Election Heats Up, Hanover Stays Cold

by Alexander Talcott

"Al Gore has taken on the oil industry to fight for American consumers, protect our environment and reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil," claims the Gore 2000 website. The Vice President, meanwhile, holds approximately $500,000 worth of stock in Occidental Petroleum while he endorses a policy of releasing barrels of oil from the government reserve and providing funds for the long-term development of alternative energy sources.

As short-sighted as Gore is on most other issues, he looks too far down the road on energy. Eight years after publishing Earth in the Balance, Gore needs to save his idealism for another book and confront the nation's current energy issues.

Real consequences of the Clinton-Gore administration's lack of an energy policy are apparent nationally as well as in the state of New Hampshire and the town of Hanover.

New Hampshire's Department of Energy predicts a 25 percent increase in the cost of home heating this winter. This alarming figure is coupled with a 15 percent decrease in the home heating inventory—which could spike prices even higher for families.

On October 9, ABC affiliate WMUR-News 9 reported that many NH residents are opting for fixed pricing plans.

In Hanover, there is no database of the means of heating by homes and businesses. According to Town Manager Julia Griffin, "The only way to determine how most Hanover homes are heated is to check every property card in the assessor's office, which would be a monumental task. The cards list the type of heating system, but we have no idea what the average cost would be."

The two major oil companies that service the area are Irving Oil of Lyndonville, Vermont, and the Johnson & Dix Fuel Corporation of White River Junction. Johnson & Dix's slogan is "We take the worry out of heating your home." Given the likelihood of a colder-than-usual winter and rising heating prices, the company will have a tough time meeting that standard.

The public cost of expensive energy will not manifest itself in increased taxes, but may lead to reduced services. Mike Gilbar, speaking on behalf of the Town's administrative services department, explained, "The tax rate will be set based on the May town meeting appropriation; any excess energy costs will be absorbed in the operating budgets of the associated departments. There will be no effect on the tax rate."

But there are private costs as well. Hanover's Colla family serves as an interesting case study. Geoff Colla is a freshman at the College. His father, Stanley Colla, Jr. '66, Tuck '86, is the College's Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations. The family uses oil heat. The elder Colla said the "cost was reasonable because the house is small, but the increasing cost of fuel oil is making it harder." His wife, Judith Colla, offered that, "Compared to the cost of a college education for two boys, [oil heat] is a bargain." Still, she is concerned about the impact of expensive energy on others: "At the same time, I do worry about folks who are on a tighter budget than we are and for whom the increased cost of gasoline and heating oil is more of a strain."

Oil prices have tripled over the past year and a half. In September, crude oil hit a ten-year high of $37 per barrel.

The United States consumes almost 20 million barrels of crude a day, comprising 74 percent of the world's usage. About half is imported, according to the Department of Energy. The eleven OPEC nations supply the world with 40 percent of its oil, and American demand on this foreign source is significant.

Still, Gore's energy policy would leave Americans as dependant on foreign oil as before, if not more so. While he plays lip service to promoting domestic oil exploration, other Gore proposals call for the opposite—in the name of environmentalism.

For the second half of his strategy, Gore proposes to invest public funds in the private sector, essentially corporate welfare, to spur the development of alternative energy sources. Yet many of these technologies are already well-developed; they're just not cost-effective when compared to fossil fuels at current prices. So the consumer loses either way under the Gore energy plan, paying higher prices for energy whether generated from fossil fuels or some "alternative" source.

While such a policy may appease the environmentalists, it should appall the average American. When energy prices—for gasoline, heating oil, natural gas, and so on—go up, it is the poor who suffer the most, but all Americans still bear the burden with decreased economic growth, more expensive manufactured goods, and a higher cost of living.

During the energy crises of the Seventies, President Jimmy Carter implored Americans to keep their thermostats low in the winter and to wear more sweaters. An energy policy like Gore's that brings us back to this state of affairs—or worse—is a step backwards.