Readers hope for a water rate revolt and lay out a formula to
cut gas prices
Residents Can Prevent City from Raising Water Rates
Dear Editor,
After giving hefty raises to employees, including several retiring, we now get notified that water rates must increase. Does this make sense? No!
Ask your readers to pay attention to the letter they received regarding the city meeting in September about this rate increase. At the bottom it gives the address to mail in your objection and the proposition number that states if the city of Gilroy receives a majority of objections from property owners, they cannot vote in the increase.
We all need to mail this in ASAP.
Debbie Bradshaw, Gilroy
Editor’s note: The meeting will be on Sept. 17 at 7pm in the City Council chambers. Gilroy residents can prevent the water rate increases scheduled for Jan. 1, 2008 if a majority of residents protest the increase by notifying the city clerk in writing. Include your name and address and send a protest letter to: Clerk for the City of Gilroy, 7351 Rosanna St., Gilroy, CA, 95020.
Easy as 1, 2, 3 to Cut Price of Gas to $1.06 per Gallon
Dear Editor,
Both federal government and industry news releases stating current high gas prices are due to recent interruptions in the production of gasoline.
They stated refineries have been unable to meet our gas demands because of bottlenecks at the refinery, caused by flooding, fires, leaks, breakdowns and required maintenance.
While these things have been occurring, the inability to provide sufficient gasoline on the market IS NOT due to these interruptions. The problem is created because the oil and gas industry does not wish to build additional refineries, because capability to produce more gasoline would lower huge prices and profits. A Kansas City newspaper reported that a French-owned refinery refused a $37 million offer for their closing refinery. Later, the French company admitted that more gasoline on the market would lower prices.
In fact there were 324 refineries in the U.S. Now there are 148. Demand has increased 38 percent but refineries have decreased 54 percent. The industry spins the situation by saying that while there are less refineries, they have been expanding their old refineries which produce more than the older ones. But refiners fail to tell the public they have no incentive to build enough refinery capacity to handle increased demand and normal interruptions. Accordingly, Jad Mousawad, New York Times, wrote, “No refineries have been built in the U.S. in more than three decades, because refiners say they are too costly.” Their huge profits have never been higher!
Furthermore, there is no shortage of crude oil, though OPEC creates a bottleneck by restricting the amount of crude produced, the price is higher.
The U.S. needs to produce only 16 percent more crude oil to sharply reduce the price of crude. We have it. We have it both on shore and offshore, but are prevented from tapping it because of the environmentalists.
The solution. First, insist your federal and state legislators tap our own oil. Second, insist they mandate additional refineries be built to cover increased demand for gas and refinery interruptions. Third, insist your legislators build dams and safe nuclear plants to reduce our demand for gas. These three measures will stop crude oil and gas shortages and subsequent price spikes.
In short, the U.S. can create a sufficient surplus of both crude oil and gasoline while insuring a stable flow. And perhaps we can buy gas closer to $1.06 per gallon as we did just three years ago.
Jim Langdon, Gilroy
