Let's make this clear..............THERE IS NO TRULY VIABLE ALT FUEL IN MASS!!!
If you want to have a "feel good" by paying 4+ dollars per gallon or paying extra for off grid alt energy be my guest. Or spending countless hours to collect, make, and dispose of the waste from WVO.
I would like nothing more to have the cash to buy a new piece of land with a stream for hydro power and open space for a wind turbine and solar panels and build a much more efficient home.
..in
Massachusetts, or did you mean "en mass",
in total or
in the aggregate?
You are quite correct that there is no one single alternative energy source that can completely replace each and every one of the traditional energy sources now used. Try flying a nuclear powered aircraft? But there is no reason that one alternative can't be used to supplant, if not totally replace, a similar non-renewable one.
I don't 'feel good' about paying more, and I'm personally willing to pay up to 50% more if needed, for B100. But all a higher pump price does is reduces my driving miles. My annual dollar expenditure for fuel actually goes down because I drive fewer miles when my fuel is more expensive. A main reason I don't bicycle commute more frequently is that for the past 8 months or so local B100 has been pump priced less than ULSD.
So don't raise the fuel tax, leave it pegged at some flat rate per gallon regardless of price, but include
all the taxes.
The fine levied against Exxon for the Valdez incident has been all but voided by appeals. Put that re-imbursement on the pump price.
US military actions to prop up oil suppliers? Put that in the pump price.
Lost work productivity hospitalization expenses, from pollution related respiratory ailments, Add that.
My own plans for a pico-hydro have been dashed. My upstream neighbor has tapped the stream for his lawn irrigation. The 200 or so GPM flow I formerly had has been reduced to about 2 GPM. My fish pond is now a muddy puddle.
