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Stephen Rogness
PennEnvironment Legislative Associate |
On September 19, as the fallout from
hurricanes Katrina and Rita ratcheted up
what were already rapidly-rising oil
prices, PennEnvironment staff released a
new report showing what federal, state
and local officials can do to ease the pain
of high gas prices and reduce our dependence
on petroleum.
The problems of Pennsylvania’s overdependence
on oil were made all too clear
in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina,
when gasoline prices skyrocketed to over
$3.00 per gallon in a matter of days.
Besides being costly, oil use is a major
contributor to air pollution in the Commonwealth.
Emissions from automobiles
cause one-third of Pennsylvania’s asthmacausing
smog pollution, and over half of
Pennsylvania’s counties are in violation
of federal clean air laws because of high
smog levels.
Unfortunately, oil industry lobbyists,
the Bush administration and some state
officials in Harrisburg used the recent
spikes in energy prices as an excuse to
promote policies that would relax air
pollution standards, allow drilling in more natural areas, and deepen our dependence
on oil.
PennEnvironment’s new report, “Making
Sense of America’s Oil Needs: A Sustainable,
State-based Response to Dwindling
Oil Supplies,” helps to direct our elected
officials to more sensible energy solutions.
It provides environmentally-sound solutions
to our current energy problems that
will protect citizens’ pocket books and
the state’s economy, while reducing our
dependence on petroleum. PennEnvironment
staff released the report at news
conferences across the state, resulting in
television, radio and print stories on the
issue.
“Our politicians must learn that Pennsylvania
needs a long-term, sustainable solution
to our energy needs and not more
policies that are dangerous, dirty and
threaten the state’s remaining wild
places,” said Stephen Rogness, PennEnvironment’s
legislative associate. “We
cannot continue to go down the path
being promoted by special interest
lobbyists for the oil and gas industry just
for short term profits. It won’t solve our
problems, and Pennsylvanians don’t
want it.”
PennEnvironment’s new report recommends
that Pennsylvania immediately
begin to design and implement plans to
reduce gasoline demand, and it outlines
conservation and efficiency programs to
soften the price shock this winter.
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| Improving Pennsylvania’s mass transit systems is key to reducing the state’s dependence
on petroleum. |
Immediate steps that Pennsylvania can
take include: improving access to existing
public transportation systems, promoting
carpooling and more efficient driving,
investigating whether oil companies are
receiving windfall profits from high oil
and gasoline prices, and increasing funding
for rideshare matching programs.
For the medium term, our report recommends
that state officials should: supportthe Pennsylvania Clean Vehicles Program
(which increases car and truck gas
mileage as a side benefit), slow the growth
of sprawling development patterns that
promote increased vehicle travel, provide
incentives for the purchase of more fuelefficient
and advanced-technology vehicles
(such as hybrid-electric cars), and
increase support for expanded public
transit.
At the same time, Pennsylvania officials
will need to begin putting policies in
place that will yield benefits in the longer
term. Those include: acting to reshape
communities to be less dependent upon
the automobile, promoting vehicles that
operate primarily on electricity or renewably
generated hydrogen, and developing
Pennsylvania’s rail infrastructure to shift
intercity trips and freight movement away
from oil-intensive modes such as driving
and air travel.
PennEnvironment staff also called on
Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation
to support increased fuel efficiency standards
for cars. Making cars go farther on
a gallon of gas is the cheapest and easiest
way to reduce our nation’s oil dependence,
and these standards can only be
set at the federal level.
Shortly after PennEnvironment’s press
conferences, four Pennsylvania members
of Congress signed on to a bill to increase
these standards, in addition to three who
were already signed on to the bill.
Even before Hurricane Katrina temporarily
wiped out a portion of America’s oil
and gas infrastructure, rising oil prices
were already pinching the American
economy. Over the last few years, booming
demand for oil, coupled with dwindling
supplies, sent prices skyrocketing.
With many oil industry analysts believing
that the steady rise in oil prices will continue
despite the recent drop from posthurricane
record highs, it appears that
those declaring the end of the era of “cheap oil” could well be right.
“Despite increasingly clear evidence that
dwindling oil supplies will harm our
economy, President Bush and his allies in
Congress have been unwilling to put us
on the right track,” said Rogness. “Hopefully,
our state officials are willing to
tackle these issues in a way that promotes
sustainability, preserves our wild places
and protects the public’s health. Then, as
states like Pennsylvania lead, the federal
government will follow.” |
