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Nation needs energy boost
By Jeff Mullin, Enid News & Eagle
WINNING EDITORIAL-MAY 20041.
"Gas is way too…cheap?"
That headline in last Wednesday’s paper undoubtedly surprised many readers, who have watched the price of gasoline rise steadily the past few months.
But that’s the opinion of David Fleischaker, an oilman and the state’s energy secretary.
Fleischaker’s point is that if one takes inflation into consideration, gasoline prices are lower now than in the past. The U.S. Department of Energy’s historical price index backs up Fleischaker’s statement. According to the DOE, the price of gasoline in 1950 was $1.91 per gallon in today’s dollars, compared to the state average of $1.67 it is today.
Oklahoma’s gasoline prices are some 16 cents per gallon less than those across the country. The national average for self-service regular unleaded was $1.83 according to a release from the nationwide Lunberg survey of some 8,000 gas stations. Tulsa, in fact, had the lowest average price in the country, $1.66 per gallon, while San Diego was the highest with a $2.17 per gallon average.
So we should consider ourselves lucky, but that is of little comfort when we have to fill our tanks, especially those who drive gas-hungry SUVs or vehicles whose engines require higher-priced premium gas.
So what can be done? We need to produce more gasoline and use less. The continued popularity of SUVs and big pickups with high-powered engines is a pretty good indication many Americans don’t plan to cut their consumption anytime soon. So that means we must find more oil in this country.
Experts have been saying for years this country is too dependent on foreign oil. Last year the United States imported approximately 300 million barrels of oil. These same experts have been calling for a comprehensive national energy policy, which is still bogged down in Congress.
A national energy policy would be a good start. It would, among other things, provide incentives for domestic oil and gas production.
In the long term, continued research into alternative fuel sources could help wean this country away from its dependence on oil, but those solutions are years in the future.
We need a national energy policy that will help mitigate the wild swing in fuel costs strapping the American consumer and threatening to upset the economy’s recent surge.
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