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The States and Localities
Here’s to $4 Gas
The intolerable prices may be the motivation state and local lawmakers need to lead to a sustainable future.
I’d like to propose a toast to $4 a gallon gasoline. I know it's unlikely there will be many glasses tinkling or much bubbly washed down. But I'm serious — sort of. Of course, a lot of people are being hurt by high fuel prices, not only directly at the pump but also in the soaring costs for food and other commodities affected by energy prices. But better that we suffer some now than a lot more later, and that's the alternative if we continue on as we have.
If gas prices stay in the $4 to $5 range, and especially if they go higher, we may begin to do what's necessary. If they fall significantly as the economy deteriorates, we could lose an opportunity to finally make a break from the car culture that has dominated the nation for the past half-century.
What needs to be done is monumental, involving a redefinition of our society and a restructuring of our economy. There has been almost no leadership from Washington on this issue in the past two decades or more, and though there are heartening signs of movement out in the country, they are neither uniform nor coordinated. Assuming that the federal government continues to do nothing, it will again be up to states and localities, along with business, to provide leadership. Lack of direction from the top will make the task harder because the most effective solutions must be holistic — not narrowly defined to address energy costs in a vacuum. The heart of a new strategy is a disinvestment in the automobile, not only because it's no longer our best mode of transportation but also because it's causing side effects that are damaging our health and economic well-being.
We see evidence of that in our clogged roads, lengthening and more stressful commutes and sprawling development that's pushing up infrastructure costs and gobbling up productive farmland. Our waterways are deteriorating because of runoff from thousands of acres of asphalt; exurbs are planned without sidewalks, requiring car trips for the simplest errands. A growing number of people too old and infirm to drive are stranded in neighborhoods without public transit. Perhaps most significant, carbon emissions from ever more cars are the leading cause of the warming of our atmosphere that will be catastrophic unless we stop it.
Only Washington can set standards for fuel efficiency in cars, keep the tax credit for investing in alternative energy or end the ban on offshore drilling for oil and gas. But if that moratorium ends, the coastal states will get to decide about drilling in their waters. And all governments below the federal level will have to make thousands of decisions about investing in transportation, planning land use, reducing emissions and setting other environmental regulations.
Cities Take the Lead
We're already seeing it. The Washington Post recently reported that the government of the District of Columbia, the population of which nearly doubles during each workday, has adopted a stated policy of discouraging commuters from using cars and encouraging the use of Metro trains and buses, bicycles and walking shoes instead. Surprisingly, an unscientific online poll by the Post showed strong approval for the policy not only among city residents(74 percent ) but also with suburbanites (58 percent).
Similar efforts at "traffic calming" — speed limit and red-light enforcement as well as higher parking fees — are taking place in cities across the country. New bike paths and pedestrian walkways are going in everywhere. Mass transit ridership is soaring, up by some 85 million trips in just the first quarter of this year over last. It's to the point where budget-constrained transit systems are having trouble keeping up. But many cities — particularly in the South and West, the bastions of the car culture — are sinking billions into new light-rail systems. Almost simultaneously, Phoenix, Denver, Salt Lake City, Charlotte, Houston and soon Austin and Norfolk are opening new systems, often with little or no federal aid.
In metropolitan areas across the country, exurban sprawl has slowed or stalled, both because of the collapse of the housing industry and the price of fuel. Neighborhoods closest to the urban core have the most resilient housing prices, because that's where people now want to live. Utah has made a four-day, 10-hour workweek mandatory for most state workers. Oklahoma and West Virginia are considering similar moves. A number of other states and localities are emphasizing telecommuting and flextime to reduce congestion and cut fuel consumption.
Finally, many states are moving aggressively on global warming. Eighteen are poised to mandate cuts in greenhouse gas emissions from cars if the Supreme Court rules that they have that authority. And some states you'd never predict, like Texas, are embarking on ambitious plans to produce electricity from alternative sources, like wind power.
It's $4 gasoline that's driving these trends, not prescient policy-making in Washington. But even if the federal government continues to drift, states and cities across the country can take advantage of this opportunity and encourage market forces to wean us away from the current disastrous course toward sustainability.