Energy Policy and Biking to the Grocery Store

“Nuclear power provides 20 percent of America’s energy needs via 104 reactors in 31 states, from California to Arizona, Texas to Michigan, and Florida to New York.” The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) gave permits last month to build two nuclear reactors, the first time since 1979 when the partial reactor meltdown occurred at Three Mile Island. The two reactors will begin operating at the Vogle Plant in Waynesboro, Georgia in 2016 and 2017. NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko objected, citing potential meltdown of the reactors.

Our economy is starved for energy because this administration has blocked the development of domestic sources of energy in order to promote its expensive and bankrupt green energy in the name of environmental and social justice that the left is pushing so vehemently.

A barrage of unnecessary and costly regulations has driven up gas prices to more than double since Obama became President. The Keystone XL pipeline would have removed the uncertainty of future supplies that affect energy prices. Sadly, Canadian oil will not be flowing to the United States via the Keystone XL pipeline, but to the port of Vancouver, to be shipped via oil tankers to China.

Releasing energy from the strategic petroleum oil reserves is not a good idea since it would increase further market price volatility and uncertainty. Such reserves would only prop up supply for a short time, and it would not significantly reduce the price of gas to make a difference at the pump.

The Obama administration has hindered domestic energy production at every turn, starting with the oil-drilling moratorium in the Gulf of Mexico. Brazilians were allowed to drill and store oil in the deep ocean of the Gulf of Mexico but not so much for domestic producers.

With gas $6 per gallon in some parts of the country, Secretary of Energy Chu, who admittedly does not own a car, stated that the Department of Energy goal is to strengthen the economy and decrease our dependence on oil.  Yet in 2008, Secretary Chu said, “Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels of Europe.” His solutions include green energy projects like Solyndra solar panel plant, harvesting algae as a replacement for oil, the electric Chevy Volt that nobody wants to buy in spite of the $10,000 subsidy, and the very expensive Tesla electric car that turns into a “brick” when the battery drains completely.

Candidate Obama promised that under his presidency gas prices will sky rocket and anyone who will build a coal-fired plant will go bankrupt. His supporters were too busy with “hope and change” to pay attention when he promised to “fundamentally transform” this nation.

As this administration states publicly that it is “boosting domestic production onshore,” new leasing on federal lands is down 44 percent, and the number of new oil wells drilled is down 39 percent. The President says that new offshore areas are opening, but his latest plan keeps 87 percent of these areas off limits. Claims that oil and gas activity in the Gulf of Mexico is back to normal are contradicted by a forecasted drop in production this year of nearly 21 percent from 2010 levels. (Speaker Boehner’s Office)

“House Republicans have passed several bills that would eliminate the Obama’s administration barriers to American energy production and move the Keystone XL pipeline forward,” but were defeated in the Senate.

All the anti-domestic energy policies of this administration are lovely music to the leftist environmental movement’s ears. However, they are never satisfied; their demands are more and more aggressive.

According to the Washington Post, drivers must be forced to bear the true economic cost of their choice to drive. It is not enough that we pay $4-6/gallon for gas that cost $1.79 when Obama took office. A federal carbon tax must be imposed on all of us who drive to the grocery store instead of biking, walking, or taking public transit.

“Perhaps fewer people would drive if we reattached costs to driving that are now being offset by non-drivers.” The author is incensed that people like him, who make sacrifices for the planet by biking to his favorite store, have to pay for our “free” parking via higher grocery prices.

Although Whole Foods encourages customers to “go green,” other “grocery chains like Stop and Shop, Giant, Safeway, Price Chopper make deals with gas stations that give customers per gallon discounts when they purchase a certain amount of groceries.”(Washington Post)

“Environmentalists and those who cannot afford to drive end up making it easier for other customers to shop by automobile.” It boils down again to social justice, the haves and have-nots. The author must not have or feed a family of four. How much groceries can one carry daily on a bicycle? Then again, logic is not the strong suit of progressives. Extreme environmentalism looks good on paper, not so much in practice.

Most Americans care for their environment and do not wish to destroy it. Regressing humanity and de-grow developed nations economically to primitive life styles in order to satisfy the goals of the Sierra Club crowd or other like-minded environmentalists is not the majority’s idea of living.

Last time I checked, most food is trucked by 18-wheelers that burn expensive Diesel fuel. Food is priced according to the delivery distance, the amount of fuel burned, production costs, and supply and demand.

Fuel and Diesel prices are driven up on purpose by our “environmentally appeasing” President, to the point that the rental price for the parking lot becomes an insignificant portion of the total operating cost of a grocery store vis-à-vis the inflationary cost of energy and food. Some grocery stores own the land and the costs of the parking lot are sunk over many years of operation.

The author is angry that his biking sacrifice for the planet is nullified by “Range Rover drivers” who do not care about their waistlines, wallets, and “ultimately for the Earth.” He laments, “Why should my bike subsidize your car?”

Liberal environmentalist know-it-alls are not subsidizing our cars. We pay road taxes and high gas prices, which include gas taxes. Should we tax bicyclists for using the paved roads freely while they are a nuisance to those who paid the road tax?

No matter what we do, the lack of a sane energy policy and constant class warfare from the left are going to bring about conflict between outlandish environmentalists and average Americans who wish to live in a free country with choices offered by the free market and not choices dictated by omnipotent few who want to control the entire population under the false premise of protecting the planet.