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Wednesday, May 19, 2004
Today, I filled up my truck for the first time since returning from Tennessee. Never have I paid $40.00 for a fill up before. Suffice it to say I was taken aback. When we left Connecticut on May 7th, the price of gasoline was $1.82. Over the weekend, the price leapt, as we saw several $2.09 prices posted in upstate New York. When we arrived in Tennessee, we saw the same $1.82 that we had originally spotted back home. So it was no surprise when we got back that gasoline was ranging from $2.03 to $2.21 per gallon.
Now, most people are bothered by this, and everyone wants to blame someone. Whether you want to yell at OPEC, Bush (incidentally, wasn't the war in Iraq over oil? - but I digress), Big Oil, or overdependence on fossil fuels, the fact is that something needs to be done to mitigate the causes for such rapid price increases on fuel.
Speculation is that OPEC is in no hurry to open their pipelines. Others have wondered if they even have the capacity. My take is that Americans should push their elected officials more and more to invest in domestic sources of fuel.
My personal life, like everyone else's, has been affected by rising costs. Last year, I started looking into solar heating for my house. We will likely forgo air conditioning this year in favor of fans. Also, we will likely take less day trips, and try to find more things to do locally. These are things that are necessary for us to meet our personal budgetary guidelines.
But what can the country do in the long term? Nuclear, hydroelectric, and wind power need to be more widely implemented. I'm not for mandatory fuel efficiency standards for vehicles, because I think if people want to buy a car that gets 10 MPG, they should have that right. All of this being said, I think the singlemost important thing our leaders could do to improve the fuel situation is to open up ANWR. Right now, opening ANWR isn't politically feasible. However, if a summer of high gas prices will change that, then I will gladly accept a few months of $40 fillups.Labels: Archives_2004
.: posted by
Dave
11:26 AM
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