Energy

Happy anniversary, drivers! Just a year after Iraqi troops conquered Kuwait and gasoline prices began spiking, a new study by oil historian Daniel Yergin says pretax, inflation-adjusted gasoline prices are at their lowest point since 1947. Even with recent increases in federal and state fuel taxes, gasoline costs Americans 44% less in real terms than it did in 1980, and, surprisingly, 24% less than it did in the halcyon days of 1960, before anyone had heard of Saddam Hussein or OPEC. Of course, what consumers pay at the pump does not factor in the real environmental and military costs of America’s dependence on oil.

Given the current low prices, a House committee figured it would not be unduly burdensome to ask drivers for an extra nickel a gallon in federal gasoline taxes to help rebuild America’s deteriorating roads and bridges. Wrong. When the committee approved the 5 cents increase last week, the Bush Administration vowed to block it.