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Research Analyst
Fuel Freedom Foundation
In the wake of Hurricane Harvey, the average price of a gallon of gasoline nationwide spiked by 25 cents, with some states seeing an increase of as much as 42 cents per gallon. This is the largest increase in a single week since the 49-cent jump following Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The fact that the entire nation’s fuel infrastructure can be disrupted by a localized single event is deeply concerning. In fact, our economy is disproportionately reliant on oil —10 of the previous 11 U.S recessions were preceded by a spike in oil prices (and subsequently gasoline). Indeed, as Michael… [more]
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Senior Regulatory Attorney
Environmental Defense Fund
Two seemingly unrelated announcements drew much attention in the electric utility industry recently. First, the Edison Electric Institute and the Natural Resources Defense Council jointly recommended changing how utilities should be regulated. Second, Duke Energy announced it will sell 13 Midwest merchant power plants. These announcements are actually related, and arise because the traditional utility business model is crumbling, due to several factors: Load growth has declined, due to a slowing economy and greater use of renewable energy and energy efficiency. Utilities are no longer able to obtain economies of scale by building ever-larger plants. New regulations have resulted in… [more]
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NRDC’s recently released report ranks states in two critical areas related to our nation’s continuing addiction to oil: gas price vulnerability – calculated as the percentage of personal income spent on gasoline by the average driver in each state – and state’s adoptions of solutions to reduce oil dependence. The report yields some conclusions: All states are impacted by oil dependence, but some states’ drivers are hit harder economically than others. The top 6 states most vulnerable to gas prices are Mississippi, West Virginia, South Carolina, Kentucky, Oklahoma and Texas, with the average drivers in these states spending 7.3-9% of… [more]
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