I was afraid of this. The irrationality being exhibited about the price of gasoline is on prominent display this week in Congress.
According to the New York Times article "Congress feeling pressure for action on oil prices," some of the things being considered are 1) drilling, of course, 2) anti-speculation legislation, and 3) "incentives for renewable fuels," ergo, corn ethanol.
The most ironic idea, to me anyway, was Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) suggesting that voters blame "the government." I thought people didn't want the government to intervene in the economy -- since 1980 we've supposedly been getting government "off our backs." Thirty years later, since "government" didn't do anything, there's a crisis. Now, "government" is supposed to fix it immediately?
As I predicted about a year ago, peak oil (the idea that the era of cheap oil is over, and soon the global supply of oil will go down) may make matters worse, environmentally. People will reach for simple solutions like more drilling, tar sands, oil shale, coal-to-liquids, and biofuels.
That's why I think that it's imperative that activists argue that the reason oil is going sky high is because of peak oil. That way, not only is the discussion more reality-based, we can more cogently offer real alternatives like transit, plug-in hybrids, denser urban areas, and high-speed rail, instead of continuing to bury our head in the (tar) sands.
Mark Warner (D-Va.)
While scientists fight over BPA studies, Congress could just act
Roger Wicker (R-Miss.)
Comments
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Colin Wright Posted 3:12 am
10 Jul 2008
In the meantime, how about some Federal help with transit? Here in Seattle/King Co. we're looking at our second fare increase this year to cope with higher diesel prices. Meanwhile other areas are cutting service.
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Jon Rynn Posted 3:26 am
10 Jul 2008
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cjwirth Posted 4:34 am
10 Jul 2008
Because the demand for oil is so high, it will always be higher than production; thus the depletion rate will continue until all recoverable oil is extracted.
We are facing the collapse of the highways that depend on diesel trucks for maintenance of bridges, cleaning culverts to avoid road washouts, snow plowing, roadbed and surface repair. When the highways fail, so will the power grid, as highways carry the parts, transformers, steel for pylons, and high tension cables, all from far away. With the highways out, there will be no food coming in from "outside," and without the power grid virtually nothing works, including home heating, pumping of gasoline and diesel, airports, communications, and automated systems.
This is documented in a free 48 page report that can be downloaded, website posted, distributed, and emailed: http://www.peakoilassociates.com/POAnalysis.html
Anyone interested in relocating to a sustainable area?
cjwirth http://www.peakoilassociates.com
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GRLCowan Posted 5:29 am
10 Jul 2008
If the price of petroleum rises enough that government finds it necessary to begin subsidizing fuels derived from it, just so people can continue to get to work and pay income tax, these two crimes' degrees of illegality, now very different, will instantly become, from highway patrolmen's point of view, the same.
That is to say, price rising beyond a certain point will find a step change, downward, in demand.
--- G.R.L. Cowan, H2 energy fan 'til ~1996
http://www.eagle.ca/~gcowan/boron_blast.html
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