An interesting article on the Huffington Post by Mark Engler asks that question – can we really calculate the true cost of our dependence on oil? The article covers oil spills and their associated costs ($167 per seagull, $300,000 for a killer whale)...and the lack of follow-through by the offenders.
It also discusses military costs to protect our access to oil – and the incredible tax breaks and "gushing subsidies" given to the oil industry.
Interestingly, there is a link in the article to a New York Times piece called "The real cost of gas: $5 a gallon," which was published 23 years ago today. (Gas was 99 cents at the time!)
While pointing out some of the costs policymakers and anti-biofuels zealots forget to include on the ledger, Engler notes: High-end estimates of the true costs of the gas we use come to over $15 per gallon. Taxpayers subsidize significant parts of this sum without even knowing it.
Click here to read the full article.
No comments:
Post a Comment