[Seattle-editorial] Proposal: The Real Price of Gasoline

[Gentry Lange]

Very good. I throw stories together so quickly, I hadn't realized the API
stuff and the "real numbers" is crappy wording. Will rewrite, maybe adding a
line about API. Must think on it.

Gentry

-----Original Message-----
From: Jeremy G Kahn [mailto:jgk at fifthhorseman.net]
Sent: Saturday, August 30, 2003 8:10 PM
To: g at art13.com
Cc: Editorial
Subject: Re: [Seattle-editorial] Proposal: The Real Price of Gasoline


Looks good.

I'm a little reluctant to promote API, since they're basically
stinkers.  Here's a quote from their "environment" page:

  "The oil and natural gas industry is recognized for delivering
products that enhance our quality of life, energy that heats our homes,
and fuels that allow us to live and work where we choose and bring our
goods to market. What is less widely known is all we have done to
improve our environmental record."

bleck.  But I think the general story is good and important.  Approve,
but I would also approve a wording change:

instead of: "For the real numbers visit the API..."

read instead "For the real numbers visit the petroleum-promoting API.."

just so people are prepared and don't think we're promoting API, just
acknowledging sources.

--jeremy



Gentry Lange wrote:

>Hi All,
>
>I'd love to have this go up today, or at least before the end of the
>weekend, as it relates to Labor Day... How do we propose a Global Feature.
>I'd love to see this hit global (and not just for my own ego).
>
>Here's the link to a clean version...
>http://seattle.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=32213&group=webcast
>
>Gentry
>______________________________________________________________________
>
>Title: The Real Price of Gasoline
>Subtitle: Record Labor Day Gas Prices Not Really Record Prices
>
><p>Gasoline prices have recently hit almost $2.00 per gallon accross the
>United
>  States. For a consumer culture that drives SUVs, that $2.00 price tag
>makes
>  many people believe that prices are at an all-time high? And recent price
>spikes
>  have led to renewed <a
>href="http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/recall/story/7322481p-8266769c
.
>html">calls
>  for government regulation</a>. </p>
><p>While the <a
>href="http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/137351_gasprices30.html">mass
>  media</a> is out to tell us <a
>href="http://www.news-leader.com/today/0826-Gasprices,-145522.html">the
>  same story</a> over and over, that <a
>href="http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/6626793.htm">gas
>  prices are too high</a>... especially for labor day, when Americans
>traditionally
>  set the yearly record for travel by car. The reality is that gas prices
>are
>  nowhere near record levels. </p>
><p>When adjusted for inflation, 1981 set the most recent record at $1.35
>which
>  is $2.69 adjusted to year 2000 prices (the most recent year for which
>numbers
>  are easily available). In fact, the all-time high was set in 1918, which
>would
>  be $3.00 per gallon in 2000 prices, and <a
>href="http://www.narprail.org/gas.htm">prices
>  have been falling ever-since</a>. For the real numbers visit the <a
>href="http://api-ec.api.org/industry/index.cfm?bitmask=001004001000000000#"
>
>American
>  Petroleum Institute</a>, and download <a
>href="http://api-ec.api.org/filelibrary/Historical%20Trends%20in%20Gasoline
%
>20Pump%20Prices%201918-2002.pdf">this
>  PDF</a>.</p>
><p>Of course, these prices don't even begin to address the <a
>href="http://www.icta.org/projects/trans/rlprexsm.htm">real
>  price of gasoline</a>. Which according to a report by the <a
>href="http://www.icta.org/index.htm">International
>  Center for Technology Assessment</a>, could be as high as $15 per gallon.
>In
>  addition to crude prices and taxes, the environmental costs of burning
>gasoline,
>  and waging wars to procure the oil to make it, burning gasoline has an
>almost
>  incalcuable cost on society at large... though many have tried to put a
>number
>  on it. The <a href="http://www.iags.org/home.htm">Institute for the
>Analysis
>  of Global Security</a> provides a good overview of what this number might
>be,
>  read <a href="http://www.iags.org/costofoil.html">How Much are We Paying
>for
>  a Gallon of Gas?</a> </p>
>
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