I decided to limit my driving to a flat cash figure - now at no more than $10 per week spent on gas! Any other trips beyond that budget get canceled, consolidated or put off as the gas gauge dips down to the E-side. I ride my bicycle, run or walk (like when I lived in China).
My physical range started with the 2-mile rule: "Any trip within two miles must be under your own power." My financial budget started with a $40 per week limit on gas spending, then as my range increased I dropped the budget to $20 per week. Now it's at $10 per week. As I get in better shape I bike more, drive less and spend less. All trips to Fish Creek or Baileys Harbor for instance fell within the initial 2-mile range. My radius has now extended to about 12 miles, that includes trips to Ephraim, north of Sister Bay and to Egg Harbor - by bicycle.
Richard Heinberg agrees in saying, "Want Cheap Oil? Reduce Demand!"
"Ask the major oil companies or the US Department of Energy why oil prices are beyond ludicrous and they'll tell you there's plenty of oil out there, there's just a lack of investment in exploration and production - particularly on the part of the national oil companies in OPEC."
Stan Cox at AlterNet says, Get Ready for the Post-SUV World!
"In May, for the first time in 17 years, the top-selling vehicle model in America was not a pickup truck. In fact, Ford's F-150, the perennial leader, was overtaken by three small import-car models. Ford's June truck sales were down 41 percent from a year ago, and its SUV sales are now in free-fall, down 55 percent. Sales of Dodge Ram pickups tumbled 48 percent. General Motors, Ford and Chrysler were hit hard, and all have announced plans to close or suspend production at plants that make trucks and SUVs."Meanwhile, my 1969 Chevy pickup truck usually sits quietly in the driveway like a good dog, waiting for work... I used to drive when it rained, but thinking back on China, where everyone simply dons a cape and pedals into any weather, I got over it.
Yesterday I got an automated phone call from Freedom's Watch, announcing an "Emergency Gas Alert." The voice claimed that, "Congressman Steve Kagen opposed efforts to increase domestic energy production 20 times." They gave me his phone number 920.437.1954 and encouraged me to call his office to voice my support for HR 3089, billed by its Texas Republican sponsor, Rep. William (Mac) Thornberry as "The No More Excuses Energy Act of 2007." After reading the text of the bill, asking for the rights to drill deeper, wider and farther than ever before, including the repeal of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980, I decided to make that call.
"Go Steve Go! Make it 21 times voting against Big Oil and their efforts to destroy the Alaskan wilderness for a mere 6 month's worth of oil!" I tell the voicemail receptionist.
The Freedom's Watch Gas Alert is probably the first of many such phone calls I will get from John-Gard-endorsing, Swift-boating groups, as the race for the 8th CD gets hotter - since I am a registered Republican. Freedom's Watch alone may spend up to $250 million in the 2008 election. These are the same conservative folks that tried repeatedly to link Sept. 11 to Iraq... "Several of the group's spots suggested that Iraq, rather than Al Qaeda, was behind the Sept. 11 attacks, even though the independent Sept. 11 commission investigation and other inquiries found no evidence of Iraq's involvement," says the New York Times.
So now they claim that Congressman Steve Kagen is the reason for high gas prices...
My friend and local newscaster Roger Utnehmer confirms that there's no reason to expand the drilling rights of Big Oil. I will close with his editorial:
Big Oil Sitting on 68 Million Acres of Leased Land
by Roger Utnehmer
June 25, 2008
As if they don’t have enough PR problems, recent reports that oil companies are sitting on more than 68 million acres of leased land should frustrate anyone fed up with the rising price of gas.
Big oil companies lease land from the federal government for oil exploration. The fact that half of those leased acres are not being used by oil companies refutes the argument of those who suggest more off-shore drilling will reduce oil and gas prices in America.
The Alaska Wildlife Refuge, which President Bush would like to open to exploration, contains l.5 million acres with drilling potential. When oil companies sit on 68 million acres of leased land on which they are not drilling, encouraging big oil to explore and drill where they already lease should be public policy.
Republican presidential candidate John McCain supports more U.S. off-shore drilling.
Democrat Barack Obama wants to levy a fee on the leased acres the oil companies are not using as an incentive to encourage exploration.
A debate about oil policy will be good for the gas-paying public. Reforming unregulated futures speculation needs to be part of the debate. Some suggest that as much as 60% of the price of oil can be attributed to futures speculation by hedge funds, banks and financial groups.
Futures speculators only pay for 6% of the value of the contract, a leverage ratio of 16 to 1. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission should raise the margin requirement well above 6%. Speculation in oil futures is driving prices to unrealistic levels and might be a big part of the reason prices at the pump are so high.
The politics of oil determines the prices we pay at the pump which is why a civil discussion about exploration and futures trading is in order.
That’s my opinion. I’d like to hear yours. I’m Roger Utnehmer.
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