Gas Prices
Lawmakers Introduce Reality-Based Plan to Achieve “Freedom From Oil”
Members of Congress of all stripes are trying to show that they’re concerned and responsive to the financial strain caused by high gas prices. Some are recommending more oil drilling. Some want to end subsidies to oil companies. Today, members of the Congressional Livable Communities Task Force suggested that providing more diverse transportation options to more people might help.
June 2, 2011
So Much for Supply and Demand: Transit Ridership Spikes, Funding Plummets
Let’s get this straight: skyrocketing gas prices are inspiring people to investigate their transportation options. More and more of them are taking transit. Is this really the time to take the axe to those transit systems’ budgets?
May 6, 2011
Republicans Still Swear Drill, Baby, Drill Is the Best Way to Lower Gas Prices
Democrats and Republicans are jockeying for the title of Gas Price Slasher, though neither party has a plan that has any potential to reduce prices. While Democrats propose cutting oil company subsidies, Rep. Doc Hastings (R-WA) has introduced three bills to expand oil drilling, saying that they’ll spur employment in the Gulf and reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil.
May 4, 2011
Poll: Rising Fuel Prices Hitting Middle-Class Americans Hard
American households will spend more money on gasoline this year, in dollar and inflation-adjusted terms, than ever before. And middle-class Americans are more concerned about fuel prices than at any time in recent history.
March 16, 2011
Federal Energy Forecast: Gas Nearing $3/Gallon, Fuel Consumption Up
Average gas prices are expected to hit $2.92 during this summer's peak driving season, with fossil-fuel consumption rising overall as the economy begins to recover from a recession that limited U.S. emissions growth, according to a forecast released this week by the federal Energy Information Administration (EIA).
April 8, 2010
The Assumption of Inconvenience
Early this week, I noticed a number of my favorite bloggers linking to this Elisabeth Rosenthal essay at Environment 360, on the mysterious greenness of European nations. The average American, as it happens, produces about twice as much carbon dioxide each year as your typical resident of Western Europe.
September 30, 2009
Would Real Men Tax Gas? A Test for Tom Friedman
On Monday, Elana Schor highlighted a recent column from occasionally right New York Times columnist Tom Friedman, who once again rolled out one of his favorite policy prescriptions -- an increased gas tax. Friedman wrote:
September 23, 2009
A Few Words on Transportation User Fees
We tend to have a few good laughs when Randal O'Toole fires up his Cato computer and weighs in on transportation issues. It's hard to take seriously a man who thinks that having the government tax people to build something which it then gives away for free is the libertarian ideal.
September 17, 2009
Glaeser Takes an Unserious Look at High-Speed Rail
Ed Glaeser is a very good economist, and his papers are indispensable reading for those interested in the workings of urban areas. But he is also a strident conservative, whose popular writings frequently challenge conventional progressive wisdom (and my own views).
August 5, 2009
Americans Still Use a Lot of Gas
The release of the Department of Energy's Transportation Energy Data Book is a transportation stat geek's dream -- 300-plus pages of numbers detailing the way the country burns this or that moving people and freight from city to city.
July 21, 2009