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We Won't Call it a Crisis Just Yet

Sadly, it took a decade of energy woes and economic doldrums to make America serious about conservation. It's already a fact that the US energy grid is breaking down. Millions of New Yorkers need no reminder how everything fell apart last Thursday. Suddenly, politicians like Spencer Abraham of the Energy Department and members of Congress' energy committees are superstars. We want to know everything about how they are going to fix this. Even President Bush is getting close to promising something for his 2004 presidential bid. After all, didn't you see the hours of coverage of people wandering through the dark streets of Gotham?

The next sign of energy trouble, try Phoenix, Arizona. There aren't any "rolling gas blackouts" here because of deregulation or other assorted bogeymen. A failed pipeline that connects Tucson, Arizona to El Paso, Texas had a rupture on July 30th, and pressure on the market has been building ever since. The pipeline was shut down on the 8th of August, causing a snap in the supply and raising prices. As customer fear the possibility there will not be enough gasoline, the problem snowballs. Anyone alive in the 1970s seemingly can think of only one time they have felt this way before. The ripple effect now has made California's gasoline prices rise, too. And worst of all, there's no timetable when the gas will start flowing again. KinderMorgan has only promised Arizona when it will next test the pipeline for repairs done.

Though Kinder Morgan likely wanted no part of this shutdown, there are now discussions afoot to reform Arizona's gasoline supply system. It looks like though the Bush Administration will at least go to bat for the eponymous Richard Kinder who is decidely pro-Republican and is based in the
GOP's new homeland state of Texas.

And what about Mr. Abraham's previous comments? He appeared on NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday and didn't even mention the crisis in Arizona. He instead chose to talk about how the administration has been trying for years to get the energy grids back on track (by charging consumers a premium to fix the grid) and how it's all Congress' fault. Hopefully Bush finds a more qualified man than Abraham to help him stump in energy-sensitive states like Arizona, or else the combination of new state residents, unemployment, energy concerns and the like may push The Grand Canyon state from "Red" to "Blue" in '04.
posted by Thomas at 11:46 PM 0 comments