Peggy Trump thinks Beckley is beautiful, but she won't consider working in her own town.
"Honestly, there's nothing there," said Trump, a paralegal.
So she drives her Nissan Xterra 110 miles a day to and from her job at Dinsmore & Shohl in Charleston. She fills up the tank every two days. It costs her $600 a month. But she says the better pay and benefits at a Charleston law firm are worth it.
Commuter Peggy Trump fills up her tank in Charleston before heading home to Beckley. A paralegal, she drives 110 miles round-trip on weekdays because she says Charleston law firms offer better pay and benefits.
Like Trump, many West Virginians face long commutes. The state ranks 13th in the percentage of workers who work outside their county of residence, according to the 2006 American Community Survey by the U.S. Census Bureau. With an average travel time of 25.6 minutes, the state ranks 11th in work commute time.
And as a largely rural state, mass transit isn't available to most people. Only 1 percent of workers used public transportation to get to work in 2006, compared to a national average of 4.8 percent.
Some national analysts predict that as oil prices continue to skyrocket, people will choose to live closer to work.
A report released last month called "Driven to the Brink" by the group CEO for Cities argues that high gas prices over the past five years "popped the housing bubble" by decreasing home values in the suburbs. The author predicts high oil prices will attract investment in urban areas.
Rural and suburban areas in West Virginia must attract quality employers to keep residents, said Gary Walton, director of the Putnam County Development Authority.
"Population is to a large extent a function of jobs," he said. "If I worked in Charleston, for instance, I wouldn't want to work here, the gas prices being what they are."
To sustain Putnam County's residential growth, his agency must help existing employers expand and recruit new ones, Walton said.
"We're going to appeal to European and Asian companies because of the exchange rate and land prices and availability of workers," he said.
Nine years ago, 10,000 Putnam residents commuted to another county for work, Walton said. Today, 8,000 do.
Rising gas prices contribute to that shift, he said.
"As time goes on and our employment expands, then we'll pick up more of those 8,000 commuters," he predicted. "Ten years from now, we may not have any commuters because of the price of gasoline."
But several of Trump's co-workers who live in Teays Valley say they don't mind the commute, even as they shell out more to fill their tanks.
"I wouldn't move just because of that," said lawyer Robert Stonestreet, though he has stopped driving his SUV to work in favor of his smaller car.
For Trump, moving isn't an option, she said. Her husband is a Beckley firefighter and must live within the city.
Wake-up call
Americans face "a wake-up call" that is different from the gas lines of the 1970s and the price spikes several years ago, said Al Ebron, executive director of the National Alternative Fuels Training Consortium at West Virginia University.
That's because now, they "aren't the only big dogs in town who are using this energy."
Ebron advocates the use of hybrid electric vehicles as the most viable solution for the energy crisis. Hybrid vehicles use less gasoline because the electric motor shares in propelling the engine. Also, they use regenerative braking, where the electric motor becomes a generator when the vehicle coasts.
Peggy Trump thinks Beckley is beautiful, but she won't consider working in her own town.
"Honestly, there's nothing there," said Trump, a paralegal.
So she drives her Nissan Xterra 110 miles a day to and from her job at Dinsmore & Shohl in Charleston. She fills up the tank every two days. It costs her $600 a month. But she says the better pay and benefits at a Charleston law firm are worth it.
Like Trump, many West Virginians face long commutes. The state ranks 13th in the percentage of workers who work outside their county of residence, according to the 2006 American Community Survey by the U.S. Census Bureau. With an average travel time of 25.6 minutes, the state ranks 11th in work commute time.
And as a largely rural state, mass transit isn't available to most people. Only 1 percent of workers used public transportation to get to work in 2006, compared to a national average of 4.8 percent.
Some national analysts predict that as oil prices continue to skyrocket, people will choose to live closer to work.
A report released last month called "Driven to the Brink" by the group CEO for Cities argues that high gas prices over the past five years "popped the housing bubble" by decreasing home values in the suburbs. The author predicts high oil prices will attract investment in urban areas.
Rural and suburban areas in West Virginia must attract quality employers to keep residents, said Gary Walton, director of the Putnam County Development Authority.
"Population is to a large extent a function of jobs," he said. "If I worked in Charleston, for instance, I wouldn't want to work here, the gas prices being what they are."
To sustain Putnam County's residential growth, his agency must help existing employers expand and recruit new ones, Walton said.
"We're going to appeal to European and Asian companies because of the exchange rate and land prices and availability of workers," he said.
Nine years ago, 10,000 Putnam residents commuted to another county for work, Walton said. Today, 8,000 do.
Rising gas prices contribute to that shift, he said.
"As time goes on and our employment expands, then we'll pick up more of those 8,000 commuters," he predicted. "Ten years from now, we may not have any commuters because of the price of gasoline."
But several of Trump's co-workers who live in Teays Valley say they don't mind the commute, even as they shell out more to fill their tanks.
"I wouldn't move just because of that," said lawyer Robert Stonestreet, though he has stopped driving his SUV to work in favor of his smaller car.
For Trump, moving isn't an option, she said. Her husband is a Beckley firefighter and must live within the city.
Wake-up call
Americans face "a wake-up call" that is different from the gas lines of the 1970s and the price spikes several years ago, said Al Ebron, executive director of the National Alternative Fuels Training Consortium at West Virginia University.
That's because now, they "aren't the only big dogs in town who are using this energy."
Ebron advocates the use of hybrid electric vehicles as the most viable solution for the energy crisis. Hybrid vehicles use less gasoline because the electric motor shares in propelling the engine. Also, they use regenerative braking, where the electric motor becomes a generator when the vehicle coasts.
"Here in Morgantown, there's tons of hybrids, and I think people are getting accustomed to it," he said. "In West Virginia, the regenerative braking can be a very good attribute because we have a lot of hills."
Those hills pose a big barrier to developing mass transit.
"Even though West Virginia is relatively small, its terrain is difficult," Walton said. "I'm not sure public transportation is the answer."
A light rail system between Charleston and Huntington could be more efficient than public buses because there is so much territory to cover, he said.
"It can be done," he said "It's just not going to be cheap. How are you going to fund it?"
In four years as a Putnam County commissioner, Joe Haynes said he has gotten three or four calls from residents who want public transportation, he said.
Encouraging carpooling might be a better solution in a largely rural county, he said: "I would like to see more park-and-rides."
Some officials are trying to develop "walkable" communities so people don't have to drive as much to run their errands, but that, too, poses challenges.
At the new Hurricane Wal-Mart, there are plans to build sidewalks leading to the store, Walton said.
"[Wal-Mart] was designed when gas was cheap," he said. "That's something people just weren't thinking about."
Hurricane City Manager Ben Newhouse said city officials were "thrilled" that Arby's and KFC, which sit at the bottom of the hill leading to the Super Center, agreed to build the sidewalks. But not all businesses are willing to do so.
"We try to push the issue as much as we can, but it's not a requirement [for businesses], and it's a cost issue," Newhouse said. "Sometimes infrastructure gets in the way because waterlines and sewer lines run right along the roads."
Gas or food
Rising gas prices combined with a lack of public transportation is hitting poor working families hard, said Helen Estep, supervisor of the Chesapeake office of the nonprofit Capital Resource Agency.
"They're working 32 hours a week for minimum wage. It's costing them two or three hours of their pay just to get to work," she said. "They come and say, 'It's either put gas in my car or feed my family.'"
Her office serves low-income people who live between Montgomery and Kanawha City. The office connects people with job training and offers services including a food pantry, utility bill assistance and weatherization.
Many clients, especially the elderly, don't have vehicles, she said. Instead, they give gas money to relatives or friends who drive them around. Now, they can't even afford that.
The agency recently has tried to bulk up its food pantry, Estep said. Soon, it will launch a program to provide gas cards to low-income people.
For some, the painful prices are becoming a barrier to employment, Estep said.
"I've had some people even tell me, 'I'm trying to do this job, I'm trying to work, but is it beneficial for me?'"
To contact staff writer Alison Knezevich, use e-mail or call 348-1240.
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Posted By: wvcitizen(3:49am 06-02-2008)
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How can it be worth paying $600 per month to drive from Beckley?
If you fill up your 14 gallon tank with gas twice per week, it is costing you over $300 per month MORE than in 2003 before the Iraq war (4.00 vs 1.50 per gallon)! How many people are making $300 per month more than in 2003--thats $36,000 per year! People will be forced from their cars, increase debt and welfare rolls, or halt all savings and discretionary spending just to maintain.
Posted By: BenDoubleCrossed(12:50am 06-01-2008)
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Willing to accept an ever decreasing standard of living? Choose:
FOREIGN WARS OR DOMESTIC OIL
If the US Government had spent a trillion dollars over 8 years on domestic oil production from known reserves in the Gulf of Mexico, the Continental Shelf and coal gasification, instead of War in Iraq, gas would be $2 a gallon or less. And America could quit sending billions to countries that sponsor terrorism.
Reducing trade deficits keeps jobs in America. Every billion of trade deficit costs 13,000 jobs. $400 billion for oil last year: do the math.
And declaring American energy independence is the neighborly thing to do. It would place downward pressure on world oil prices by making more OPEC oil available for the UK, France, Japan, Turkey, etc.
Harness your anger at the pump and call Congress and the Senate to demand domestic production in this decade. Raise your voice or the oil companies and politicians will assume you are ready to pay even more.
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If you fill up your 14 gallon tank with gas twice per week, it is costing you over $300 per month MORE than in 2003 before the Iraq war (4.00 vs 1.50 per gallon)! How many people are making $300 per month more than in 2003--thats $36,000 per year! People will be forced from their cars, increase debt and welfare rolls, or halt all savings and discretionary spending just to maintain.
FOREIGN WARS OR DOMESTIC OIL
If the US Government had spent a trillion dollars over 8 years on domestic oil production from known reserves in the Gulf of Mexico, the Continental Shelf and coal gasification, instead of War in Iraq, gas would be $2 a gallon or less. And America could quit sending billions to countries that sponsor terrorism.
Reducing trade deficits keeps jobs in America. Every billion of trade deficit costs 13,000 jobs. $400 billion for oil last year: do the math.
And declaring American energy independence is the neighborly thing to do. It would place downward pressure on world oil prices by making more OPEC oil available for the UK, France, Japan, Turkey, etc.
Harness your anger at the pump and call Congress and the Senate to demand domestic production in this decade. Raise your voice or the oil companies and politicians will assume you are ready to pay even more.