Will the “do nothing” Congress save transit?
There's been a lot of press nationwide about ridership spikes (double digits for rail) and how transit operators themselves are coping with higher diesel fuel prices (service cuts and fare increases). There's also been a lot of talk in the presidential race about the "do nothing" Congress and whether or not the US should drill its way out the energy crisis. All of these issues may collide in the coming weeks as public pressure to "do something" pushes the Democratically-controlled Congress into a compromise on increased domestic drilling.
The Wall Street Journal reports that as much as $2 billion could be made available to transit operators through new energy legislation being floated for public consumption. Will the bargaining chip for the President's approval be expanded drilling? How will this move affect the current presidential debate?
We'd love to hear your thoughts…
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The question of whether or not to “drill our way out” of the current energy crisis (it’s not actually a crisis, it’s just expensive) is not a hard one to make. If you look at the current rate of consumption, down 30% from this time last year, you see that the vast majority of people are much more aware of how they use their fuel. The real problem is when you look at where the fuel comes from. 70% of our consumed fuel comes from foreign countries. That means that only one third of the total fuel consumed in this country is drilled from our soil. By opening up our own resources here in the U.S. we could effectively drive the price of fuel down considerably. Democrats (and I am a liberal) like to scream that drilling will harm the environment and destroy valuable ecosystems. Well, they obviously don’t know that drilling and refining has come a long way over the last 100 years or so. The days of strip mining are long gone. Technology allows us, today, to drill will almost no impact. So it begs the question, with so much untouched oil sitting literally under our feet, why do we continue to rely on supplies from foreign countries that don’t like us or want us around? Hmmm. Makes you wonder.
we think the working and middle class populations in transit-starved suburban and rural communities would beg to differ.
the argument against more drilling has a lot more to do with allowing the market to encourage alternatives. if gas prices go down “naturally” by adding supply (which isn’t guaranteed), then fledgling renewable energy sources that may initially cost more can’t get off the ground without incentives.
even “safe and modern” drilling techniques have the potential to disrupt ecosystems that are already confronting major stresses from climate change, whether there’s ever a spill or not. why add additional stress that would in turn extend our reliance on fossil fuels that expedite the climate change in the first place? why literally kill two birds with one dirty stone?
Hey why not?
Let’s put an oil well in every vacant lot!
Geez…
-”Groucho”
I’m not saying drilling is the answer. But not drilling so that we can further support foreign countries by spending hundreds of billions of dollars on a resource that we have in our own backyard is just stupid. I’m all for alternative fuels and cleaner renewable energy. Hell, I even ride my bike to work because I can’t stand furthering the damage done by burning fossil fuels. I am simply railing against pumping money into other countries when there is a cheaper and more readily available alternative. By tapping our own resources for fossil fuels we can stop sending money out the door. By using our own resources we can create jobs, opportunity and wealth. And to say that by keeping the price of fuel up will further development of cheaper fuel sources is kind of silly. The price of fuel is already over and above what any reasonable person would want to pay, and yet there have been no great leaps in alternative fuel technology and no great drops in the prices of current alternative technologies. I would like to agree, but the proof is in the pudding, so to speak.