To: The Dallas Morning News
Date: September 1, 2005
Subject: The solution to the energy crisis
Result: not printed due to unapproved content

Dear Editor, 

The solution to the energy crisis that is upon us, which will only get
worse as time goes on, is to reduce the demand for energy in our country
in a real and substantial way. One suggestion for how to do that is to
raise the taxes on gasoline, with the idea that the higher the price, the
less people will buy. I'm not in favor of this, for the reason that the
people who will get hit the hardest are those who can least afford it.
Of course, prices are already going through the roof without new taxes,
and I agree with those who say we should put a moratorium on current
gasoline taxes.

Another idea is to increase the fuel mileage in selected cars and trucks
- except for Hummers, which are exempt because they are "commercial"
vehicles, even though I have never seen anybody doing necessary business
in a Hummer. With or without Hummers, I don't think that adding a few
MPG to gasoline and diesel engines is going to fix the problem.

To me, what needs to be done is to impose substantial fees on the ownership
of all non-commercial vehicles that do not meet a certain minimum standard
for gas mileage. I drive a 4-cylinder Toyota Camry, which gets 30 miles per
gallon (last time I checked), and it has plenty of power to do whatever I
need, including driving on the many cross-country trips I've taken in it.
That should be the standard. It's a car that can satisfy the needs of
probably 95 percent of drivers. So, I propose that for anybody who feels
they cannot live with that standard, there ought to be, say, a $500 yearly
fee assessed against each vehicle that gets from 25-30 MPG. Then another
$500 annual fee for every additional 5 MPG below that.

For those who have such large families that they can't fit into a Camry,
or a comparable car made in America or elsewhere, the fees they would have
to pay for the larger vehicles needed to carry them should be counted as part
of the cost of the privilege and luxury of having children.

A lot of people will say they should be exempt from this rule because
their personal vehicles are used for business. That's fine, and there should
be exemptions for that. However, there should also be a requirement
that the allowable exemption matches the vehicle type needed to do a
particular job. In other words, for a real estate agent or somebody to
say that they use their Hummer on the job, even though that job could
just as easily be done in a Camry, that would not be an allowable
exemption, or only to the amount of the Camry.

But gasoline is only part of our energy crisis, which results from the United
States consuming more of the energy in the world than probably all of
the rest of the world put together. Natural gas is also a big problem.
We use a lot of natural gas in this country, and much of what we use
is to heat and cool and run the huge houses that so many people live in.
As far as I'm concerned, a 2500 square foot house should be big
enough for anybody. But for those who want to live in a mansion, or a
"McMansion", they should be ready to pay extra for the privilege -
beyond the cost of the extra energy needed to run it.

So, again, I recommend that for up to 500 square feet above a 2500
square foot house, there should be a $1000 yearly fee. For up to 500
square feet above 3000, to 3500 square feet, there should be a $2500
annual fee. For the next 500, a $5000 annual assessment. And so on and
so forth, with the amount of the fee rising at an increased rate for every
additional 500 square feet of space.  That's a lot of money, but people
who live in those houses can afford it.  Or if they don't, they shouldn't be
living in them.

Concerning what are we going to do with all the money we make from
big-energy users, I'm sure we can find something worthwhile. For one
thing, we can give tax credits to the people whose lives are truly
harmed by the high cost of energy.

Thank you, John Vehon