Regarding Elton Gallegly's guest opinion in the May 22 Thousand Oaks Acorn, Gallegly describes a 2000 decision by OPEC to cut production as a wakeup call for the nation and proposes incentives to build more oil refineries in the U.S. as the appropriate response. He has apparently forgotten the OPEC oil embargo in 1973, when Richard Nixon was president and when the rest of the nation woke up to the problem of oil dependence.

If, as Mr. Gallegly claims, U.S. refineries are working at nearly 100 percent capacity, the oil industry doesn't need more of our tax dollars as an incentive to build more refineries. Record gas prices at the pump and record profits provide both sufficient incentive and sufficient means to expand these businesses.

Tax incentives should be reserved for high-risk ventures that are good for America, not handed out to profitable businesses that feed our bad habits.

Mr. Gallegly offers no assurance that additional refining capacity would be used to process domestic oil rather than additional foreign oil. Moreover, refining capacity is not the primary factor affecting gas prices at the pump.

Mr. Gallegly states that we also need to develop alternative energy, yet he has voted against such legislation in 2008 and 2007, HR 5351 and HR 3221, respectively. In 2006 Gallegly earned a rating of zero from the Campaign for America's Future for his position on oil independence.

Mr. Gallegly calls on his congressional colleagues to take action to solve our energy problems. He's been unwilling to do so himself. None of the 214 bills that Mr. Gallegly has introduced during his 22-year career in Congress directly address any of the problems that he describes in his opinion piece.

Since he believes that solutions to our energy problems are someone else's responsibility, I suggest that we send that someone else to represent us in Congress.

Mary Pallant, a Democrat, would be an excellent choice. Nick Fotheringham Thousand Oak

Fotheringham's letter was written before Tuesday's primary election. Opposing Gallegly in the Nov. 4 general election will be Democrat Marta Ann Jorgensen. of our local office so the service can improve.

4. The City Council needs to help us.

5. Seniors and disabled need to get out and go places like anyone else.

Let's improve our Dial-a Ride system as part of our public transit system. Mary Harris Thousand Oaks