Green Options

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A few thoughts and a cartoon popped into my head last week while reading an article in Grist on oil companies having to clean up contaminated groundwater. The article stated that

“Some of the nation’s largest oil companies will over the next 30 years have to pay to clean up groundwater befouled with gasoline additive MTBE. In settling a suit brought by 153 public water providers in 17 states, a dozen companies — including BP, Shell, ConocoPhillips, and Chevron — will also have to pay a total $423 million cash.”

Thought #1: Finally!
Thought #2: 30 years! How about 3? And how about shipping clean water to homes in the affected areas in the mean time?
The article goes on to state that the estimated cost of the cleanup is $30 billion…
Thought #3: Why $423 million then?! I’m taking that same logic with me next time I fill up my car. “What, the cost is $4 a gallon? I’ll pay $1.50.”
It also mentioned that Exxon Mobile (among others) did not agree to settle…
Cartoon #1: Big Oil’s Mess? It MTBE, It Could Be, It Is!
And,
Thought #4: How can 17 states worth of contaminated groundwater even be cleaned up?
That’s when discovered that a few University of Aberdeen researchers have found that a whiskey bi-product may just do the trick.

Americans are feeling the pain of high gas prices; I just paid $4.20 a gallon at the pump in northern California. Needless to say, the presidential candidates are scrambling to be the savior of the gas guzzling voter. Both McCain and Clinton support suspending federal excise tax on gasoline and diesel fuel over the summer, but is this the right solution? Barack Obama disagrees, and I can’t help but think this is a band-aid solution.

The federal excise tax on gasoline was first implemented in 1932, although the states began taxing fuel in 1919. It is estimated that suspending this tax, as proposed by Clinto and McCain, would result in a loss of revenue of nine billion dollars for the Highway Trust Fund, which is used for interstate maintenance. McCain says he would shift revenue from other sources, and Clinton proposes enacting windfall-profits tax on big oil companies to make up for the loss. Both candidates are making Obama look like the bad guy for not wanting to save consumers 18 cents per gallon, but would this temporary suspension of the federal excise tax on gasoline really be the catalyst to change our current oil dependency and the harm it causes to the environment?