Invade Saudi Arabia.

Encourage a four day work week for commuters. Not only would it save gas and reduce auto emissions...it would lessen Monday & Friday frwy traffic, give many of us a three day weekend.

I read in a recent article that neither of the Republican congressional candidates (CA-24) believes in global warming. Is the district that backwards?

Here are a couple of thoughts in no particular order:

1) Re-regulate the futures markets. Speculators have piled in and manipulated the markets. Just the prosepect of an investigation caused a run to the exits this past week, bringing down the price of crude 3.7% for the week. We saw speculators destroy the derivative markets and mortgage industry. It is clear the industry can't or won't regulate itself.

2) Release 30 million barrels of crude for the SPR. There are over 700 million barrels there and this added supply will crush the speculators and cause them to unwind their long positions dropping the price quickly.

3) Longer term - Higher vehicle mileage standards, tax incentives (real not token) for alternative energy vehicles, alternative home energy sources.

4) Alteration of work schedules and credits for telecommuting. If work and school schedules were adjusted so everyone was not on the roads at the same time every morning and p.m. traffic would flow more smoothly and gas consumption would decrease.

5) Public works projects/transit subsidies. Instead of the dumb tax rebates, the money should have been used to improve our aging infrastructure, roads and transit systems. Each dollar that goes into these projects creates over $4 benefit to the economy in terms of jobs, economic stimulus. Much more powerful than a stimulus check that does nothing to stimulate the economy.

6) Bad ideas -drilling in Anwar, drillin off the coast. We will never be able to drill enough to satisfy the US's or world's thirst for oil and the environmental consequences are too high.

Global warming is real; even if you don't believe the overwhelming evidence, we have a responsibility to be a better steward or our environment and resources for future generations.

Keith - the last part of your statement says it all - "we have a responsibility to be a better steward of our environment and resources for future generations."
People would rather fight about the global warming issue than channel that energy into solutions. We shouldn't need fear campaigns to make us do the right thing.
I do resent legislation that fiddles with the small things like lightbulbs and baggies, because the big questions (subsidies, regulation, mass transit) are apparently too hard or too politically volatile.

A little perspective and basic economic literacy would be a good start.

Prices are the mechanism for balancing supply and demand in a free market system. To the extent that governments, both foreign and domestic, enact regulations and price controls which interfere with the free market they slow down the normal response to such price signals.

Nonetheless, responses are underway. Individuals are taking immediate actions such as driving less and buying more fuel-efficient vehicles. For the longer run, high oil prices provide a huge incentive to invest in new technologies which were previously not cost competitive or else were too speculative.

I think there is an enormous ferment going on behind the scenes in laboratories and companies (both start-ups and giant corporations) to develop new energy sources which will bypass expensive oil. These include solar, wind, waves, geothermal, fission, hot fusion (see http://snipr.com/2bmy9 and http://snipr.com/2bmyj), and maybe even cold fusion (see http://snipr.com/2bmyo).

Ten years from now we'll probably look back at this spike in gasoline prices and the accompanying doomsaying in much the way we now look back at the end of the whale oil era in the 18th century.

I have heard Michael Tenenbaum speak a few times but I have never heard him discuss global warming that I remember.

Do you have a link?

Ojai Valley News Blog had a whole article last Tuesday detailing the candidates' positions on various issues. Tenenbaum seems more articulate and thoughtful than Gallegly on most of the issues, but then this: "Gallegly and Tenenbaum said they’re not convinced that carbon emissions are causing global warming and back Bush’s withdrawal from the Clinton-backed Kyoto accords that would cut emissions from many major polluting nations."

Keith:

Can you discuss the impact your reforms on the futures market will have on both spot price and futures price of oil?

What arbitrage opportunities, if any, will take place under the regulations you seek?

DP,

Are you arguing that rising prices will be such a good thing as it pushes innovation that government should not try to reduce oil prices?

Government should not try to reduce oil prices. The simple fact is that consumers have no incentive to reduce oil consumption until it hits them in the wallet. Industry has little incentive to invest in alternative energy until consumers demand new technologies. Americans went to smaller cars in the 70's and 80's and reduced their demand for oil after the price of gas rose dramatically. When the price of gas began to fall in the late 80's and through the 90's people went back to larger vehicles that were less fuel efficient.

Simple economics. If we want people to conserve energy, reduce our dependence on foreign oil, develop clean energy technologies, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions then you need to make fuel more expensive for consumers. History shows this to be true. That is why European countries have taxed gasoline so heavily for decades. If the government acts to make gas cheap it will have the opposite effect. I guarantee that if the government made electricity free then people would leave their lights on and run their air conditioning all day long. And if gas were cheap again most people would go right back to their big SUVs.

Bottom line: The rising price of gas is, in the long run, actually a good thing. Don't forget that the greatest acheivements of our nation always occur during our greatest challenges. So everyone needs to stop whining and get to work to be part of the solution. If you're not contributing to the solution then you are simply part of the problem.

I don't think rising gasoline prices are a good thing per se. In the short run high prices are painful, and I personally prefer cheap stuff to expensive stuff. But prices represent essential feedback information, so they do make me pay attention to my traveling habits. At some point in the next year or two I'm going to have to replace my 8-year-old Mirage (which gets around 30 mpg on the highway) with a new car, and I'll want it to be reasonably fuel-efficient.

On a macro scale, high oil prices will move us more quickly to new, more cost-effective energy technologies such as the ones I mentioned above. And any kind of energy is substitutable. Cheap heat or electricity generation can produce hydrogen to substitute for gasoline-powered internal combustion engines. New battery and ultra-capacitor technologies can store adequate electricity to substitute electric-powered vehicles for gasoline-powered vehicles.

The oil price spike in the seventies was temporary, and prices later dropped to record (inflation-adjusted) lows, which aborted the pursuit of alternatives. Even though I think we have an oil price bubble, the underlying long-term price has gone up enough that alternatives will now continue to be pursued. So in that respect higher oil prices will be a good thing.

But the best thing the government can do is just get out of the way, neither trying to artificially suppress prices (through price controls) or artificially jack up prices (through higher taxes and environmental regulations and restrictions on oil production). In time, I think that new technologies will result in much cheaper and more sustainable and more environmentally friendly energy production than we now have.

My hope is that in ten years my ultra-capacitor-storage electric car, charged from new hot or cold fusion power plants, will cost me only 2 cents per mile instead of the 15 cents or so I'm paying today for gasoline.

Along those lines, Bubba, we need elected officials like Tony Strickland to help in the promotion and development of innovative alternative energy technologies, such as wave energy. Go Tony!

I don't think many besides mongo are tricked by the ballot title. Bubba Kidd recognizes marketing when he sees it.

Strickland's phony company hasn't even been able to land a permit to merely study the issue. It will go belly up before November.

We can just as easily look at rising oil prices as a form of blackmail applied by oil speculators, against an economy where oil's become an absolute necessity. You'd be naive to think there's such a thing as free market when firms control all the levers through vertical control and manipulation of national policy.

Keith, what's your position on "small wind" turbines in residential lots over 1 acre, and commercial/industrial? Should Moorpark residents and/or businesses be allowed/encouraged to install wind turbines?

Robert:

I think there is a lot of opportunity there. Do you feel there are a lot of regulatory impediments to your proposal?

Scott,

Do you think many of the regulations are in place for a good reason?

Not every regulation is bad. I could imagine a few problems if your neighbor had tall, powerful turbines depending on where you live.

Good? Bad?

Isn't that in the eye of the beholder to some extent?

Before you try to turn Robert's "small wind" turbines into giant Indio windmills in your neighbor's backyard, why don't we seek more facts?

Of course it is not always good or bad to have regulations. That is my point.

I would ask Robert a different question.

Robert, what regulations do you think local government could ease up on to help us use more alternative energy?

Scott and Robert, thanks for the questions. I am attending the American Public Transportation Commuter Rail Conference in SF, so havent had the chance to check the site to get back to you sooner. Today oil is down over $3 per barrel with just a few words of support for the dollar from Bernanke. Hedging does play an important role in the markets it just has to be watched to avoid abuses. I should have mentioned propping up the dollar in my list as well; just forgot.

The wind power issue is interesting. I have seen some very artistic looking wind turbines that look more like sculptures than windmills. In answer to Robert's question, I dont have an answer right now. I would have to have more information about the size of such turbines and the potential impact on adjacent neighbors. There would be pros and cons and we would just have to balance each. An interesting topic of discussion.

Public transit ridership is up dramatically. Our largest footprint comes from private vehicles, so every car trip that can be avoided benefits the environment. Come ride Metrolink. A great way to get to those points along the line and help the environment at the same time.

The facts are that the GOP needs millions of dollars this fall to try and hold on to what little power they have left. The GOP has made a deal with the oil companies to jack up the price at the pump, that way the oil companies can donate more money to the GOP. If you are tired of high prices at the pump vote out all Republicans in November!

The Democrats are the ones responsible for the high price of gas at the pump. Their policies have blocked oil exploration, drilling, and development on our own soil and offshore. Place the blame where it's due and use some facts, for a change, "Facts."

Mongo, you need to read up on the issue.
(1) Opening up more drilling in ANWAR would lower per barrel prices in the US no more than $00.75. besides, Clinton opened up more of the Alaskan North Slope to drilling than any president before or since. (2) Run away commodities speculation has pushed oil prices up by almost $25 per barrel. (3) The weakening US Dollar adds another $30 to $35 per barrel tot eh cost. Neither (2) nor (3) occurred because of Dem policies. They happened because people like you blindly support an incompetent and corrupt administration and all the political baggage its dragged into place in Congress.

Keith:

Has the city government of Moorpark transitioned to renewable energy such as solar or wind?

Hi Scott, we use hybrid vehicles in our fleet and our new civic center will meet the leed certifications for environmental design and operation. Hopefully this will encourage others who have the ability to incorporate this type of design into future buildings and re-models.

The GOP is the reason prices are high at the pump. If the GOP had nothing to hide they would release the minutes of Dick Cheney's meeting with the heads of the oil companies in 2001 when he let them write the energy policy. What are they hiding? Why are they so afraid to let the American people see those minutes of the meeting? Clinton released oil from the strategic reserve and lowered prices at the pump, Bush has kept putting oil in the reserve in order to keep prices high. The Democrats in Congress are now investigating manipulation in the oil markets and prices are starting to fall, the manipulation was allowed by Bush and the GOP and now that the Democrats control congress they are bringing down oil prices.

Stop whining about gas prices. Bush and the GOP couldn't control the price of gas even if they wanted to. The price of a gallon of gas is over $9 in France, is that Bush's fault too? Give it a rest.

$9/gal in France would be about 6 EUs, which is a lot more valuable today than it was 4 years ago, when petrol used to be 5EUs. In other words, the French are laughing all the way to the bank with a 20% rise in prices (and almost all of that new taxes which are paying for health care, free colleges, a 4 week vacation and one of the highest standards of living in the world). Meanwhile we're paying more than 200% more for our gas, families are losing their homes, most workers are under insured or not insured at all and more and more of the US economy is being parceled out to foreign investors to keep the Nation from the edge of bankruptcy as it wastes its wealth on the Bush Family's NeverEndingWar. This all happened during the past seven years.

Do you work with elected officials from Simi Valley and/or Thousand Oaks on environmental ideas?

Which elected official in each city is the most dedicated to being green?

Gee, sounds like you want to emulate France and their socialit utopia. It is working out so well for them that they have double-digit unemployment rates, a stagnant economy, crushing tax burden, bloated and unsustainable government entitlement programs, and large-scale civil unrest. Sorry, but I'll choose $4 per gallon gas in the USA any day over $9 per gallon gas in France.

Hi Keith:

Have any private developers or private building owners in Moorpark used the LEED system? I've read some criticism a few year's back that portrayed LEED as creating a cost disincentive to pursuing the points, but am not sure what the view is these days. It may work in public buildings, but does it work on private ones?

Do you believe it is financially feasible right now for the city of Moorpark to adopt an all solar energy-driven government?

What about the idea of utilizing a revenue bond to pay for the renewable upgrades to the city government, then use the money from the surplus energy generation by the renewable that go back into the grid to pay back the bond?

As part of the Capital Improvement Plan, what percentage of the upcoming programs/projects do you believe have been reviewed in terms of energy savings?

Last, I've noticed there isn't much discussion locally on using the tax allocation bond process in redevelopment zones to create green upgrade opportunities. Are redevelopment agencies ill-equipped to implement these new demands?

GS:

When did France shift to using gallons?

I don't think Antoine Lavosier would be really happy with you right now. ;)

Scott: should I have not made comparisons to BK's post in equivalent measures? Wouldn't that have been a lot more confusing?

BK: Of course your retort is to post a rhetorical equivalent of "Freedom Fries". But then you never actually respond....you simply repeat Rush Limbaugh. Go spend some time in France and then decide the relative merits of living in both places.

Yes, France has double digit unemployment...and it works, where as in the US such unemployment figures would result in absolute chaos. But they also don't count most part time jobs as being fully employed...as we do in the US.

Stagnant economy? Rather than target steady 4+% growth (which the US can't even get close to achieving) the EU model is to maintain sustainable growth, not for growth's sake but for the well being of its member citizens. The EU's been highly successful at it while the US can't seem to feed, clothe, house or minister to the needs of its own people.

Crushing tax burden? Ever wonder why so many US and British nationals take up residence in France? It's NOT because of the crushing tax burdens....in France, at least.

Bloated & Unsustainable entitlements? France and the EU have done pretty well creating a quality of life that very few of its citizens would argue with. But you've never been there, other than on a US-led tour, so you wouldn't know. Even the Brits have gladly tossed the tight-fisted fiscal discipline of the 80s and adopted entitlement programs that are catching up to the French and other EU nations.

Large scale civil unrest....like the sort we had more of in Seattle, Los Angeles, Miami, Oklahoma City, etc etc? It happens everywhere, for different reasons. Imagining that the US is insulated from it is just plain silly.

Be happy with your soon-to-be 5$/gal gas, BK. And while you're at it, remember fondly on all those cash-strapped commuters who have to spend an extra $200/month to hold on to the very jobs they'll probably lose during the next year. And then be smug in the knowledge that in America not one of those poor out-of-work commuters will have a safety net to fall back on, like the unemployed in France. Be proud of the fact that you'll work like hell to make sure that working Americans never get to taste the extravagance offered by national legislatures that place the well-being of their citizens above the stock options of CEOs.

Gary, you have no idea what you are talking about. If I get my ideas from Rush Limbaugh then you must get yours from Karl Marx.

Funny how you applaud the quality of life in France while at the same time the French government is trying to find ways to get rid of their 35-hour work week. Why should we emulate something that they already have acknowledged has failed in reducing their high unemployment rate and low productivity, something that the French government wants to dismantle. Their over-regulated labor markets have caused massive outsourcing of jobs, double-digit unemployment, a youth unemployment rate of 23% and unemployment in many muslim areas as high as 50%. Some paradise.

You might not like the quality of jobs in America, but you can at least get a job. I guess you must think the solution is to have high unemployment with generous government paid unemployment benefits. Yep, that's the ticket.

France has a socialist economy that is massively overtaxed and overregulated. France’s public government sector accounts for more than 50 percent of GDP, which means that private business in France is in the minority. France has a top personal tax rate is 48 percent, with a VAT tax of nearly 20 percent. That means French laborers pay a combined 68 percent tax rate. France has created less than 3 million jobs over the past twenty years, in contrast to 31 million jobs created in the United States. Over the same period of time economic growth in America has exceeded that of France by nearly 50 percent. Per capita income in the U.S. now exceeds that of France by close to 40 percent.

You can try and spin it any way you want but the facts speak for itself. You choose to selectively cherry pick your facts in order to justify your anti-capitalist views, but capitalism has always outperformed socialism. But like a true socialist, you keep insisting on doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. And when the facts don't back up your argument you just make up your own. Unfortunately nobody is buying your BS.

Bubba Kidd is a hand pupper and parrot for Bush/Osborn/Strickland, he knows that the big oil companies give big bucks to the GOP so he loves high pump prices. If you don't, then vote out all Republicans in November if you want lower pump prices. Fact, the day Bush took office the national average for pump prices was $1.46.

At least you're moving away from the usual we're-better-than-them jingoism and trying to explain your position.

French labor conservatives DO want to emulate the US system of unlimited rewards for the unlimited elite but the majority of the French are resisting. Are you suggesting that we help drag them into our own Voodoo Economic system by force simply because you think our system is better? There's is a system that they've created, made to evolve and it works for them. They don't seek high growth; they seek a stable standard of living for the broad majority of French citizens. We do not.

Our system's created massive outsourcing of jobs. In real terms we have double digit unemployment except that we fudge the figures and add everyone who has a five-hour a week job delivering newspapers as "employed". The French don't. And the French unemployed are covered by a safety net that we can't match.

Our youth is suffering from unemployment rates as high as France's. Our illegal immigrants are suffering from virtually 100% unemployment, since they can't be reported as employed. But then again, depending on where you cherry-pick your figures to support your premise, these sorts of numbers are meaningless.

So try not to use the term "facts speak for themselves" because facts only speak for those who carefully select them.

My point is that France and the US are two different systems looking to achieve two different goals. To hold up an apple from France and try to compare it unfavorably with an orange from the USA is silly. To suggest that France's civil unrest is bad and the US's civil unrest is good is absurd. To make the rising price of gas a patriotic thing to cheer about here, while lambasting a much smaller rise in the cost in the EU is ludicrous, especially when the average American household spends a far, far greater % of its income on auto costs.

And then to label the other side of a discussion anti-capitalist and that person socialist for daring to object to your narrow apples & oranges view is contemptible.

Yea, and the day the Democrats took over Congress gas in California was $2.49.

So by Facts own figures under Bush and the Republicans gas went up $1.00 over 6 years.

After just 18 months of a Democrat Congress gas has gone up $2.00, twice as much.

Bush and Republicans=$1.00 over six years.

Democrats $2.00 over 18 months.

'nuff said.

Gary, if you don't want to be labelled as an anti-capitalist then perhaps you should stop labelling others. To dismiss the comments of others by saying that they are parroting Rush Limbaugh is just as contemptible. I don't listen to Rush Limbaugh or watch Fox News. Those are the typical responses I expect from the far-left trolls around here. It works both ways, so if you want to have an adult conversation you need to rise above that and you'll get the same in return.

BTW, there are a lot of things I like about France. For one thing, their nuclear energy program is second to none. There are lots of things we could learn from them, and vice-versa. But the American economic system and job market is not nearly as bad as you claim. It is the strongest in the world. There are cerainly things that can be improved, but that doesn't mean that we should become France. I just don't believe in having the government confiscate 2/3 of my income in order to redistribute wealth through government programs. I guess that makes me a capitalist.

And back to the issue of gas prices, they are rising all over the world. President Bush does not control the price of gas in France. The only reason why prices have increased less in France than the USA is because the majority of the cost of gas in France is taxes, most of which are a fixed amount per gallon. The relative increase in price is less in France because the bulk of the price is taxes, which do not increase when the price of fuel goes up. For example, our federal gas tax is just 18.4 cents per gallon, but that tax levy is the same whether you pay $2.00 per gallon at the pump or $4.00 per gallon. And the production of the the largest state owned and private oil companies (Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Venezuela, China, British Petroleum, Nigeria, Iraq, Kuwait)are ten times that of the combined production from ExxonMobil and Chevron/Texaco. It's pretty hard to manipulate oil prices when you control less than 10% of global production.

What the USA does control is government policy to encourage conservation and reduce dependence on foreign oil. The federal government should have been doing much more over the past 30 years, but instead allowed American consumers to get comfortable driving huge SUVs. Now we are paying the price for our inaction, including the drubbing the US auto industry is taking from Toyota and other foreign auto makers. That is deserved. But there is something we can do about that. However, whining about the price of gas is pointless and futile. Congress and the president can't do a damn thing about it and regulation would only make it worse. Unless of course you think the days of 3-hour gas lines was a good thing.

Bk, you're absolutely right about the RL labeling. My apologies. I also appreciate the rest of your post as part of an intelligent discussion. Thank you. We'll continue it later.

I appreciate that Gary. My anti-capitalist comment was out of line as well and I'm sorry. I'm sure we'll have the opportunity to debate some more and I'm feeling suddenly optimistic that the two of us can disagree and still manage to be civil. Though I will go out on a limb and admit that I actually agree with some of your posts from time to time, though not on this France thing. Oh well, c'est la vie.

So, I come check this site during halftime of the Laker/Celtic game and Gary and Bubba are playing nice?

I'm just curious as I've been spending some time on cap and trade and carbon taxes lately. Any bipartisan agreement on these regulations from the two of you?