Rapid Increases in Gas Prices Matter, Even If You Don’t Drive

By: Phil Ting

Just at the moment when we are slowly bringing our economy back, the last thing we need is pain at the pump to slow consumer spending and set the recovery back. For hard-pressed families here in San Francisco and San Mateo counties, our budgets are already tight and the last thing we need is up to hundreds of dollars more per year in gas prices. Public transit uses energy too, and when those energy costs spike so does pressure on fares.

What makes this pain worse – is that it is preventable with basic planning and sound policies.

That’s exactly why we need policies that take the long view – so these energy price spikes don’t keep happening again and again.

As the co-founder of GoSolarSF, the pioneering local solar incentive, I have been working for nearly a decade now on creating stable, renewable and affordable energy supplies. That’s the experience I will bring to Sacramento and will put to work lowering energy costs by:

• Investing slowly but steadily in local renewables, from rooftop solar to bio-diesel. The price of these energy supplies is predictable, they are usually locally owned and their price is falling as more and more capacity is installed.

• Demand the same kind of clear planning in the fuel sector that we put in place in the electricity sector. The recent gas spike was predictable and preventable. If we simply promote better coordination and basic planning, which will cost nothing, we will save consumers up to hundreds of millions of dollars in energy spikes caused by simple issues like when refineries go down for maintenance simultaneously.

• Keep working on alternative fuel vehicles and supplies. This won’t happen overnight, but a steady build-out of electric vehicle infrastructure will help everyone, even the majority of us who won’t be able to afford one of these vehicles for many years. The adoption of this technology improves air quality, creates new high-wage jobs and most importantly, helps create price stability in all parts of the energy markets.

There are lots of people talking about energy. I will take my experience and put it to work for you in the state Assembly. I’m proud to have won the support of virtually every single newspaper, group, leader and community advocate to take a stand in this race. Teachers, public safety groups, the Sierra Club, California nurses, the California Democratic Party, the California Small Business Association and hundreds of others stand with me for a stronger economy and better schools.

I hope you will join them and endorse my campaign for State Assembly. Together we will create smarter policies to improve our economy, improve our schools and prevent problems like energy price spikes that could and should be avoided by taking the long view.

I would be honored by your support,

Phil Ting