality Blame Joe Biden for High Gas Prices

RELATED: Biden Presses Oil Industry to Increase Production as Refineries Already Running at Full Capacity