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Where's the outrage over energy prices?

Where's the outrage over energy prices?

Ann McFeatters
Block News Alliance
Last Updated: March 24, 2005, 05:13:00 PM PST

WASHINGTON (SH) - I can't figure it out. Where's the outrage?

Despite a mild winter - lowering the thermostat, wearing sweaters and sealing off chilly rooms - I am paying heating bills that are almost 100 percent higher than a year ago. Nationwide, heat costs 10 percent to 30 percent more because of the soaring prices of natural gas, propane and oil.

When I go to the gas station, it's a shock. The price of a gallon of regular gasoline goes up weekly. It is well over $2, and could reach $2.50 this summer.

Usually, such a leap would have frantic consumers jumping with demands for action. But this year, people seem resigned to paying more and complaining less.

President Bush commented about energy prices in Columbus, Ohio, earlier this month. "Higher prices at the gas pump and rising home heating bills, and the possibility of blackouts, are legitimate concerns for all Americans. And all these uncertainties about energy supply are a drag on our economy."

The Federal Reserve already has voiced concerns about a word we haven't heard much about since 2000 - inflation - partly because of rising prices for energy, medical care, education and imported goods, driven higher by the weakened dollar. So the central bank raised interest rates for the seventh time since June, boosting the cost of borrowing. One wants to scream, "Well, duh, banker people, yes, we have inflation."

This administration's policies, including the tax cuts, have raised the budget deficit and the trade deficit to such high levels that we all are paying in the form of higher prices. We talk about a global economy, but we have refused to believe we live in one - and that we're competing with a weak dollar with more people around the world for less, such as depleting oil stocks.

Trying to put a hopeful face on our energy woes, Bush praised the Senate move to approve oil and gas drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. However, the refuge probably has less than a year's supply of oil, and not one economist says it will do anything to lower the price of gas or heat. Even if the drilling measure is passed by Congress, the refuge won't even produce oil and gas for another decade, at least.

Bush asked Congress to make a substantial cut in the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which helps the poor pay for heat. And he said he would not dip into the 600 million barrels of crude in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve because it should be kept for emergencies. He kinda, sorta complained to OPEC about rising oil prices. It kinda, sorta listened, but nothing happened.

What should be done?

The U.S. government has failed completely to tell its citizens that changes have to be made because from now on energy is going to cost more. And more. And more. But the government has done nothing to mobilize demand for energy savings.

Instead of encouraging energy audits of leaky houses, the government has stood by as most big-city energy companies stopped offering audits due to lack of consumer demand.

Instead of offering incentives for fuel-efficient cars, the government has watched the spiraling growth of sales of sport utility vehicles and failed to demand more miles per gallon, which would dramatically reduce oil consumption.

Instead of putting serious federal research dollars into studying uses of hydrogen, wind, biomass and fusion, the government has let such research stagnate.

There have been no new policies on opening refineries, no innovations for nuclear plants.

The president doesn't have to wear vests and scarves and order the lights on the Lincoln Memorial turned off to get the message out. But he does have to talk about the importance of conservation. He does have to drill home the message that simply letting energy companies explore and dig in vulnerable oceans and environmentally pristine areas is not going to be the antidote to the nation's sick dependence on foreign oil. He has to spell out in painful detail that the era of cheap oil is over.

We have to make all Americans - especially children - think about saving energy. We have to make all vehicles - including SUVs - more energy efficient, by having tax credits, if necessary. We have to invest in conservation research and develop alternative sources of fuel and light.

When we've had these scares over high-cost energy before, things always settled down. And, once again, we were seduced by cheap energy.

Not this time. Perhaps as soon as next winter we will have many more people choosing whether to buy food or heat or medicine. There will be plenty of outrage. The question is: Will it be too late?

Ann McFeatters is Washington bureau chief of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and The Toledo Blade. E-mail her at [e-mail].


LINK: http://www.modbee.com/24hour/opinions/story/2259035p-10425020c.html