One of the headlines in today's Evansville Courier & Press reads, "Natural gas price relief ahead." According to the article, "higher levels of natural gas storage and production this year could provide some relief for consumers during this winter's heating season...." In some ways, I was very happy to read this. As I mentioned in a prior blog, some industries in southern Indiana want to burn tires for energy, supposedly because natural gas prices are too high. Hopefully, these lower prices will eliminate this 'need' for tire burning and our state's financial incentive for the same (under the guise that tire burning is alternative energy). I was also glad to read about these lower prices, as natural gas is certainly cleaner burning than many fossil fuels; if one is not going to use alternative energy, natural gas use seems a whole lot better from an environmental standpoint than burning coal. However, I always feel that these press releases about lower oil prices or lower natural gas prices mean to a lot of people that conservation can now end and we can return to our previously wasteful ways. I sometimes wish that rather than lowering prices, any extra revenue could be used by utilities to explore more alternative energy options. With higher prices, the public would likely demand other choices and alternative energy, such as wind power, could be presented as another viable choice. If prices are hard to beat for oil or natural gas, there is just no urgency to make the move to something new or to hold back on usage. I'm still wondering how desperate we have to get with supply shortages and high prices before people finally realize the need to move away from fossil fuels. I'm not saying we should forget about using natural gas supplies that we already have or have access to, but I do think that we need to stop putting all of our eggs in one basket--that of fossil fuels.