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DIALOGUE ON THE PRICE OF ENERGY IS JUST HEATING UP: May 2008 Manager's Column

Some call it the I-5. I call it the world’s largest parking lot.

I was recently in California for the annual meeting of our national association and found myself stuck in traffic for hours on the I-5. Bumper to bumper we sat -- cars, vans, and SUVs – just waiting for something to open up.

Meanwhile to our collective left we watched the occasional vehicle zoom on by, taunting us with its speed and movement. It was the carpool lane, and I’m guessing that for every 100 vehicles that sat, one car passed in the carpool lane. We we’re watching because we couldn’t get to it!

It’s so interesting to me that California is positioned, largely by virtue of the influx of wealth and influence, as the conscience of our country. Much of our national agenda as it relates to what we should and should not do starts in The Golden State and is then passed on to the rest of us.

The rub, at least for me, is that what seems to be good for the goose is not necessarily good for the gander. Let’s get back to the world’s largest parking lot. A lot of environmental edict comes out of California, and the state has gone to the effort to implement carpool lanes. Between gas prices and the toll that emissions take on the environment, carpooling is a win-win. However, the carpool lanes sit virtually unused as motorists sit in bumper-to-bumper traffic. It’s just more convenient to have your own car. Any many of those individual travelers in the I-5 parking lot are sitting behind the wheels of Hummers and other large-scale SUVs.

I witnessed another fine example of this when I visited a beautiful water oasis smack-dab in the middle of the southern California desert. In the name of tourism, the smart people of California changed an entire ecosystem, turning the desert terrain surrounding Palm Springs into a beautiful retreat complete with lush, green golf courses and stunning blue lakes with ducks (non desert types) and other marine life. We’re challenged to preserve the environment and save endangered species while an entire region is changed, native animals displaced and a new ecosystem introduced. I find it particularly curious that this type of environmental change is found acceptable if not just convenient.

The national dialogue about the future of energy prices and the need for new generation continues to heat up, and it’s time that we come together as a country to recognize the problem in front of us and develop some policy and plans that will lead us into the future. I’m all for efficiency efforts that make sense. I absolutely support environmental preservation. I believe in doing what we can, individually and collectively, to reduce emissions. But I also know that these are largely short-term, feel-good things that won’t affect large-scale change.

We are at a dire crossroads in terms of power supply, and we need to come together as a country, focus on what’s doable and develop a balanced approach that protects and preserves our environment while providing for our long-term energy needs. Individually we each play a role in affecting positive change, and collectively we need to move beyond the rhetoric and finger-pointing and put thoughtful and meaningful plans into place.

It’s time for action.