From the July 6, 2001 print edition

Energy crises don't take vacation Don Baker All appears to be right with the world again.

Why? I paid a buck fifteen per gallon at the pump the other day.

And that's not all: Media reports say gas prices should remain low much of the summer. By "low," they mean in the neighborhood of $1.30 per gallon, far from the two bucks a gallon I paid Memorial Day weekend.

And while talk of the dreaded $3 gallon of gas has subsided, so have the constant reports on the nightly television newscasts about rolling blackouts in California. In fact, I saw the governor of California on the news opening up a new power plant in his state.

So as we settle into our comfy chairs this summer and nudge the air conditioner a few degrees cooler, it seems the world has finally returned to that safe state we know and love.

But what feels like blissful comfort is actually denial, or at the very lest naiveté.

That's because the causes behind the horror stories of high gas prices and an energy crisis out West haven't been resolved. Rather, they're lurking in our summer like a great white shark waiting for us to feel safe enough to jump back in the water.

But we've got other things on our mind, like the looming summer vacations and finding creative ways to beat the heat this summer.

Wake up, America. We're about to get hit over the head by a sledgehammer, and we're acting like we don't see it coming.

The energy crunch has been softened so far by cooler temperatures in California and other states in the West. The gas companies, because of more supply (or perhaps more nefarious reasons), have brought prices at the pump back to earth.

But we're just weeks into summer, and when the dog days of August are upon us, so will the soaring prices for gas and electricity. Not only will the rolling blackouts be back, but they'll spread eastward from California. In fact, one recent documentary about the power crisis said electricity prices have soared in New York, and the Big Apple could experience rolling blackouts this summer.

Is that simply someone shouting fire in a crowded (and perhaps darkened Broadway) theater? I don't think so.

Here's why: I recently spent the night at a hotel in Cleveland and was shocked back into reality when I looked at the bill. No, it wasn't the 10 bucks they charge for the rerun of the most recent Tom Hanks movie, it was a little $2.50 add-on fee.

That two-and-a-half bucks was a "temporary energy fee" resulting from the energy crisis. What energy crisis? The one that still is squeezing many businesses and states that must buy power at nose-bleed prices.

Have you sent anything by one of the large package shipping companies lately? At least one recently had a $1 "fuel surcharge" on the shipping bill. And some areas of the country still are paying nearly $2 per gallon at the pumps.

Seems that energy crisis is still hitting us in the wallet, but now it's more like having our pockets picked than being held up by a gun-toting mugger.

So when the mercury starts to climb and the summer vacation season kicks into full swing with more drivers on the nation's highways, gas prices will start edging back up and blackouts will again be front-page news.

http://dayton.bcentral.com/dayton/stories/2001/07/09/editorial3.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), July 09, 2001

Answers

The Big Apple might get hit before we in California do. The lack of adequate transmission lines into the city of New York is pathetic. A logjam is a distinct possibility.

-- Big Cheese (bigcheese@multimax.net), July 09, 2001.