Idaho Senator Mike Crapo has asked Idaho's citizens to send in their stories of higher energy costs. Apparently he got 500+ emails the very first day, and he's going to share them with his colleagues in the Senate, in the hopes that they will get of their duffs and do something about the crisis.
In response to his request, I sent this.
(You, too, can email your energy stories to energy_prices@crapo.senate.gov .)
Dear Senator Crapo:
This is in response to your request for citizens to "share your energy stories."
Here are some of the results I'm observing, of gas being more expensive:
- Traffic is (slightly) down on the overcrowded roads in and around Boise.
- People are getting rid of their gas-guzzlers and getting more economical modes of transportation.
- People are making more responsible transportation choices. (Dare I say it? Might they even consider car-pooling, or utilizing public transportation???)
- Air pollution is down.
- There is some REAL market-driven innovation going on, in the automotive world.
In other words, the results of higher fuel prices aren't all negative! PLEASE think long and hard before getting the government more involved! (In the past, it hasn't always had the desired effect.)
If you could figure out some way to give the freight industry some relief, that would be a good thing. But let the free market run its course with regards to personal transportation, I say. If our economy is based on every citizen 16 and over having a private motor vehicle and unlimited access to cheap fuel... it's a house of cards!
Like everybody else, we in my family are affected by rising fuel prices, and are needing to be more responsible with our transportation. Is that a bad thing?
(Full disclosure: I've been a dedicated user of bicycle transportation since 1986. Gas was 97 cents back then. It makes even more sense in 2008 for my fellow citizens to seriously consider their own transportation choices, than it did back in 1986.)
Thanks for your attention.
Tireless advocate for the most efficient form of
human transportation ever devised - bicycles!
2 comments:
Now that school is out, my wife rides her bike with me in the morning, works out at the YMCA and then goes home.
Yesterday, when she arrived home, she realized that everyone, except her, was at work but all the cars were at home! I rode my bike, my son (23) rode his bike, my daughter (25) car-pooled and my youngest daughter (17) walked to work.
I'm not as dedicated as bikeboy, but I'm trying to ride as much as I can and maybe it is having an effect on the rest of the family.
Nicely done, Bikeboy. I get Senator Crapo's e-newsletter, and was so disgusted with the tone of that section that it was beyond me to respond in a civil manner.
Thanks for having the restraint that I do not have.
PS: If he had made the same plea for health-care stories, people would've labeled him a socialist. A subsidy is a subsidy, bub.
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