Plan now to control gas prices later

While U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk probably doesn't mind whatever friend-of-the-consumer image he might gain from his recent remarks about fuel prices, he also is raising constructive and important ideas for keeping gasoline prices from spiraling out of sight.

Little can be done in the short term; Kirk acknowledges as much. Crude oil prices fell last week; pump prices did not drop much. It is never easy to divine all the factors that cause prices to edge up or down one day to the next or one week to the next. But many factors - most notably the enormous demand for petroleum by growing industrial powers such as China and India - point to the conclusion that higher fuel prices than any of us would like are here to stay.

With that in mind, Kirk, who represents the eastern portion of Lake County and parts of Northwest Cook County, suggests measures that could help control prices in the longer run and minimize the damage of permanently higher petroleum costs.

For one thing, Kirk advocates the eventual adoption of a single clean-burning gasoline formula for the entire country. That stands in contrast to existing circumstances, which have many different blends of gasoline being produced for different regions, each tailored to that area's air-quality needs. The trouble with the current approach is that it leads to production and distribution monopolies, which drive up prices.

Kirk, accompanied at a news conference last week by Argonne National Laboratory researchers, also backs legislation that would boost efforts to advance alternative fuels. By all means, yes. Talk of alternative fuel technology has been around for decades; failure to finally act more aggressively can only imperil the economy.

Finally, Kirk has called for extending the $2,000 tax credit for buyers of gasoline-electric hybrid cars. The credit is scheduled to be reduced next year and phased out in 2007. Some might ask whether escalating fuel prices aren't motivation enough for consumers to buy the higher-mileage hybrid vehicles. To an extent, yes. But hybrid autos also cost more than their gasoline counterparts. Honda's new hybrid Accord costs several thousand dollars more than the base-model Accord. Even at today's gasoline prices, it would take buyers a long time to cover the difference with savings at the pump.

There's a school of thought - one that has some merit - that Americans long have been spoiled by low fuel prices. But higher gasoline costs are more than a shock to selfish consumers accustomed to low prices and disinterested in conservation. Higher fuel prices also have real and deleterious effects on the economy. Washington needs people like Kirk who are willing to take the lead on these issues, not for personal political benefit but to cushion the economic shocks that lie ahead.

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