An increasing number of stories in Drumbeat, and in the world press, are focusing on the impacts of higher oil prices. Whether it is in the sacrifices that families must make to stretch their incomes to cover costs, the lack of city and state funding to cover all the utility and maintenance cost increases , or the rising fuel bill that the military must meet, often, particularly in national bases, from existing budgets. And even in field operations the use of alternate approaches is being considered.
The different sizes and scales of the price impact mean that, short of greatly increased supplies of oil becoming available at low cost, (as readers know an unattainable dream) alternate solutions and changes to lifestyles and practices will have to be implemented, on a growing scale as the costs of supply continue to rise. But these answers must be different in different places, and as they seek to address different scales of problem.
From time to time, and particularly in Comments, there are suggestions and reality based discussions on what individuals can do to change or help with their personal lifestyle changes. At the other extreme we debate the success, or otherwise, of national programs to address the issue, and certainly there is a need for such a debate. But there is also an intermediate level, the one where the impact of oil and natural gas cost increases is already clearly apparent, and that is at the level of local, and state government. And here, while the pain is immediate, remedial steps can either occur quite quickly or much more slowly – depending on the local government understanding of the situation.
It is also at this level that most of the decisions are made about permitting new power plants. I was thinking about that, and the factors that lead to permitting decisions when I looked at the announcement about T. Boone Pickens new wind farm program. The plan does not have as immediate an impact as I first understood.
The Oil Drum
