Gasoline Externalities

RecycleWorlds (anderson@msn.fullfeed.com)
Fri, 20 Nov 1998 13:43:29 -0600


Estimate Puts True Cost of Gasoline At Between $5.60 and $15.14
Per Gallon. Daily Environment Report, November 18, 1998, pA-3.
A new report by the International Center for Technology
Assessment has found that gasoline costs the US economy between
$5.60 to $15.14 per gallon.
These costs are in the form of tailpipe emissions, industry
tax breaks, and military protection for oil supplies and other
types of "external costs" according to the report.
The group combined estimates of more than 40 externalities
and found that the US spends between $558.7 billion and $1.69
billion to support the production of gasoline, according to the
report entitled _The Real Price of Gasoline: Report No. 3, An
Analysis of the Hidden External Costs Consumers Pay to Fuel Their
Automobiles_.
Environmental, health and social costs are the hardest to
quantify, the report stated. These costs, however, appear to
represent "the largest portion of the externalized price
Americans pay for their gasoline reliance."
The report should be "a wake-up call" to drivers, said ICTA
Director Andrew Kimball. "The real price of gas has been hidden
from the consumer for far too long."
The report can be obtained by contacting the International
Center for Technology Assessment at (202)547-9359.
____________________________________
Peter Anderson
RecycleWorlds Consulting
4513 Vernon Blvd. Ste. 15
Madison, WI 53705-4964
Phone:(608) 231-1100/Fax: (608) 233-0011
E-mail:recycle@msn.fullfeed.com