It's the Oil Industry's historic and continuing efforts to make sure that oil is the only game in town. It's much more than pushing SUVs and opening up wetlands to drilling. It's how they spent billions of dollars to convince local governments to dismantle public transit systems to make room for more cars and fought the mass distribution of electric vehicles for decades.

Unless Americans want every community to look like Manhattan, cars are needed to traverse lots of space quickly. Gas-powered cars did not have to be the standard, though. Alternatives have been around for years. I'm sick of hearing the line that there's nothing the US can do to break its dependence. That defeatist talk just lines the pockets of Shell, ExxonMobil, Bush, Cheney, and OPEC.

So what are these alternatives you are talking about?

"Unless Americans want every community to look like Manhattan, cars are needed to traverse lots of space quickly".

Americans could per chance benefit from another Manhattan Project, or perhaps several thousands of them. Hopefully, they could be designed with a little more "cleass" than the 'Shanghai Specials' that have been popping up in China.

traugott:

So what are these alternatives you are talking about?

Electric cars + nuclear power = energy problems solved.

One problem with that equation... the US electricity grid is in lousy shape. Most of the stuff dates back to when Frank Sinatra was in his prime... and with the widespread deregulation of electricity, nobody has responsibility for upkeep of the infrastructure.

Mass transit where practical (and electric vehicles where not)

+ as many different types of electrical generation as possible

+ a new electrical grid that's more reliable, more efficient and/or farther reaching

Zerpollution Motors .com is just one I have found