Why it is exceedingly difficult to promote sustainable mobility in the United States of America

The headline on this Associated Press story says it all.

Before gasoline became a mere commodity, oil refinery and marketing companies spent a lot of money promoting their brand and products.

Because our economy is inextricably tied into oil production (as well as automobile manufacturing).

There is a great piece in Bloomberg Businessweek a few years back called "The Petro States of America," making this point.

In looking for the cite, I also came across this article, which drills down on the point a bit, "The U.S. has its own petro-states and petro-towns," Washington Post).

It discusses how states like Texas, Alaska, North Dakota and others are particularly dependent on tax revenues related to oil production.

Except for a few cities that have an urban design that prioritizes walking ("Transportation and Urban Form: Stages in the Spatial Evolution of the American Metropolis," Peter Muller) and therefore transit and biking too, combined with a continued focus on centralizing to some extent employment centers, mostly the land use and transportation planning paradigm in the US prioritizes automobility.

Adding walking, biking, and transit to that mix is difficult and it is incredibly difficult for it to be successful because most every other planning decision privileges automobility.

Expecting sustainable mobility to be competitive in such situations is a losing proposition.

US now a laggard nation when it comes to automobile emissions and efficiency

Many newspapers have reported on EPA's proposal to cut fuel efficiency requirements for automobiles ("EPA poised to scrap fuel economy targets that are key to curbing global warming — setting up clash with California," Los Angeles Times).

This is very interesting because it is counter to what is happening in other nations.

Another example that the US seriously lags best practice under the Trump Administration.

-- "Scott Pruitt's Dirty Politics," New Yorker Magazine


Norway, an oil producer, announced that by 2030, no gasoline or diesel cars can be sold (also see "Gas Stations Get Ready for the Electric Future," Bloomberg).  India set the same deadline of 2030 and the UK, 2040, and it is an oil producer too.

China has made a similar announcement, without a deadline, but in the meantime, to fight smog it has banned the future sale of more than 500 car models determined to be highly polluting ("China, Moving to Cut Emissions, Halts Production of 500 Car Models," New York Times).

The Netherlands, one of many European countries that taxes gasoline very highly, announced that effective in 2025, only electric cars can be sold.

Copenhagen plans to ban diesel and gasoline cars by 2019. Oxford by 2020 ("Oxford aims for world's first zero emissions zone with petrol car ban," Guardian).

The mayors of London, Los Angeles, Paris, Mexico City, Seattle, Copenhagen, Barcelona, Vancouver, Milan, Quito, Cape Town and Auckland ("The mayors of London, LA, Paris and Seattle pledge to ban gasoline and diesel vehicles by 2030," AP) have announced similar plans, with a deadline of 2030.

Oxford in the UK has proposed the world's first "zero emissions zone" in the city center, and will gradually roll out and expand the district, starting with six streets ("Oxford aims for world's first zero emissions zone with petrol car ban," Guardian; "Oxford city centre car ban - should it go ahead?," Oxford Mail).  It includes buses and taxis.

-- Zero emission zone, Oxford

Germany.  Meanwhile, Berlin and four other German cities are going to test the provision of free transit as an air quality measure ("Germany considers to fight pollution with free public transportation," Washington Post). And German cities are looking to ban diesel cars too, for air quality reasons, even though the country is a major automobile manufacturer ("Diesel cars can be banned from German cities, court rules," Reuters).