For
decades, there has been much bold talk from
politicians about achieving
U.S.
energy independence.
But the situation has gotten worse, not
better.
U.S.
crude oil output peaked in 1970 and has been waning
steadily since, despite aggressive efforts to
develop new domestic sources.
Our demand for oil has increased sharply
since Saudi
Arabia
and other OPEC nations cut off oil supplies to the
U.S.
in 1973, which prompted President Richard Nixon to
announce a goal of
U.S.
energy independence by 1980.
Today, more than half of the oil consumed in
the
U.S.
is imported.
The
U.S. Department of Energy was established in 1977
primarily to spearhead the campaign for energy
independence. DOE
now estimates that U.S.
oil production will meet less than a third of the
nation’s needs by 2020, and says this imbalance
“will inevitably undermine our economy, our
standard of living, and our national security.”
Strong
words indeed, but our leaders have failed to act on
them.
What
does this have to do with Virginia
politics? It
is central to the decisions facing the General
Assembly on funding transportation.
State
Sen. John Chichester, R-Stafford, has said he will
propose an increase in taxes to raise billions of
dollars for new highway construction.
This is akin to a drug addict injecting ever
stronger dosages to achieve a high when he should
know that his addiction is ruining his health.
One
recent report highlights our problem.
The Energy Future Coalition, a bipartisan
group of energy analysts and representatives of
industry, labor and non-profit organizations,
concluded that the transportation sector accounts
for approximately two-thirds of the nation’s oil
consumption and that, because of our heavy
dependence on imported oil and the political
volatility in the Middle East, there is a strong
link between transportation policy and national
security. The
coalition recommends government incentives for
advanced fuel-saving technologies and aggressive
development of alternative fuels.
Even
if those recommendations were implemented, the
U.S.
would not adequately reduce its dependence on
imported oil. The
coalition, therefore, recommends policies to
constrain vehicle-miles traveled in automobiles,
including land use policies that reduce the need to
drive.
Almost
20 years ago, the General Assembly confronted a
similar decision point.
At a 1986 special session, Gov. Gerald L.
Baliles proposed and the legislature approved an
increase in sales, motor fuels and other taxes to
generate billions of dollars for a program of
highway construction.
In April, 1988 — only a year after the tax
increase went into effect — a study by the
Virginia Transportation Research Council, which is
jointly sponsored by the Virginia Department of
Transportation and the University of Virginia, found
that congestion would continue to worsen
considerably even with the Baliles expanded highway
construction program.
The
Baliles program failed principally because it
dramatically increased total vehicle-miles traveled.
A decade after that program commenced,
vehicle-miles traveled had risen by 46 percent,
while the state population increased by only 16
percent. Ironically,
this was used by some as justification for even
greater spending for new roads.
Retiring
Virginia Secretary of Transportation Whitt Clement,
to his credit, has declared repeatedly that the
Commonwealth can’t build its way out of
congestion.
Chichester
and others obviously don’t agree.
Among those “others” is the politically
powerful Virginia Transportation Construction
Alliance, whose members are certain to play a major
role in the 2005 elections.
This
sets up a major election year contest that will be
examined in greater detail in my next column.
--
March 14,
2005
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