Energy policy and the size of a Republic
In the recent months, I've written a lot about energy policy and the United States' lack of a coherent one. But something I read yesterday raised a very good point: maybe the country is too big to have a coherent energy policy!
The author of the Vermont Commons article (which I wish I could link for you, but it's not online yet) noted that the countries with the most successful energy policies were small and compact. According to the "Environmental Sustainability Index," (which I can link) the top five countries are: Finland, Norway, Uruguay, Sweden, and Iceland.
All are on the list for different reasons, of course; Iceland hit the jackpot with geo-thermal, Norway has its own oil and gas reserves, and so on. But the commonality linking them all is a small population. Sweden, the largest country on the list, tops out at about 9 million, just a little bigger than New York City.
The article posited that the relatively small population and geographic size of the countries made it far easier for government to act swiftly, effectively, and efficiently. In contrast, the United States is a continent-wide behemoth with a ponderous federal government.
The answer, though, is not despair. It's federalism! While the federal apparatus may not be able to swing into action very quickly, individual states can be much quicker.
How? Well, each state can raise the state gas tax and create dedicated funds for alternate transportation and public transit; each state can create portfolio standards that mandate certain percentages of energy must come from certain sources; and each state can encourage research and development of new energy sources through tax credits and university funding. These are just a few of the things that can be done without any federal help, but I'm sure there are many more.
We shouldn't wait for the federal government to act before we put on some pressure at the local level.
posted by Joshua @ 11:19 AM
3 Comments:
I think your example of Nevada is somewhat instructive. Is it "resource poor"? The same state that has the Hoover Dam, available wind and solar energy, and - like everyone - nuclear potential?
But yeah, states should certainly work together with other states to create regional policy. I've learned that Vermont has cheaper energy than other New England states because of an arrangement the state utilities have with Quebec's hydros on the St. Lawrence. This is an excellent example.
As for Los Angeles and the automobile culture. They were weaned into it, right? Sure they were, by a series of decisions designed to orient the city around the car. So what's to say the process couldn't work in reverse? I mean, if you're saying that there's no way this could be done, are you then saying that, if the automobile is no longer economical, Los Angeles must be destroyed?
As for mass transit. Certainly not every city could have workable rail-subway of the scale of NYC, but what about buses? If a city is set up for cars, I'd bet it's set up for buses, too.
But the first thing we have to do is, like the addict, admit that we have a problem. Our current methods of transportation are dependent largely on resources we either can't obtain domestically (foreign oil) or won't obtain (ANWR and what-have-you). This is a problem. So far, our way of reconciling this problem has been to control the sea lanes of the Persian Gulf and maintain friendly (some would say dominating) relations with the regimes there.
If we would prefer not to continue that policy, but still want our current method of transportation, we need to get over our environmental squeamishness that prevents us from obtaining more domestic oil. I fear that in our attempt to maintain our current setup, we may get over our squeamishness and then some.
So we have a problem. Then let's start taking those slow steps in a different directions: higher gas taxes, turnpikes with higher tolls for non-carpool cars, and so on. Let's change our zoning - one block at a time, if we have to! - from single-use crap to multi-use districts. If we start thinking in that direction, we'll start thinking more in that direction.
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