U.S. Report Sees Gasoline Prices Moving Higher Still

U.S. Report Sees Gasoline Prices Moving Higher Still
( By RICHARD W. STEVENSON and MATTHEW L. WALD, Published: April 8, 2005, NYTIMES.COM)

The Energy Information Administration, an arm of the Energy Department, said it expected the price of unleaded regular gasoline to hit a peak national average of $2.35 a gallon in May and to average $2.28 from April through September. Last week the average price was $2.22.

Okay, here in California the average price is higher than that. But that's besides the point.

The point is what I posted this morning. Namely it's nonsensical to tie the solution of this problem to continued reliance on oil. There isn't enough oil in the U.S. to fuel our needs for very long, the U.S. already spent it's wad in terms of the oil available in this country.

I fully support the general goal of energy independance. That the U.S. is so dependant on foreign oil causes several problems, from balance of trade, to requiring us to meddle with Middle Eastern politics. If the U.S. were instead more self sufficient we could ignore the Middle East with no problems, but so long as we keep up the reliance then the quirks of their political situation will determine the U.S. political situation.

And, really, the price of oil is not going down ever again, probably. The cause? It's the Oil Peak.

What's needed is the development of alternative energy sources. The technologies are known, they just need more R&D to develop them.

But I suppose with President Enron, Vice President Halliburton, and Secretary of State Chevron in office, we aren't going to see any solution that risks the oil industry's dominance. Eh?