good news from congress

I'm surprised that Henry Waxman's challenge to John Dingell to chair the House Energy and Commerce Committee succeeded. Surprised, but very very pleased. Waxman is a sharp operator, a smart guy, and he gets it that American energy policy should go farther than just protecting our right to drive big gas-guzzling SUVs that Detroit produces.

wal-mart going green?

Wal-Mart has signed a deal to buy wind-generated electricity in Texas for use in its stores.

Wal-Mart only does things that it thinks will help its bottom line. So this is interesting. We could help wind and other non-fossil-fuel based energies become cost-competitive by putting a price on the damage caused by carbon emissions...

another one rides the bus

Hey, where'd all these people come from? Johnny-come-latelies, riding the bus and trains now that gas is approaching $4 a gallon. Thanks a lot, oil prices - now I'll never get a seat.

Still it's a good thing. Anyway, there must be something wrong with gas prices if at hitting this level they provoke a change like this in mass transit use.

Because gas prices should be $8 a gallon and far more of us should be on the train or bus or bike.

bravo for higher gas prices

That's what Robert Samuelson thinks politicians should be saying, instead of launching investigations. And he's basically right. Heck, $3.20-something isn't even high enough if, as Samuelson points out, we want to put a dent in carbon emissions from cars or in our dependency on foreign oil.

Our gas and other energy costs are still far cheaper than almost all other countries, discounting a few places like Venezuela that have oil and discount it for domestic consumption and political benefit. Slapping much greater taxes on gasoline, natural gas, and other carbon-based non-renewable energy resources will make alternative energies more competitive and more attractive as investments -- and hey, you can dedicate the extra revenues from those new taxes to research on alternative energy.

So yes, I'll say it. Bravo for higher gas prices.

how much will you pay to drive 20 miles?

A poll by the Washington Post and ABC News "surprised" some experts by noting that people are willing to pay well over $4 a gallon for gas before curtailing their driving -- over $5 in the western US.

I'm not sure why they are so surprised. So much in American life relies on a trip in an automobile, especially if you don't happen to live in one of those rare urban centers with a combination of dense development and adequate public transport systems. I mean, if you live in some exurb like Reston, Virginia, the odds are pretty damn good that there is nowhere you can walk to easily or safely (sidewalks, anybody? Not so common in many 'burbs.) walk to even if you WANTED to. And you probably don't live anywhere close to your job, either.

So sure, if the choice is pay $4.50 for a gallon of gas or quit your job that is 30 miles (and 3 hours by public transport) away, or not go grocery shopping (5 miles away), people are gonna drive. That's the very definition of a product with inelastic demand. Sucks rather badly for the poor of course but we don't really care about that in George W. Bush's America, do we?

On the other hand, I would expect sustained higher gas prices to drag down demand for those absurdities of the American roads, SUVs...