Daily News

By Johnny T. Shull

For the Salisbury Post

Gas prices are at an all-time high in the United States and you do not have to be an economist to know that fuel costs are having an impact on North Carolina's families and businesses. Because the price of gas plays a central role in the overall cost of transportation, higher gas prices can push up the cost of many other goods and services. Collectively, high gas prices, inflation and trouble in the housing and credit markets have thrust the U.S. economy into a slowdown.

With all of this bad economic news how can anyone argue that there is a brighter side to $4/gallon gasoline? Yet there is a bright side to high gas prices: our air is cleaner, we are emitting fewer of the gasses that may contribute to climate change and we are stimulating demand for new products that create new jobs for North Carolinians.

To cope with this country's highest gasoline prices on record, consumers are cutting out trips, turning to public transportation, car-pooling and telecommuting in ever-increasing numbers. As a result , the overall demand for gasoline in the United States is projected to fall for the first time in 18 years.

As we drive less, we spew fewer pollutants into the air, including those that contribute to asthma and acid rain. Asthma is the No. 1 one cause for hospitalization, lost school days and health care costs associated with children in North Carolina while acid rain creates a host of other problems for our state, including the acidification of our lakes and streams. Since auto emissions may contribute to climate change, we could be having a positive impact there as well. (more…)

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This entry was posted on Thursday, July 24th, 2008 at 4:49 am and is filed under Daily News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.