$369--that is how much an average household spent on gasoline during April 2011, according to the AP. In April 2009, when oil prices had collapsed due to the global near depression, households paid $201 for gasoline. Now again our economy is buckling from the weight of high gasoline prices.
Yet, right wing extremists Grover Norquist and Club for Growth attack the Natural Gas Act promoted by Boone Pickens that would wean us off expensive, dirty, and foreign oil. These attacks caused 4 Republican Congressman, including Pennsylvania Congressman Thompson, to drop their sponsorship of the the Natural Gas Act.
Natural gas is available for the equivalent of $1.50 per gallon and is domestic. Electricity is available for the equivalent of 3 cents per mile compared to 16 cents, assuming $4 gasoline and a 25 miles per gallon vehicle.
At $369 per month, households would spend $4,428 per year. The median income for a Pennsylvania household is about $49,000 so gasoline would consume roughly 10% or more of a household's after tax income.
Despite the threat to our economy and national security, Norquist and the Club for Growth oppose the Natural Gas Act or any policy action to remedy the massive market failure that leaves us all addicted to expensive, dirty, dangerous oil. Why? All in the name of sacred ideology.
Norquist's and the Club for Growth's ideology is good for the King of Saudi Arabia but too expensive and dangerous for American families.
We must act to build natural gas and electric vehicle infrastructure...NOW.
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