Gas prices plummet towards $2.50 a gallon nationally--will we abandon notions of energy independence and wind energy, and climb back into our SUVs? We did that once before back in the early 80s after the Iranian crisis abated and gas lines disappeared. Cheaper gas led to the big sprawl wave--exurban growth, McMansions, more shopping centers and big vehicles to travel to and from them.

But U.S. home-grown oil resources steadily decline from early 1970 peaks (when we were the world's number one oil source)--the reality is more off-shore drilling won't make much of a difference in reversing that trend. And do we want to continue to be at the mercy of events in the Middle East and be compelled to send our military there to safeguard our interests at huge costs? Let's face it we are one terrorist attack on Saudi oil fields away from $5 a gallon gas. Then there is the global warming issue--do we want to keep spewing out tail pipe pollutants with mounting deleterious consequences? And lastly, the reality most of us don't focus on at all is congestion in our metropolitan areas. These places are the nation's primary economic engines and they increasingly have been gridlocking, because their infrastructure systems can't accommodate all the increased traffic from more cars having to travel greater distances to get around between work and home. The slow downs reduce gas mileage and increase pollution, while businesses and people get less efficient--time lost in traffic translates into lowered productivity. Cheap gas aggravates congestion problems--we need to become less car dependant, especially considering expected population growth over the next 30 years. More cars and more vehicle miles traveled aren't the answer even if we find a pollution-free energy source.

And let's not forget the reason for nosediving gas prices--an unprecedented, worldwide economic panic, which has sent international demand for oil into a tailspin. Increasingly volatile energy prices could suddenly increase again when economies improve. And we're back in a price shock mess.