fuel for thought (groan)

Dear Prime Minister Martin,

What follows is a copy of my recent blog post to djmischiff.com concerning skyrocketing gas prices and your administration’s intentions. I forward it to you to highlight the interest your public has in this issue.

Thanks very much for your time,
– Adrian Taverner

Fuel for thought (groan) September 22, 2005

Here’s some fuel for thought- if gas prices are set by supply and demand, as the oil industry representatives resolutely declare, how does that explain the wild fluctuations in prices at the pump not just across Canada and the world, but within city limits?

$2.24 a litre.

There is obviously gouging going on. Obviously at several levels of the supply, from the oil firms to the station managers. I say prices are set by the suppliers’ perception of what the market will bear, which is a fine distinction from supply & demand. We are being charged as much as they feel they can get away with. That’s as clear to me as day.

Members of Parliament are getting vocal, calling for government regulation of prices beyond the committee that watchdogs fair competition. They are also calling for a penny or two per litre drop in taxation, which the firms promise they will pass on to the consumer.

Fat chance. Fat chance.

There are also those in Parliament who are planning an aggressive push for alternative energies. A few of those members are doubtless the same that have been pushing for decades. Now, at least, they have some… err… fuel.

Development of alternative energy has been quietly going on since about the same time we got sick of breathing coal smoke. Coal is still widely used but strictly regulated because everyone knows how bad coal smoke is for you. Interesting that we have not yet come to the same conclusion about liquid coal.

I enthusiastically support those representatives in government who are championing alternative energy development like the Ballard Fuel Cell and the hydrogen engine (there’s a really neat history going back to the 1600s right here). By my reckoning it’s been at least thirty years since it has been necessary to have gas-fueled vehicles on the road. If research and development had been intelligently funded federally we would not now be paying eighty bucks to fill our tanks. Instead the extremely powerful oil industry has been telling us what to buy, what to pay and what to think.

Just to be clear – equal press has been given to a dozen oil-funded researchers as to several thousand independent envirornmental scientists. How does that make any kind of sense? It doesn’t. The overwhelming evidence is that Burning Oil is Bad. But we’re being ruthlessly inundated with pro-oil propaganda.

What can we do? As consumers, most of whom own cars, we can’t do much except continue being vocal in our support of alternative energy development. Realistically all we can do is keep the pressure on. Reducing taxes isn’t any sort of answer. That just means less money in the system that could go toward research. Damn straight the oil lobbysists would love to see a reduction in taxes.

If you’d like to make your voice heard personally you can email the Prime Minister directly at pm@pm.gc.ca. You can remind him of his election platform like the Clean Air Renewable Energy Coalition did in their letter here.

It doesn’t have to be long. It doesn’t have to be grand. Just a couple of lines saying you want to add your voice to the millions of concerned Canadians who just want to know their PM is looking for the smart way around high gas prices, not to mention a world with breathable air.