Maine gas sales start to decline

Drivers begin to search in earnest for alternatives to the very costly – and convenient – habit of driving.

 

 

By JOHN RICHARDSON, Staff Writer

May 23, 2008

 

Maine gasoline sales are declining at the fastest rate in more than 15 years as pump prices continue to rise toward $4 a gallon and residents look for ways to cut back, state figures show.

 

The average price for a gallon of gas in Maine rose to $3.85 on Thursday, up 2.7 cents from the day before and 34 cents in the past month, according to AAA.

 

More:

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story_pf.php?id=189499&ac=PHnws

That's good news to hear all around.

 

Locally, LexTran (Lexington's bus system) has seen ridership more than double in the past three years alone. A very slight property tax increase in 2005 went for LexTran -- at a time when LexTran had very few routes and when many buses were inoperable due to neglected maintenance, and when monthly ridership was in the low 130,000's. Since then, there have been a multitude of routes added, new buses purchased. We are now implementing Express routes and a circular university loop (UK-Transy-Downtown), and we have been adding at least 50 or more bus shelters per year.

http://business.scotsman.com/business/Driven-to-despair.4118168.jp

 

Driven to despair

 

Published Date: 25 May 2008

By Bill Jamieson

 

A HOUSING slump across America; a global credit crisis; crashing banks and tumbling house prices; a food price spike, growing fears of recession, and now, just when you thought the news could not get worse, a new oil price super spike to more than $130 a barrel.

 

Any one of these developments would threaten a recession. Indeed, America's central bank is already struggling to stave off the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. But together they put beyond doubt the fact that the world has moved from one era to another, and one altogether less stable and reassuring.

 

More at above link:

Why does the media keep insisting on calling "Peak Oil" a theory?  It's doing a grave disservice to the public.  Theories are something that are not entirely proven.  We have dozens of oil-producing nations that are past their oil production peaks-- this is proven by simply plotting their oil production over time.  It's the same scenario over and over-- oil production follows Hubbert's Curve.  The rest are following Hubbert's Curve, they just haven't reached peak, yet.  There's nothing theoretical about it.  The only theoretical part is trying to predict when the global decline will begin. 

 

 

Gas may be 8 bucks a gallon but they tax the hell out of it, meaning at least money from gas usage is being funneled back to them while encouraging them to conserve. O Reiley wouldn't want me coming on his show; I'd show him what public humiliation is.

They often drive for different reasons, though their trends have been toward an American lifestyle rather than away from it. They talk different because many have replaced real religion with the faux-religion of environmentalism (esp. global warming).

As gas goes up, driving goes down

March figures show steepest decline in driving since 1942

 

(CNN) -- At a time when gas prices are at an all-time high, Americans have curtailed their driving at a historic rate.

 

The Department of Transportation said figures from March show the steepest decrease in driving ever recorded.

 

Find this article at:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/05/26/gas.driving/index.html 

 

^consider the story above and then consider this on-line poll from CNN.com.

 

Is public transportation available as an alternative to driving on your work commute?

Yes 22% 19108

 

No 78% 67099

 

Total Votes: 86207 

 

Here is our transportation challenge in one poll: people are driving less, using less gasoline and using public transportation more often.  And yet few, if any transit systems can handle the demand and our intercity passenger rail system is grossly underfunded and ill-equipped to handle the demand.

 

If we ever needed a reason to push for better funding for rail & mass transit... this is it.

 

Remarkable numbers, Noozer.

And here is the poll that i just got at cnn.com

 

Are you driving less because of rising gas prices?

Yes 84% 7685 

No 16% 1506 

Total Votes: 9191 

 

Assuming most people are being truthful about their situation, these numbers are stunning.

 

It would be interesting for CNN to ask a follow-up poll question to the effect of:

 

"If gasoline prices have you driving less, what option would you prefer to see more of?

 

Rail (Intercity, commuter, light rail, streetcars)

 

Bus Transit

 

Bicycle

 

 

One of many upsides to high fuel prices........

 

http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5gxnH-FTEsphWbh92nlKQDbwW616w

 

High oil prices reversing impacts of globalization, outsourcing of jobs:

 

OTTAWA — The rising cost of energy is undercutting global trade by raising transportation costs to such levels that businesses will be forced to look closer to home for suppliers, says a CIBC World Markets report.

 

"Globalization is reversible," the bank's chief economist, Jeff Rubin, wrote in the study released Tuesday.

 

"In a world of triple-digit oil prices, distance costs money. And while trade liberalization and technology may have flattened the world, rising transportation prices will once again make it rounder."

 

More at link above:

It's funny to think that these companies are making 100's of billions in profits, yet if the world crashes because of the high oil prices. The money they made would be worthless. Just my opinion.

The world won't crash, though oil-dependent lifestyles will. Many aspects of the United States economy will end up stronger without the huge trade deficits we've gotten ourselves into. Making preparations and keeping your eyes on the positive outcomes of all this will help you through a difficult transition that could take 20 years. You are a lucky one. Most Americans have no idea what's coming and will be bowled over. You have awareness. Use it wisely, my young apprentice.

http://www.salon.com/tech/htww/?last_story=/tech/htww/2008/05/27/stop_your_motor_running/

 

Tuesday, May 27, 2008 08:27 PDT

Stop your motor running

 

On Friday, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) reported that Americans drove 11 billion fewer miles in March 2008 than in March 2007. According to the FHWA, that's the sharpest drop since the agency began keeping records in 1942.

 

Calculate Risk provides some context:

 

This is only the third time since 1970 that the year-over-year change in total U.S. miles driven has declined. The previous two times were following the oil shocks of 1973 and 1979 -- and led to the two most severe U.S. recessions since WWII.

 

More at link above:

Here's the actual press release.....

 

http://www.dot.gov/affairs/fhwa1108.htm

 

FHWA 11-08

Friday, May 23, 2008

Contact: Doug Hecox

Tel.: (202) 366-0660

 

Americans Driving At Historic Lows

Eleven Billion Fewer Vehicle Miles Traveled in March 2008 Over Previous March

 

WASHINGTON -- Americans drove less in March 2008, continuing a trend that began last November, according to estimates released today from the Federal Highway Administration.

 

“That Americans are driving less underscores the challenges facing the Highway Trust Fund and its reliance on the federal gasoline excise tax,” said Acting Federal Highway Administrator Jim Ray.

 

The FHWA’s “Traffic Volume Trends” report, produced monthly since 1942, shows that estimated vehicle miles traveled (VMT) on all U.S. public roads for March 2008 fell 4.3 percent as compared with March 2007 travel. This is the first time estimated March travel on public roads fell since 1979. At 11 billion miles less in March 2008 than in the previous March, this is the sharpest yearly drop for any month in FHWA history.

 

Though February 2008 showed a modest 1 billion mile increase over February 2007, cumulative VMT has fallen by 17.3 billion miles since November 2006. Total VMT in the United States for 2006, the most recent year for which such data are available, topped 3 trillion miles.

 

Additionally, the U.S. Department of Transportation estimated that greenhouse gas emissions fell by an estimated 9 million metric tons for the first quarter of 2008.

 

The estimated data show that VMT on all U.S. public roads have dropped since 2006. The FHWA’s Traffic Monitoring Analysis System (TMAS) computes VMT for all types of motor vehicles (motorcycles, cars, buses and trucks) on the nation’s public roads. These data are collected through over 4,000 automatic traffic recorders operated round-the-clock by state highway agencies. More comprehensive data are published in the FHWA’s “Highway Statistics” at the end of each year

 

To review the FHWA’s “Traffic Volume Trends” reports, visit http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/ohim/tvtw/tvtpage.htm. For “Highway Statistics 2006,” visit http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policy/ohim/hs06/index.htm.

^consider the story above and then consider this on-line poll from CNN.com.

 

Is public transportation available as an alternative to driving on your work commute?

Yes 22% 19108

 

No 78% 67099

 

Total Votes: 86207 

 

Here is our transportation challenge in one poll: people are driving less, using less gasoline and using public transportation more often.  And yet few, if any transit systems can handle the demand and our intercity passenger rail system is grossly underfunded and ill-equipped to handle the demand.

 

If we ever needed a reason to push for better funding for rail & mass transit... this is it.

 

 

I wonder how they qualified the question. I know a lot of people who wouldn't consider transit a viable alternative if they had to change their schedule by 10 minutes or walk more than a block at either end of their ride. They might consider it if it picked them up at their door on demand and delivered them directly to the front door of their workplace.

 

Fort Wayne Public Transportation Corp (Citilink) will probably vote at this week's board meeting for major cuts to its already marginally adquate service, including reduced availability of its handicap access vans, and raise fares from $1 to $1.25. The system is facing a half-million dollar budget shortfall, partly because recent annexations expanded its service area and the state has reneged on promised funds to cover the addition.

 

Yesterday I saw one local station at $4.09 for regular unleaded; it's the only station near the airport, and they probably count on gouging business travelers who top off their rental cars before returning them. Most stations were at $3.99

For whatever their reasons for voting....the poll numbers are very telling and represent a challenge.

 

I live in a neighborhood where I can have access to two COTA bus routes (#2 & #4), but many, if not most, of my Clintonville neighbors drive to work because the bus either doesn't go where they work or they perceive the bus to be too slow.  In many other neighborhoods, especially in the burbs, bus service may be desired but far too infrequent or inconvenient.

^Problem #1.

 

My first thought was "any politician concerned with their job should be running for re-election on long-term transportation solutions," but alas, as I type this, there's a banner ad at the bottom of the screen urging me to support John McCain's Gas Tax Moratorium.

 

My second thought was "I came here to post an Op/Ed piece about politicians' responsibility to be honest with the electorate"...

---

 

Truth or Consequences

 

By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN

Published: May 28, 2008

 

Imagine for a minute, just a minute, that someone running for president was able to actually tell the truth, the real truth, to the American people about what would be the best — I mean really the best — energy policy for the long-term economic health and security of our country. I realize this is a fantasy, but play along with me for a minute. What would this mythical, totally imaginary, truth-telling candidate say?

 

For starters, he or she would explain that there is no short-term fix for gasoline prices. Prices are what they are as a result of rising global oil demand from India, China and a rapidly growing Middle East on top of our own increasing consumption, a shortage of “sweet” crude that is used for the diesel fuel that Europe is highly dependent upon and our own neglect of effective energy policy for 30 years.

 

More:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/28/opinion/28friedman.html?hp

 

 

I just heard the high oil prices are affecting the tire industry as well, since they use petroleum to make tires. They said it's will effect safety as more and more people drive on bald tires.

Despite the decline in oil supplies of just 5 percent, oil prices shot up 400 percent.

 

 

It's like a room with 20 starving people and 19 sandwiches.

 

 

Nice Analogy

 

Or ten people trying to get on a nine person lifeboat

 

There may yet be a use for all those SUVs. They might provide shelter for the folks who got in over their heads on their suburban McMansion mortages and got foreclosed.

 

Except that their SUVs are probably being repo'd, too.

I just heard the high oil prices are affecting the tire industry as well, since they use petroleum to make tires. They said it's will effect safety as more and more people drive on bald tires.

 

What happens with clothing? Some common types of clothing (polyester, nylon, etc) are made from petroleum products. It won't affect safety like bald tires, unless seeing fat Americans naked causes heart attacks...

Like fat Americans in synthetics are any better?

Like fat Americans in synthetics are any better?

 

Ohhhh....the horror!  I broke out in hives, just thinking about synthetic blends.  Ick!

Hmmmmmm, maybe silk shirts will make a comeback.

May 29, 2008

 

Write of Way

Ken Prendergast

 

Instead of pointing fingers, find ways to use less gasoline

 

Whoever first said there are no certainties in life but death and taxes missed a third guarantee: that everyone has an opinion. Want proof? Ask them who’s to blame for high gas prices. If they claim to have no opinion, check their pulse and call 911.

Sadly, we’re more interested in pointing fingers than getting to know the problem and tackling it at its source. We all have our favorite scapegoats — big oil companies, the government, speculators, OPEC and, of course, the mysterious “them.”

Don’t blame oil companies. Only 20-25 cents of each gallon of gas you buy is for oil company profit. That’s half of the gas taxes which pay for roads and transit. I’m afraid people just don’t realize how big these oil companies are.

ExxonMobil, everyone’s favorite whipping boy, for example, generated $373 billion in revenues last year, but incurred $332 billion in costs. That’s not an obscene rate of return. In fact it’s pretty average. What is obscene is the size of ExxonMobil.

Why should we hate the oil companies? Because they know peak oil, the maximum level of global oil production, is upon us. Either they want to milk this cow for all it’s worth or they don’t think we adults can handle the truth and make rational preparations. How do we know they know about peak oil? Because their actions speak loudly.

Look at their exploration budgets. They’re way up. Look at their profits from exploration. They’re way down.

Only one refinery was built in the U.S. since 1976 — a new one in the Arizona desert. It awaits oil from Mexico that may never come as production from the huge Cantarell field is collapsing.

Meanwhile oil industry employment is falling with attrition. Much of their new labor additions are by outsourcing so they’re not committed long term. And look at the industry’s offshore oil platforms — they’re getting older and not increasing in number.

At the same time, government officials propose Band-Aid solutions like tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve or drilling in off-shore areas and the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge.

Or they show their economic illiteracy by proposing windfall profit taxes on Big Oil or pandering with gas-tax holidays. Then there’s Congress voting to sue OPEC because it won’t open the spigots — like an addict who’s jonesing so badly he wants to kill his drug dealer. Besides, it’s OPEC’s oil, not America’s. They can do whatever they want with it.

Don’t blame speculators either. Those who see peak oil happening are buying long-term positions in oil futures because they think the supply-demand equation favors even higher prices. Oil futures show how much oil you are entitled to buy, at what price and on what date the contract will settle so you can take delivery of the oil.

Why aren’t speculator driving up prices? Because speculators don’t take delivery of oil when the contract settles. Instead, they sell it before that happens because they don’t want an oil tanker pulling up to their homes or offices. Nor do investors want to be stuck with an expired, worthless contract.

If there is less demand for oil, then the spot price (for next month’s contract) per barrel goes down.

If there are more buyers than sellers of futures contracts who wish to take delivery of oil, then the spot price goes up. That also means shortages are occurring — they are, primarily in Third World countries which cannot afford to buy as much oil at these prices.

I’ve come to realize that there is no one to blame but ourselves. There is nothing anyone can do about high prices except use less oil. And the only way that will happen is for oil prices to keep going up.

On that score, high oil prices aren’t a bad thing. In fact, they’re helpful in causing America to re-evaluate its transportation, alternative energy, suburban land use and agricultural policies.

Still, too many of us are in denial and may stay that way even after America’s oil-soaked lifestyle collapses. Why not? When you’re addicted to an easy-street lifestyle, blaming everyone else is part of that game.

Oil prices could be having some positive effects. Such as, could the steel industry in America be on track for a rebound? It already is, but more may be coming...

 

See:

 

http://research.cibcwm.com/economic_public/download/smay08.pdf

 

Also at this link is more information about:

 

Will Soaring Transport Costs Reverse Globalization?

Jeff Rubin and Benjamin Tal

StrategEcon - May 27, 2008

Has anyone on here know anything about or tried these HHO (also called Brown's gas), water to hydrogen systems that compliment your cars fuel system? I've been reading that they can improve your gas mileage anywhere from 30-70 percent.

 

http://www.water4gas.com/2books.htm

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Complete-HHO-Generator-Kit-Increase-Mileage-Upto-85_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ42604QQihZ020QQitemZ300228628591QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

^Yet another quality of life improvement courtesy of rising fuel prices.

 

$4.50/gallon - 4 Day Work Week Becomes Standard.

$6.00/gallon - Americans ditch travel hockey camp and video games, actually meet neighbors

$7.50/gallon - Americans eat out less/cook at home more/get healthier

$8.00/gallon - Americans ditch their digital satellite, walk to the library to check out books

$9.00/gallon - Rail referendum passes, households start sloughing off second cars

$10.00/gallon - The last person turns out the lights in the exurbs

$11.00/gallon - ...

 

 

LOL! You are a f*cking riot, KOOW ... Wow.

Ridership is up, but fuel costs strain transit agencies

 

By Marisol Bello, USA TODAY

 

High gas prices are pushing more people onto buses and subways, straining transit agencies trying to meet the demand.

 

Like other consumers, the agencies are also paying more for fuel — 44% more this year than last, according to a survey of 96 transit agencies to be released Friday by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA).

 

Find this article at:

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2008-05-29-transit_N.htm 

 

 

Link to survey by American Public Transit Association on the impact of fuel costs on transit services:

 

http://www.usatoday.com/news/pdf/fuel%20survey%20report%202008.pdf?loc=interstitialskip

Oil prices could be having some positive effects. Such as, could the steel industry in America be on track for a rebound? It already is, but more may be coming...

 

If you have been following the steel industries stock prices lately...

 

I've been investing in various stocks, and heavy industries (i.e. AK Steel, U.S. Steel) have seen the biggest inflation of price. I'm seeing anywhere from a 30% improvement to 90% over a 5 month period...

LOL! You are a f*cking riot, KOOW ... Wow.

 

You're just now figuring this out?  :wtf: :wink:

I am really terrible with retaining business info . That said a few weeks ago when we are on vacation we met this Chinese engineer working for a British company that does something to do with energy. He was talking about steel rebounding. The problem is they were looking at South Africa  :? I of course threw the Cleveland hat in the ring  :-) (as if, I could influence such a thing)

Has anyone on here know anything about or tried these HHO (also called Brown's gas), water to hydrogen systems that compliment your cars fuel system? I've been reading that they can improve your gas mileage anywhere from 30-70 percent.

 

http://www.water4gas.com/2books.htm

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Complete-HHO-Generator-Kit-Increase-Mileage-Upto-85_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ42604QQihZ020QQitemZ300228628591QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

 

That's a scam, don't fall for it.

I am really terrible with retaining business info . That said a few weeks ago when we are on vacation we met this Chinese engineer working for a British company that does something to do with energy. He was talking about steel rebounding. The problem is they were looking at South Africa  :? I of course threw the Cleveland hat in the ring  :-) (as if, I could influence such a thing)

 

Check out...

 

http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,16179.0.html

Two TV stations, inlcuding WXIX in Cincinnati got suckered in by this fuel scam.

BTW, Whipple also mentioned that gasoline retailing chains are ordering large 5's for posting on their gas stations' signs. The larger numbers are, of course, used for the dollar amounts.....

Wow! That's really great to hear and it's one of the routes that I wasn't expecting...

Is there a short-term fix for high gas prices?

By Manav Tanneeru

CNN

 

(CNN)-- Rising oil and gas prices have lawmakers and consumers scrambling for solutions, but it is unclear whether anything can be done to lower energy costs in the short term, experts say.

 

The price of oil has doubled over the past year. A barrel of crude oil cost about $65 in June 2007; it is currently hovering around $130 a barrel.

 

 

Find this article at:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/05/29/gas.prices/index.html 

 

 

From MSNBC--rise in Public Transit.

 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/24937554#24937554

 

EDIT: this can probably be reposted in many other threads...so feel free to repost the link.

Travelers Turn to Public Transit

Ridership Surges as Gas Prices Fuel Exodus From Cars

 

By Lena H. Sun

Washington Post Staff Writer

Tuesday, June 3, 2008; A02

 

Soaring gas prices are pushing more Americans to take public transit, with streetcars, trolleys and other light rail experiencing a 10.3 percent increase in ridership for the first quarter of the year, according to a report released yesterday by the American Public Transportation Association.

 

Americans took 2.6 billion trips on all modes of public transportation, including subways and buses, in the first three months of 2008, a 3.3 percent increase, or almost 85 million more trips than in the same period last year, the report said.

 

More:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/02/AR2008060201545.html?hpid=moreheadlines

This is sweet revenge. As a long time hater of all things SUV, I'm enjoying such stories.

 

The Chevy Volt sound interesting, but coming from GM . . .

If anything illustrates why we need to be agressively pushing for more and better options to move people and stuff, this story show ow the impact of fuel prices has trickled...check that... rained down to our most dependent neighbors.

 

Meals on Wheels choking on gas prices

Thursday,  June 5, 2008 3:31 AM

By Sherri Williams

The Columbus Dispatch

 

Fuel prices are forcing Meals on Wheels programs in Hocking and Athens counties to reduce the daily delivery of some hot meals, as well as what is the only contact some elderly clients have with the outside.

 

Beginning Monday, both counties will deliver hot meals only on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, along with frozen meals for clients Tuesdays and Thursdays.

 

More:

http://dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2008/06/05/MEALSWHEELS.ART_ART_06-05-08_A1_Q9ADHO1.html?sid=101

Will Congress increase the tax on these heavier trucks so the highways that are damaged from these trucks can be repaired? We can't even afford to maintain the roads we have.....

 

http://www.railwayage.com/breaking_news.shtml#Feature7-6-5

 

June 4, 2008

Heavier trucks would be tied to fuel prices

 

A bill was introduced in the U.S. Senate Wednesday that would increase truck weight limits on federal highways from the current 80,000 pounds to 100,000 pounds when the price of diesel fuel is $3.50 a gallon or more. The Commercial Truck fuel Savings Demonstration Act of 2008 was introduced by Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) and announced at a press conference at the Augusta, Me., headquarters of the Maine Motor Transport Association.

 

More at link above:

^^ Noozer, that's a damn shame about the MOW scenario ... People of the community shouldn't let this happen.

Especially when you consider these folks are volunteers and the cost of fuel comes out of their pocket. 

A good indication of what issue will be driving critical votes this November.  This is a current CNN.com poll:

 

http://money.cnn.com/2008/06/03/news/economy/gas_prices_wrapup/index.htm?postversion=2008060511

 

What's your key economic issue this election year?

 

Gas prices 58% 

Health care 16% 

Jobs 16% 

Housing 10% 

 

Total responses to this question: 29300

 

I think that's what is meant by a hot-button issue!

 

And did you notice the Google ad that has appeared at the bottom of this page, thanks to the keywords being used here, was:

 

"Are you being robbed at the pump?" -- Take the survey -- Paid for By John McCain 2008

 

If that's an example of the overly simplistic comprehension level of McCain's staff in regards to the energy problem, I'm sure as hell not voting for him.

Given that McCain has been one of the most consistently anti-Amtrak voices in the Senate.... darn right he doesn't get my vote.