As a sure sign that spring is near, gas prices are going up. The rise shouldnt surprise anyone, for two reasons: This happens every year, and none of the upward price pressures have disappeared.
So, the Washington Post says, gas prices may be the issue of the 2012 election for President Barack Obama. As gas prices go up, his approval rating drops, a correlation that makes sense because few Americans can escape the repercussions of higher fuel prices, both at the pump and as a component of commodity prices.
Whoever is president after next January will face the same problem challenge, because theres little a president can do reverse the trend quickly or without controversy. Pipelines take time to build and bring on line. Increasing access to foreign oil requires unpalatable compromises and doesnt improve long-term energy security. Pumping up domestic production eventually will require attention to broad and long-term costs and debate over whether and how the federal government should participate. Allowing drilling on public lands would a nod to one set of voters; addressing tax policies as they affect oil companies would be a move in a different direction, and not necessarily one that would lower gas prices. The environmental consequences of the extraction and use of petroleum cant be ignored forever. BP expects to pay out approximately $7.8 billion to victims of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and anything that adds to a producers costs eventually will add to price.
Incentivizing lower consumption with taxpayer money is also controversial. Tax breaks for hybrid, alternative-fuel or high-efficiency vehicles, block grants for public transportation, supporting the design of pedestrian-friendly communities all of those are part of a good energy policy, and none are anything close to a complete solution, especially since none have made a dent in the countrys ever-increasing appetite for petroleum.
All of that suggests that cheap gas isnt coming back any time soon, certainly not by summer, and summer is the time when the conflicting factors become most obvious in the rural West. Most of our visitors come to see pristine landscapes, not well sites, but they cant get here if they cant afford to travel.
Southwest Coloradoans have little influence over gas prices, but they do have the ability to create visitor experiences that are less dependent on pricy gasoline.
Cortez, always a small town and lacking a train as a downtown tourism anchor, is making progress, with downtown restaurants both old and new and a few visitor-oriented shops (mostly closed by suppertime). Still, a loop around its downtown business district, bisected by the sometimes-frightening U.S. Highway 160, can be accomplished in short order. The city parks are impressive but hardly tourist destinations. Mesa Verde is a drive away, as are other archaeological and cultural sites, hiking and biking trails, lakes, streams, forest, mountains. To enjoy the wide variety of non-motorized opportunities this area offers, a recreationist still has to get there. No one arrives at a ski resort on foot. Few hunters shoulder a rifle, walk out the back door and start shooting. Dolores and Mancos have smaller business communities but closer proximity to wild spaces.
The wide-open spaces of the West, for all their allure, demand vehicle travel.
As gas prices continue to rise, thats something to think about. This is a trend that will present an increasing threat to the tourism sector of the local economy. From another angle, its a business opportunity. A strategic reevaluation is in order now.