Show THE VOICE OF BUSINESS Who Would be Hurt By m Gasoline Rationing f By Arch Booth As executive VIC Vice President of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States Not long ago residents of the Los Angeles area were shocked to hear that they faced drastic gasoline rationing to meet 3 19 air pollution limits Now it appears they arent aren't the only ones The federal Environmental Protection Agency has estimated that some kind of restriction on automobile usage willbe will willbe willbe be necessary in 27 other major metropolitan metropolitan met met- areas as well And rationing is among the restrictions being consid consid- ered For example an official of the Virginia Virginia Vir Vir- ginia Air Pollution Control Board was recently quoted as saying that gasoline rationing appears to be the most equitable equit able means of reducing air pollution in the Washington DC D.C. area because it would not disenfranchise the poor little guy Is that so In most big city big city suburbs land decreases decreases de de- creases in value as it gets farther from the core of the city The reason is quite simple There Is less residential land available nearer the city and ItIs it itis itis is in greater demand by those who must commute Distance And Income As a result homes near the city ity are often orten more costly than homes farther out So with the exception of blighted Inner inner city city areas arcas the poor little guy is more likely to live in the far suburbs suburbs suburbs sub sub- than the near suburbs Therefore it is precisely this poor little guy who is likely to be hurt badly by gasoline rationing not only because it could make commuting to work more time consuming and burdensome burdensome burden burden- some for him but also because without the full use of his car he would have more trouble taking advantage of the recreational and cultural attractions of the city ity Ultimately if gasoline rationing continued continued con con- for long we could expect the value of homes in the far suburbs to decline relative to the value of homes in the near suburbs Is Is' Is that all aU By no means What a a a- about the family with a camper How could the gasoline ration be large enough enough en en- ough to permit them to take weekend trips into the woods where there is no air pollution problem yet still small enough to prevent driving to work What about the family with a b boat at What about the family that regularly visits friends friens or ors r relatives relatives one n rl two w hundred miles away Gasoline gas oline it may maybe be possible to control how much a person can have but it it is not practical to regulate the way he lie uses it once hes he's got it Is individual hardship the only consequence consequence con con- sequence No Immediately after arter passage passage pas pas- sage of such unwise regulations sellers of motorcycles and small cars in the area would reap windfall profits because because be be- cause everybody would want one On the other hand many dealers who sell big cars would probably go bankrupt If the rationing affected enough motorists motorists mot mot- the effects would reach all the way back to workers in the au automobile industry the steel industry and so on Many gasoline service stations would go broke too certainly they would have to lay layoff off workers many of whom I would be forced onto public welfare Joe Sent Me Finally the gasoline bootlegging business bus bus- business iness would eventually make Prohibition look like a small dry run pardon the pun by comparison Its It's not hard to imagine people stashing their blackmar blackmar- ket gasoline hoard away in garages and basements where some of it would inevitably inevitably in in- cause fires and explosions perhaps perhaps per per- haps a greater threat to public health and sand safety than air pollution And all for what The need for clean air standards as stringent as those es established established es es- by EPA is still a a subject of 01 controversy among among the experts And the 1975 target date set by Congress in 1970 is arbitrary it has more relation to the campaign plans of some 1972 presidential presidential pre pre- hopefuls than to anything else But more important is lathe the fact that the air in our major metropolitan areas is already getting cleaner not dirtier Automotive air pollution has been decreasing decreasing decreasing de de- de- de creasing since 1968 It will continue to decrease until 1990 even allowing for forthe forthe forthe the greater number of cars on the road By 1990 we might begin to to have a problem again But by 1990 we will undoubtedly have some better solutions too Its It's time Congress realized that the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1970 have havethe havethe havethe the potential to cause more hardship for many Americans than anything else Congress Congress Congress Con Con- gress has ever done |