Editorial: Give Us an Energy Policy Now

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hen something hurts or scares you, it is natural to try to laugh off the threat and just work through it. After all, we still have lives to lead and jobs to do, and we want to ease the tension so we can keep going.

nd since misery loves company, it helps put things into perspective when we know the problem is shared.

What’s going on these days in fuel prices might be worthy of dark humor, but it is hurting wallets and corporate profits, and unless we are lucky it may threaten what is otherwise a nice recovery in trucking and the general economy.

In this case, the very fact that the problem is so widely shared does not help, but makes it worse. So many trucking firms are struggling with fast-rising diesel costs that stock analysts say profits may suffer across the industry this year.

Transportation leaders have called on the Bush administration to take some action to add oil supplies to the market and to stem the rise in diesel and jet fuel prices.

So many households feel the pinch at gasoline pumps that their congressmen are also calling for action. Some states are asking the federal government to monitor potential gasoline price fixing. Some are asking for waivers from pollution-reducing boutique fuel requirements.

The administration has held to its refrain that it will not stop filling the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve as insurance in case an attack or other emergency interrupts normal supplies. Critics have said that halting new oil deliveries to the SPR would free up some supplies and be a step toward easing prices.

What the country really needs, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said again last week, is for Congress to pass a national energy policy.

That is certainly true. An energy supply-or-price crunch often weakens the broader economy and sometimes tilts it into recession. So we need a clear, effective national policy.

While we normally rely on efficient markets, we are now beset with capacity and upkeep issues on refineries, pipelines and electrical stations. We lack a consensus on when to tap and when to keep filling the SPR. And how do we even determine when the oil market is being disrupted, since so much of it is controlled by a supply cartel?

In the short term, only government action or unexpected relief from fuel markets can help, before prices cause too much damage. But it is past time to begin shaping a longer-term energy policy.

This story appeared in the April 12 edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.