05-17-07 by dugan
I know that letters to newspapers can’t be judged for logic in the same way that articles are, especially when they come from the government. Letters editors are like the Sorcerer’s Apprentice, always an inch from overwhelmed. So I’ll respond here to the ridiculous letter appearing today (full text posted below) in the Los Angeles Times from Gov. Schwarzenegger’s chief of environmental protection, Linda Adams.
Obviously speaking for the governor, she disputes our OpEd urging the Gov and lawmakers to take action on the gasoline price crisis. To sum up her response: “Hey, he’s taking action! By 2020 at the latest!”
Let’s go point by point, after ignoring the petty statement that "Court and Dugan have no idea about the facts of gasoline prices or Gov. Schwarzenegger’s record.”
1. “Cost at the pump is controlled primarily by the international cost of crude oil.” Ms. Adams, that is last year’s oil industry excuse. Pump prices this year are all but completely unmoored from crude oil prices, with retail increases propelled by record-high profits on the refining of gasoline.
2. “In the last year, gas prices in California increased much less than in other states.” We recall the Mark Twain saying about “lies, damn lies and statistics.” Anyone can pick a time frame that comes up with this result (for instance, last year’s price peak came earlier in California than in the rest of the country, skewing year over year results.). But ask anyone who, until the last few days, was paying 50 cents more per gallon than the rest of the country, and still by far the highest price in the nation, whether it reflects any reality at the pump.
3. “The price of gasoline will continue to rise if we do nothing.” Well, doh. She can certainly state the obvious, but what’s the Schwarzenegger administration going to do, aside from nothing? The same goes for “We must end the monopoly of oil and bring greater competition to our fuels market.”
4. And here, drum roll please, is the governor’s action solution, as cited by Ms. Adams: The state low-carbon fuel standard passed by the Legislature last year, which is still being litigated and for which no rules have yet been written. And which, if everything goes right, is aimed at reducing carbon in fuels by 10% in 2020.
5. “This [carbon standard] offers protection from continuously escalating gas prices by expanding fuel alternatives,” says Adams. I guess it doesn’t matter what people pay, or how badly the state economy is dinged, for at least the next 10 years.
The letter is also entirely off point from the OpEd, which said the state can and should take regulatory action now to curb the oil oligopoly. Otherwise, Big Oil will continue profiteering in a market devoid of competition. Until, apparently, 2020.
We know the governor is entirely uninfluenced by the $4 million given him by the energy industry, so why does this letter sound like a press release from Chevron?
And why did Linda Adams, who has pretty good green credentials, end up writing a letter that should have come from someone who at least knows the oil and refining industries?
Here’s the whole letter:
Clearly, Court and Dugan have no idea about the facts of gasoline prices or Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s record. First of all, cost at the pump is controlled primarily by the international price of crude oil, which fluctuates daily.
Second, in the last year, gas prices in California increased much less than in other states. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, the price of gasoline in California increased 3.9% over the last year, compared with 5% nationally and 10% in the Midwest. And the price of gasoline will continue to rise if we do nothing.
We must end the monopoly of oil and bring greater competition to our fuels market. In January, Schwarzenegger established the nation’s first low-carbon fuel standard to reduce the carbon content in transportation fuels 10% by 2020. This order offers protection from continuously escalating gas prices by expanding fuel alternatives.
LINDA ADAMS
Secretary
California Environmental Protection Agency
Sacramento