Conspiracy Theory, Anyone?

I saw a headline this morning indicating that George W. Bush (remember him?) is moving to relax environmental regulations on gas production in response to the outcry against rising gas prices -- and I instantly found myself thrown into a full-fledged conspiracy theory moment. You know -- the kind where it all makes sense all of a sudden in a sick "they planned this all along" kind of way.... I admit that I come from a family of conspiracy theorists. My beloved father adamantly and sincerely believed that the Trilateral Commission was running the world and that they chose our Presidents for us (and who knows, he may have been right). But I try to temper my natural tendencies toward seeing conspiracies behind every Bush.... Now indulge me here for a moment: The Bush family wealth originates from the oil and gas industry. These folks are his family, his community, his colleagues. He has deep allegiances there. George W. Bush, in his presidency, has been more inimical to the environmental movement than any U.S. President in my lifetime. Faced with dropping poll numbers and rising gas prices, he has to do something. So -- instead of acting to curb profits by the oil and gas companies (remember -- "his family, his community, his colleagues"?), what does he do? He relaxes environmental protections on gas production!! Talk about killing two birds with one stone!! If Bush gets away with this, he can lower prices at the pumps and at the same time make life easier for his buddies in the oil and gas industry -- and, as a fringe benefit, he can undermine the impetus to find new environmentally-friendly ways of producing gas and cars, which threaten in the long run to undermine the profits of his friends and family. Maybe I am having a paranoid flight. Maybe there isn't really a master plan here. Maybe this is all innocent and spur-of-the-moment. Or maybe, just maybe, these folks are being frighteningly smart and are using the current crisis around gas prices to further an anti-environment agenda and set the stage to reap even greater profits in the long run to the detriment of the rest of us and the air we breath. Conspiracy theory, anyone??