Rising Oil and energy costs in lake county

Unless you’ve been living under a rock these past six months, you’re probably aware of the needless war against Iran started by the Trump administration with little support from ordinary Americans. While the greatest costs will, as always, be paid by those doing the fighting or caught helpless in the crossfire, the most noticeable impact to anyone reading this in Lake County is likely the dramatic rise in gas prices. While frequently covered by the news, it is worth reiterating the scale of the disruption to Illinoisans in less abstract terms, starting with said price history of gas in Illinois since the Iran war began on February 28th.

So, how bad is it? Well, the price of gas in our state has risen by a whopping 52%. This has added up to an extra $494 dollars in fuel cost spent by the average household in Illinois so far. That ballooning expense has significantly outpaced growth in wages. And increased fuel costs also result in rising prices for all physical goods that need to be shipped, which in our globalized economy is pretty much everything from food to toilet paper. Unfortunately, the brunt of this effect will inevitably be felt by lower-income workers, as more affordable housing tends to be farther away from business centers, meaning more of their already-limited resources will be going towards fuel. As Lake County is mostly suburbs, being a satellite of Chicago, the public transit options provided as alternatives here are limited in scope and reach. Taking a bike or the Metra isn’t feasible for many commutes. Thus, with their car as the only option for many, it will only get harder for people to get by the longer this war continues.

It’s not just individuals feeling the pressure, our federal government is, too. We keep a strategic oil reserve on hand. At the start of the war, the reserve contained 415 million barrels of oil, while now it stands at 305 million. For context, the US military requires about 109 million barrels to operate each year, meaning the war department is eating through oil twice as fast as it can be replaced! It’s gotten to the point where Trump would rather cut a deal with Russia – currently a fascist nation – to secure a supply of diesel rather than abandon the needless and costly conflict he instigated. What does it mean for us if the reserve runs empty? Even higher prices? And what does this path say about the nature and priorities of the Trump administration? 

At the state level, things are a bit different. While representatives in the Illinois legislature have passed some regulations in the past to try and help, such as the Illinois Energy Conservation Code, they do not fully address the oil problem. In fact, that code only applies to buildings, making sure heating and cooling don’t take too much electricity, not covering vehicles. Other state programs, such as Illinois Solar For All, are blatantly hogwash, as it only applies to income-eligible households. Everyone else in Lake County has to pay for their electricity through the ComEd monopoly, as they are the exclusive default electricity provider for all 46 cities here. And 99.5% of all electricity generated in the county – largely by ComEd – is the result of natural gas plants, which are not as expensive as oil but still costly.

That said, why are we still so dependent on oil in the first place, when more sustainable and affordable energy alternatives have existed for decades? Why are mass media news outlets so obsessed with oil? The explanation is simple: it is more profitable for energy corporations to sell oil-based fuel continuously than it is to build solar panels or wind turbines, which generate electricity for free once constructed. They then use a portion of those profits to lobby (bribe with extra steps) our politicians to delay the transition to renewables and pass laws which actively make building into sustainable energy alternatives more difficult, keeping us tied to oil instead of allowing for the possibility of a nationalized grid using renewable energy.

For example, take the massive tariffs of over 100% imposed on electric vehicles made in China, which are both more efficient and more reliable than EVs designed by the likes of Tesla (sigh) in the US. These high quality cars built by BYD and other brands have thus been essentially rendered impossible for dealers here to stock. And while people are still trying to make the switch anyway, with Illinois having 7th highest EV registration count in the country at 100,000, that’s still a drop in the bucket compared to the total number of vehicles registered in the state: 3.5 million. No amount of solar or wind powered charging stations can offset that sheer difference in quantity. And similar tariffs have been enacted on imported solar panels, some adding up to be higher than 300%.

Of course, the other main reason a sustainable and affordable energy grid has remained unbuilt in Illinois and elsewhere is our military itself. Fighter jets and bombers cannot be run on solar or wind power, they need jet fuel. Our bloated military industrial complex is thus inextricably linked to the oil industry, and they enable eachother, exacerbating these crises for working people. To oppose one is to oppose both, an endeavor we should all strive for together. As of 2020, there are over 750 companies based in Lake County which have accepted war department contracts, listed in public records. And while a collapse of the current US imperialist project might be in the cards on its own at this point, there’s no reason we shouldn’t also get organized and put the pressure onto those companies, as well as our representatives, to make it abundantly clear that a future of endless war and a burning earth is not what we want in Lake County or anywhere!