Fwd: Dependence on oil energy--social and monetary costs

[Ken Medlin <dev-plan@moscow.com>]

Subject:     Dependence on oil energy--social and monetary costs
Sent:        12/31/19 7:43 PM
Received:    1/3/00 8:43 AM
From:        jkirk@micron.net
To:          Smart Growth, smartgro@onenw.org    [Regional and urban 
economic planners in the Inland NW ought to be hard at work exploring 
alternatives to  gasoline and diesel fuels, if this information is even 
50% real. Natural gas, waterways, rail, electricity and even solar and 
wind sources should be high on our list of means to reduce gasoline 
dependency. Revitalization of local food crops, and perhaps some changes 
in diet, are also likely subjects for study. The west and east coasts, 
and urban areas contiguous to remaining North American oil sources, will 
be less affected. Is anybody at UofI or WSU researching these areas?  If 
not, why not? Will we come to depend on govt. to solve our energy 
problems as they develop? The way our economy works, automotive 
transportation is key to every economic activity, and when its costs 
rise, they are passed on to every other sector. Good information is key 
to good planning and decision-making. Just how good is the information we 
have for future economic management?]


=====  A message from the 'smartgro' discussion list  =====

See the URL noted here for entire article.
http://www.icta.org/projects/trans/rlprexsm.htm

I've just pasted in the last part.   Not only do consumers need to
understand and recognize these facts.

State and municipal  officials also should set up energy commissions to
study and make recommendations for the time, probably around 2001 or one
hopes a bit later, when oil prices will zoom much higher.  Middle East oil
biz will rapidly become the major supplier as western oil discovery 
flattens
out and oil returns sink. The costs of transportation in major markets 
will
increase and might even bring to a crashing halt the so-called "global
economy".  That economy is totally oil dependent.  We are all totally oil
dependent.  Boise is oil dependent.   Jo Kirkpatrick
***************************************************************************
*
*************
              RECOMMENDATIONS

  The ultimate result of the externalization of such a large portion of 
the
real price of
  gasoline is that consumers have no idea how much fueling their cars
actually         costs them. The majority of people paying just over $1 
for
a gallon of gasoline at the pump has no idea that through increased taxes,
excessive insurance premiums, and inflated prices in other retail sectors
that that same gallon of fuel is actually costing them between $5.60 and
$15.14. When the price of gasoline is so drastically underestimated in the
minds of drivers, it becomes difficult if not impossible to convince them 
to
change their driving habits, accept alternative fuel vehicles, support 
mass
transit, or consider progressive residential and urban development
strategies.

 The first step toward getting the public to recognize the damage caused 
by
the United
 States' gasoline dependance is getting the public to recognize how much
they are
 paying for this damage. The best way, in turn, to accomplish this goal is
to eliminate
 government tax subsidies, program subsidies, and protection subsidies for
petroleum companies and users, and to internalize the external
environmental, health, and social costs associated with gasoline use. This
would mean that consumers would see the entire cost of burning gasoline
reflected in the price they pay at the pump. Drivers faced with the cost 
of
their gasoline usage up front may have a more difficult time ignoring the
harmful effects that their addiction to automobiles and the internal
combustion engine have on national security, the environment, their 
health,
and their quality of life.




------------------------
William K. Medlin
Dev-plan associates
930 Kenneth Street
Moscow ID 83843
208/892-0148
dev-plan@moscow.com