Re "the skyrocketing cost of oil and gas," the U.S. has the lowest gasoline prices in the world by far.  Quit crying about gas prices, you sound like some right wing anti-environmental jerk.  Gasoline averages around $6/gallon in western Europe, and it should cost at least $10/gallon everywhere!

Jeff Hoffman

Since 1999, the real price of crude has surged by something like a factor of six.

Has this been a boon for the environment? Maybe not. U.S. consumers have cut down on gas consumption a bit since crude stabilized above $50/barrel a year or so ago, but not by much. Meanwhile, as David points out, the royalties the oil majors pay to host countries have been flat. That has meant a windfall in profit for the oil majors--and encouraged them to invest in  more capacity: i.e., dig more oil wells. Ultimately, bad not only for humans, but for the birds and otters you mention above.

$10/gallon gas? Sure, sign me up. I despise cars; I find driving a distasteful, and thankfully relatively rare, necessity. Surely, the car, and the vast billions of dollars that have gone into building out the infrastructure that serves it worldwide, was a grave and maybe fatal error for humanity. Traditionally praised even by liberals for his interstate-highway program, Eisenhower may yet draw widespread derision as a fool. (Certainly, and I am anticipating your retort here, JD, he was a villain (and oil-company shill; see Iran, Shah of) in foreign-policy matters).

But getting to the $10 level, by market forces alone, might prove our final undoing.

There will likely be enormous profits made in the final leg of a "peak oil" scenario, and much of the windfall may well be spent trying to squeeze out the last drop of crude. There is more work to be done than merely cheering on higher oil/gas prices.


Victual Reality