CHICAGO—The consumer advocacy group Illinois Public Interest Research Group (Illinois PIRG) called for state lawmakers to take action to address the long term impact of high gas prices. Along with recommendations that save consumers money at the pump through efficiency and conservation programs, a state windfall profit tax on oil company profits should be considered.
“High gas prices will continue to hold consumers hostage until state lawmakers implement solutions that reduce our reliance on oil,” said Brian Imus, Consumer Advocate for Illinois PIRG. “As the consumer, we can’t force OPEC to lower the price they set for crude oil. We can reduce our petroleum use, so when prices spike, it doesn’t take as significant a bite out of our pocketbooks.”
Action was also called in the wake of record oil company profits while consumers are paying record prices in Illinois. “No oil company seems to be turning their profits into consumer savings,” said Brian Imus. “The General Assembly in Springfield should consider a windfall tax that can then be used to save consumers money through investment in energy efficiency and conservation programs.”
“State lawmakers shouldn’t expect Congress to provide relief for Illinois consumers. In fact, when Congress addressed energy and gas prices last year, they made the problem worse. The Bush/Cheney energy plan that provided $2.7 billion in tax breaks. It did nothing to curb our dependence on foreign oil and nothing to reduce consumers demand on oil.”
Solving our oil crisis will require aggressive action to reduce demand for petroleum. Illinois has a wealth of short-, medium- and long-term strategies available to achieve this goal.
Immediate steps that Illinois can take include:
• Promoting carpooling and more efficient driving;
• Devoting additional resources to rideshare matching programs;
• Improving access to existing public transportation systems and other programs likely to see increased demand as gas prices rise; and
• Investigating whether oil companies or their affiliates are receiving windfall profits from high oil and gasoline prices.
For the medium term, Illinois should:
• Providing incentives for the purchase of more fuel-efficient vehicles;
• Encouraging the spread of advanced-technology vehicles (such as hybrid-electric cars);
• Slowing the growth of sprawling development patterns that drive increased vehicle travel;
• Promoting the use of non-petroleum biofuels; and
• Increasing support for expanded public transit.
At the same time, state officials will need to begin putting policies in place that will yield benefits in the longer term. Those include:
• Acting to reshape communities to be less dependent upon the automobile;
• Encouraging next generation advanced technology vehicles (e.g. those that operate primarily on electricity or renewably generated hydrogen); and
• Developing their rail infrastructure to shift intercity trips and freight movement away from oil-intensive modes such as driving and air travel.
