STCWA Convenor's Column  

The WA Sustainable Transport Coalition seems to be doing some good work lobbying the state government to plan for peak oil in the near future. It's the first time I've seen the idea of a "peak oil" fund raised, but its probably one worth considering for all regions that are net energy exporters (however long that lasts).

Given that WA is one of the windiest and sunniest places on the planet I'd suggest that most of their oil and gas windfalls be invested in wind and solar power generation (both distributed and centralised) along with public transportation that uses this energy.

The price of oil has shot to over US$62 today and this issue of the newsletter gives you a lot to read to try and understand why. Unfortunately, our State and Federal Governments are stuck like rabbits before the proverbial headlights doing nothing.

The STC has embarked on a round of interviews with Government Ministers during the winter recess to try and convince them to at least unveil the recommendations from the TESC committee that were ready to be launched by Alannah last August (when oil had just topped $40 a barrel). They were delayed in the lead-up to the election and seem to have been lost in the maze of government. The STC is pushing the message that:

* the government needs to be seen to be doing something so as not to encourage a moral panic in the public when oil hits $80-100 per barrel later in the year.
* there will be extra revenue from the higher oil prices, and this should be spent in a special 'peak oil' fund on initiatives that will help 'innoculate' the WA public from an oil shock.
* the TESC committee has left the WA government well-placed to move with speed to roll-out initiatives.

I will report next month on feedback from our meetings, but certainly this has been a busy month with a very successful film screening of 'End of Suburbia' in Joondalup and another Transport Forum on Network City attended by more than 70 people.