Our monetary policy is basically set by the Fed Reserve. They are not the govt. They are a private institution, although they go to great pains to make sure most people forget that fact.
The reason we haven't built any new refineries is because there is a monetary incentive NOT to do so. It's not the federal govt who builds the refineries, and it's not really our oil. Once permits/leases are issued to the oil companies (a private industry) the oil is basically theirs to do with as they please, which is to sell it on the global market. And in fact, the shortage of refineries has resulted in windfall profits for them. Why would they want to kill the proverbial golden egg laying goose? Environmentalists and Democrats make good scapegoats at the moment tho.
Oh, and all the talk about drilling is a ruse being cooked up by the industry and the politicians who are beholden to them. The reason the oil companies want to open up offshore and more Alaskan drilling is because they want the permits. Once they have the permits then they can say they're sitting on top of massive amounts of oil reserves (even if they're actually not) which is what their stock prices are based on. They actually have no idea even how much is down there, but just saying there's so many billions of barrels waiting to be tapped will land them a mint on Wall Street once those permits are issued. They're one of the biggest lobbying groups prowling the halls of the capital building - do not ever forget that.
We inflict the wounds on ourselves by continuing to vote for corporate shills and moral retards.