National Transportation Policy At Odds With National Security

Drivers in sprawling southern cities with few transportation options are forced to send more of their gasoline dollars abroad, including to Middle East oil producers where an unknown amount of oil money flows to anti-American extremists. Amid rising gas prices and calls for energy independence, an original Environmental Working Group analysis of oil dependence by metro area underscores the urgent need to broaden transportation options for gridlocked, car-dependent communities in order to decrease reliance on Middle East oil sources and increase national security over the long haul.

The recently passed transportation bill actually worsens the historic 80/20 imbalance in federal highway and transit funding by shaving transit's share by a quarter of one percent, or about $700 million over the life of the bill. Prior to the 1992 passage of the Intermodal Surface Transportation and Efficiency Act, or ISTEA, the ratio was even less favorable to transit, with one estimate putting the 1950 through 1980 federal spending ratio at 75 to 1 in favor of highways (Jackson 1985).

Persian Gulf nations control two-thirds of the world's oil reserves and would continue to influence prices and supply even if the U.S. obtained its oil elsewhere (Financial Times 2005, EIA Primer on Gasoline 2005, PBS 1996). But the goal of reducing dependence on Middle East oil is well worth pursuing, both on the merits of minimizing national dependence on energy from a highly volatile region, and for its motivational power for the American people. Moreover, the goal is plausible. Americans depend on foreign sources for 65 percent of their gasoline, but only 15 percent of U.S. consumption comes from the Middle East.

The public debate over "energy independence" has largely revolved around expanding domestic production and improving vehicle fuel economy. But the extremely limited domestic petroleum sources that remain cannot possibly break America's Middle East oil habit, and developing them comes at a high environmental cost. At the same time, neither Congress nor the Administration have had the political courage to force the auto industry to improve fuel economy, which is long overdue.

Reversing the historic imbalance in highway and transit funding provides another route by which America can significantly enhance national security and help wean the nation from its outsized dependence on oil. Just as building the interstate highway system was a top national security goal in the 1950s and 60's, a diversified transportation system that depends less on highways, oil, and its incumbent military entanglements must be a core national security objective today.

Drivers in Southern Cities Send The Most Money to Middle East Oil Producers

 

Ten Most Oil-Dependent Metro Areas

Metro Area	Household Dollars to Middle East, Per Year	Metro Area Dollars to Middle East, Per Year
Nashville, TN	$314	$157,740,000
Jacksonville, FL	$302	$136,319,000
Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill, NC-SC	$301	$154,258,000
Dallas-Fort Worth, TX	$299	$575,826,000
Atlanta, GA	$289	$450,700,000
Denver-Boulder-Greeley, CO	$279	$284,245,000
Memphis, TN-AR-MS	$259	$111,551,000
Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, NC	$257	$164,756,000
Houston-Galveston-Brazoria, TX	$246	$410,065,000
Providence-Fall River-Warwick, RI-MA	$246	$95,052,000

Source: EWG, compiled from U.S. Department of Energy, 2005, and U.S. Department of Transportation 2003 and 2001.

LINK: Full list of the top 50 metro areas

 

Stuck in the Sand is a first-of-its-kind analysis that combines U.S. data on driving and energy to show how much each driver in the 50 largest metro areas spends on Middle East oil each year. The analysis used federal data on the number of drivers per household to calculate how much money an average household spends on gasoline each year.

 

The investigation found that highway dependent metro areas that have grown rapidly during the past 30 years use the most gasoline per driver, and by extension, households in these areas send the most money per driver to Middle East oil producers. Southern cities topped the list with eight of the top 10 metro areas. On average, households in the top five metro areas — Nashville, Jacksonville, Charlotte, Dallas and Atlanta — send between $314 and $289 to the Middle East each year.

In areas with a greater commitment to rail and other transit, people send far less money to the Middle East. An average household in New York, Philadelphia or Boston sends between $132 and $187 per year to the Middle East.

Residents in oil dependent metro areas are the victims of 50 years of bad transportation policies that have severely constrained transportation options and facilitated sprawling development with huge distances between work, school, and play. The analysis shows that an efficient, well-funded, diversified transportation system could cut dependence on Middle East oil and go a long way to advancing national security.

• In metro areas where households send $215 a year or more to Middle East oil producers, the average driver takes transit — bus or rail — an average of 22 times per year. Where drivers spend less than $215 on Middle East oil, they average 54 transit trips per year.
• In the five metro areas most dependent on Middle East oil, the average driver drives more than 15,200 miles per year, nearly twice as far as the drivers in the five least oil dependent cities, who average just 8,300 miles per year.
• Only four of the 25 most oil dependent metro areas have more than two miles of commuter rail track per 100,000 drivers. Only one, San Diego, has more than five. Eleven of the 25 least oil dependent metro areas have more than two miles of rail track per 100,000 drivers, and seven have more than five.

Conclusions

 

When President Eisenhower called for construction of the Interstate Highway System, he did so on the basis of national security. Today our national security interests are quite different, and they demand a very different approach to transportation spending.

A diversified transportation system and a diversified energy system are essential and mutually reinforcing to national security objectives. In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks and in the midst of the continuing violence in Iraq, Americans are looking for leadership and action to give us a greater measure of economic and diplomatic flexibility in our dealings with the Middle East.

Transportation policy must help cut dependence on any single energy source and provide more options to get people from point A to point B. This means diversifying the current system, and creating more choices for people. Given the current imbalance in transportation options and spending, reaching this goal will require a very high level of spending on rail and transit over the next several decades. In light of our current national security needs and our historic indulgence in highway construction, a substantial reorientation of priorities is not only justified, it is required.

 

Fueling Our Foreign Oil Addiction

The results presented here are largely a measure of metro area oil dependence, which in turn translates into foreign oil dependence, a portion of which is sent directly to Middle Eastern states. Transportation and growth policies of the last half century are the root cause of this insatiable oil appetite, which has surged to levels far beyond those that can be met with domestic supplies.

Middle East oil dependence has increased steadily over the past 20 years as highways have energized sprawling development, created longer commutes, and ultimately lead to more time spent stuck in traffic in just about every American community. According to the Texas Transportation InstituteÕs 2005 Urban Mobility Report, congestion grew more severe and longer in duration in urban areas of every size between 1982 and 2003 (TTI 2005).

While at first glance, these problems might appear to be the result of simple population growth, a closer look reveals that transportation and land use policies are largely to blame. Between 1982 and 1997, the amount of urbanized land in the United States grew from 51 million acres to about 76 million acres, an increase of 47 percent. Meanwhile, the number of vehicle miles traveled increased by 55 percent. Yet over the same time period, the population grew by only 17 percent (Fulton et al. 2001, ALBD 2005). From 1960 to 1990, the percentage of workers with jobs outside their county of residence grew three-fold while the percentage of workers working in the county where they lived declined (ALBD 2005). What these figures indicate is that our roads are filling up because people are driving more as a result of development and transportation policies that leave huge distances between destinations and give people no alternative but to get behind the wheel.

Building more roads has not made daily transportation better and, in fact, may have contributed to congestion while locking us into even greater Middle East oil dependency. Smart Growth America reported that Òcommunities that have built the most roads have had no more success in keeping congestion in check than areas that have not added much road capacity." (SGA 2005).

As a result of our development and transportation policies, foreign oil dependence has soared. In 2004, foreign sources accounted for a record 58 percent of total petroleum consumption (EIA Petroleum Trade 2005). As American drivers demand more and more oil, the federal government has granted oil and gas companies access to massive amounts of public lands in western states — some 229 million acres of public land, an area greater than Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona combined, according to an EWG analysis. Despite this access, public lands in the lower 48 states produced just 53 days of oil consumption between 1989 and 2003 (BLM 2004, MMS 2004).

America cannot drill its way to energy independence. In fact, the U.S. lacks the oil to come anywhere near to reducing dependence on Middle East sources, no matter how many of America's prized natural treasures are opened to destructive drilling. Even the much-touted Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is not a panacea. The best government estimates are that the Arctic Wildlife Refuge contains about a year of recoverable oil at current consumption rates (USGS Arctic 1998).

Gulf nations control two-thirds of the world's oil reserves and would continue to influence prices even if the U.S. obtained its oil elsewhere (Financial Times 2005, EIA Primer on Gasoline 2005, PBS 1996). But the goal of independence from Middle East oil is still well worth pursuing, both on its merits and for its motivational power for the American people.

The Middle East is an extremely volatile region of the world. Disruptions to the world oil supply, such as a terrorist attack in Saudi Arabia, could push gasoline prices even higher than they are now (Bunch 2005, Kher 2005). In the case of a disruption, or even a continued steady rise in prices, people in the most gasoline-dependent metro areas would suffer the most, as price increases would be hardest to absorb.

In addition, efforts to reduce dependence on Middle East oil through smart transportation investments will create jobs at home that will make the U.S. economy more resistant to oil price surges. By investing anew in a diversified, transit-reinforced transportation system, we can build a U.S. economy that grants more time and opens more options for diplomatic engagement when oil-related Middle East crises flare.

 

Recommendations

In 1991, Congress passed a totally new transportation bill known as ISTEA, or the Intermodal Surface Transportation and Efficiency Act. ISTEA for the first time established an 80/20 split in federal support for highways and transit. For the previous 40 years, federal spending for highways over transit had been even more lopsided. According to one estimate, 75 percent of federal transportation funding in the post-World War II generation went to highways while only 1 percent flowed to transit (Jackson 1985). It is little wonder that cities that grew up during that time are the most dependent on Middle East oil.

To reverse course, equally massive investments in diversified transit systems with emphasis on rail are required. Experience shows that these investments will work.

Where metro areas have spent money on rail transit, ridership has exceeded estimates, even in cities like Dallas-Fort Worth, Salt Lake City and Denver, where rail systems had to be force-fit on top of highway oriented development patterns (Baird 2004, Van Eyck 2004, Reed 2005). To be sure, these cities still have limited transit options compared to roads. But the ridership trends suggest that a substantial portion of the population is eager for alternatives to driving — alternatives that could help to reduce Middle East oil consumption.

People everywhere appear ready for alternatives to driving. Denver residents, for example, voted overwhelmingly last year for a $4.7 billion, 119-mile expansion of the area's passenger rail system. Transit managers in Montgomery, Alabama; Green Bay, Wisconsin; Greensboro, North Carolina; and Seattle have recently reported increases in ridership that may reflect concern over high gasoline prices (Thomas 2005, Nelesen 2005, Hummel 2005, Gaudette 2005).

Congress recently passed a $286.5 billion federal transportation bill that will fund transportation projects for the next six years. However, states have an important role to play in how this money is spent. In the coming years, states should:

In the future, the federal government should:

1. Increase use of flexible federal funds for transit. Federal transportation rules allow states to spend a significant portion of their highway funds on transit projects but so far, most states have barely exercised this option (Puentes and Bailey 2003).
2. End discriminatory state funding rules that prevent state gas tax dollars from being spent on transit projects. The Brookings Institution found in a 2003 report that 30 states had such rules. Investing gas taxes in transit makes sense because increased transit ridership eases congestion for drivers (Puentes and Bailey 2003).
3. Ensure that transportation funding is equitable within states. When it comes to both federal and state funds, research shows that transportation dollars are spent disproportionately on outlying areas rather than on metro areas where most people live and pay taxes. Ensuring that metro areas get their fair share of funds is an important step toward alleviating the worst traffic problems and ensuring that local authorities can build energy-efficient transit systems (EWG 2004, Hill et al. 2003).
4. Fund transit at the same level as highways, with an emphasis on rail. The current federal funding split of about 80 percent for highways and less than 19 percent for transit helps lock the nation into dependence on Middle East oil. Our goal should be a funding split of 50 on percent highways and 50 percent on energy-efficient transit, with an emphasis on rail. Not only does rail provide a direct benefit for those who use it, but it also frees up road space for drivers.
   
   Heritage Foundation founder Paul Weyrich and coauthor William Lind wrote in a recent analysis that a particular advantage of rail transportation is that communities can develop around it. "A rail line, in contrast [to a bus line], is a fixed, high-value asset," they write. "A developer can invest in, say, a new office building near a rail transit line in confidence that twenty years from now, the rail line will still be there providing transit service...In one city after another, rail transit — Heavy Rail, Light Rail or commuter rail — has brought increased investment, higher property values, higher rents and more customers" (Weyrich and Lind 2001).
5. Put transit on an equal playing field when it comes to federal transportation rules. The current system favors road projects over transit by requiring builders to jump through a series of additional hoops before a transit project can get off the ground (Beimborn and Puentes 2003).

 

Tables

Table 1. Drivers in Southern Cities Send
The Most Money to Middle East Oil Producers

	Metro Area (MSA)	House- hold Dollars to Middle East, Per Year	Total Dollars to Middle East, Per Metro Area (MSA)	Average Miles Per Driver, Per Year	Average Miles Per Household, Per Year
1	Nashville, TN	$314	$157,739,797	16,473	30,260
2	Jacksonville, FL	$302	$136,318,855	13,905	29,102
3	Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill, NC-SC	$301	$154,257,728	15,204	29,016
4	Dallas-Fort Worth, TX	$299	$575,826,429	15,665	28,894
5	Atlanta, GA	$289	$450,699,938	14,848	27,932
6	Denver-Boulder-Greeley, CO	$279	$284,244,606	14,278	26,943
7	Memphis, TN-AR-MS	$259	$111,550,567	14,605	25,033
8	Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, NC	$257	$164,755,751	13,416	24,802
9	Houston-Galveston-Brazoria, TX	$246	$410,065,437	12,049	23,765
10	Providence-Fall River-Warwick, RI-MA	$246	$95,052,192	12,739	23,700
11	Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN-WI	$243	$307,292,586	12,152	23,477
12	Oklahoma City, OK	$240	$68,511,780	13,575	23,115
13	Salt Lake City-Ogden, UT	$236	$85,269,236	10,468	22,792
14	Kansas City, MO-KS	$236	$168,828,528	11,857	22,785
15	Hartford, CT	$232	$99,021,336	12,409	22,430
16	Greensboro-Winston-Salem-High Point, NC	$227	$136,598,664	12,353	21,932
17	Orlando, FL	$224	$143,490,259	13,456	21,567
18	Phoenix-Mesa, AZ	$223	$255,507,174	11,212	21,514
19	St. Louis, MO-IL	$222	$213,846,706	11,873	21,428
20	San Diego, CA	$218	$223,650,388	10,905	21,075
21	Columbus, OH	$216	$133,240,954	12,351	20,872
22	Los Angeles-Riverside-Orange County, CA	$216	$1,173,187,796	11,532	20,814
23	Sacramento-Yolo, CA	$216	$172,880,579	11,318	20,800
24	Milwaukee-Racine, WI	$214	$137,448,454	12,315	20,659
25	Portland-Salem, OR-WA	$213	$177,730,603	11,426	20,539
26	San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, CA	$211	$593,568,399	11,885	20,325
27	Washington-Baltimore, DC-MD-VA-WV	$209	$698,279,187	11,514	20,174
28	Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton, WA	$205	$337,926,502	10,549	19,810
29	San Antonio, TX	$205	$114,493,744	11,048	19,799
30	Detroit-Ann Arbor-Flint, MI	$202	$412,075,917	10,900	19,511
31	Rochester, NY	$201	$88,119,144	10,736	19,369
32	Austin-San Marcos, TX	$200	$98,223,362	10,531	19,303
33	New Orleans, LA	$199	$102,451,589	10,439	19,233
34	Louisville, KY-IN	$198	$76,222,075	11,583	19,154
35	Norfolk-Virginia Beach-Newport News, VA-NC	$198	$140,381,268	10,086	19,133
36	Chicago-Gary-Kenosha, IL-IN-WI	$196	$584,189,612	10,853	18,885
37	Grand Rapids-Muskegon-Holland, MI	$195	$77,838,750	9,593	18,825
38	Miami-Fort Lauderdale, FL	$194	$224,759,261	9,308	18,680
39	Cleveland-Akron, OH	$193	$227,536,626	10,556	18,623
40	Cincinnati-Hamilton, OH-KY-IN	$188	$165,937,167	11,058	18,175
41	Pittsburgh, PA	$187	$170,155,031	11,620	18,083
42	Boston-Worcester-Lawrence, MA-NH-ME-CT	$187	$433,165,234	10,153	18,016
43	Indianapolis, IN	$185	$128,256,207	10,435	17,807
44	Philadelphia-Wilmington-Atlantic City, PA-NJ-DE-MD	$179	$374,032,241	10,544	17,310
45	Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL	$174	$188,290,807	10,594	16,777
46	Buffalo-Niagara Falls, NY	$159	$75,994,083	9,738	15,373
47	Las Vegas, NV-AZ	$148	$91,870,659	8,111	14,298
48	Honolulu, HI	$146	$41,867,734	7,051	14,077
49	New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-CT-PA	$132	$1,046,755,530	8,499	12,776
50	West Palm Beach-Boca Raton, FL	$127	$52,407,211	8,014	12,274

Source: U.S. Departments of Energy and Transportation, 2005

Table 2. Population and Transit Use in the Top 50 Metro Areas

	Metro Area (MSA)	Households in MSA	MSA Population	Rail Track Miles within MSA	Rail & Bus Trips per Driver, Per Year
1	Nashville, TN	503,000	1,199,000	0	7
2	Jacksonville, FL	452,000	1,331,000	5	10
3	Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill, NC-SC	513,000	1,568,000	0	19
4	Dallas-Fort Worth, TX	1,923,000	5,148,000	53	22
5	Atlanta, GA	1,557,000	4,433,000	104	48
6	Denver-Boulder-Greeley, CO	1,018,000	2,608,000	29	40
7	Memphis, TN-AR-MS	430,000	1,174,000	6	15
8	Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, NC	641,000	1,652,000	0	4
9	Houston-Galveston-Brazoria, TX	1,665,000	4,651,000	5	28
10	Providence-Fall River-Warwick, RI-MA	387,000	1,021,000	0	23
11	Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN-WI	1,263,000	3,419,000	0	28
12	Oklahoma City, OK	286,000	759,000	0	5
13	Salt Lake City-Ogden, UT	361,000	1,118,000	34	28
14	Kansas City, MO-KS	715,000	1,822,000	0	10
15	Hartford, CT	426,000	965,000	0	18
16	Greensboro-Winston-Salem-High Point, NC	601,000	1,536,000	0	5
17	Orlando, FL	642,000	1,511,000	0	21
18	Phoenix-Mesa, AZ	1,146,000	3,271,000	0	18
19	St. Louis, MO-IL	963,000	2,555,000	74	26
20	San Diego, CA	1,024,000	2,995,000	179	41
21	Columbus, OH	616,000	1,428,000	0	15
22	Los Angeles-Riverside-Orange County, CA	5,439,000	15,584,000	755	64
23	Sacramento-Yolo, CA	802,000	2,121,000	39	19
24	Milwaukee-Racine, WI	642,000	1,552,000	0	53
25	Portland-Salem, OR-WA	835,000	2,077,000	86	66
26	San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, CA	2,818,000	7,146,000	697	83
27	Washington-Baltimore, DC-MD-VA-WV	3,340,000	8,812,000	967	92
28	Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton, WA	1,646,000	4,470,000	114	38
29	San Antonio, TX	558,000	1,522,000	0	39
30	Detroit-Ann Arbor-Flint, MI	2,038,000	5,298,000	4	13
31	Rochester, NY	439,000	1,144,000	0	17
32	Austin-San Marcos, TX	491,000	1,243,000	0	41
33	New Orleans, LA	514,000	1,430,000	16	54
34	Louisville, KY-IN	384,000	884,000	0	20
35	Norfolk-Virginia Beach-Newport News, VA-NC	708,000	1,791,000	0	11
36	Chicago-Gary-Kenosha, IL-IN-WI	2,985,000	7,827,000	1562	104
37	Grand Rapids-Muskegon-Holland, MI	399,000	1,145,000	0	7
38	Miami-Fort Lauderdale, FL	1,161,000	3,323,000	167	55
39	Cleveland-Akron, OH	1,179,000	3,065,000	75	27
40	Cincinnati-Hamilton, OH-KY-IN	881,000	2,025,000	0	16
41	Pittsburgh, PA	908,000	2,159,000	45	48
42	Boston-Worcester-Lawrence, MA-NH-ME-CT	2,320,000	6,175,000	770	85
43	Indianapolis, IN	695,000	1,595,000	3	9
44	Philadelphia-Wilmington-Atlantic City, PA-NJ-DE-MD	2,085,000	5,342,000	1150	93
45	Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL	1,083,000	2,241,000	5	11
46	Buffalo-Niagara Falls, NY	477,000	1,150,000	14	31
47	Las Vegas, NV-AZ	620,000	1,554,000	4	43
48	Honolulu, HI	287,000	838,000	0	121
49	New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-CT-PA	7,906,000	20,261,000	3533	274
50	West Palm Beach-Boca Raton, FL	412,000	865,000	0	12

Source: U.S. Department of Transportation (2005) and American Public Transportation Association (2003)

Table 3: Driving and Spending Data, Per Driver

	Metro Area	Miles Per Driver / Year	Dollars Per Driver To Middle East, Per Year	Drivers Per Household
1	Nashville, TN	16,473	$171	1.84
2	Dallas--Fort Worth, TX	15,665	$162	1.84
3	Charlotte--Gastonia--Rock Hill, NC--SC	15,204	$158	1.91
4	Atlanta, GA	14,848	$154	1.88
5	Memphis, TN--AR--MS	14,605	$151	1.71
6	Denver--Boulder--Greeley, CO	14,278	$148	1.89
7	Jacksonville, FL	13,905	$144	2.09
8	Oklahoma City, OK	13,575	$141	1.70
9	Orlando, FL	13,456	$139	1.60
10	Raleigh--Durham--Chapel Hill, NC	13,416	$139	1.85
11	Providence--Fall River--Warwick, RI--MA	12,739	$132	1.86
12	Hartford, CT	12,409	$129	1.81
13	Greensboro--Winston-Salem--High Point, NC	12,353	$128	1.78
14	Columbus, OH	12,351	$128	1.69
15	Milwaukee--Racine, WI	12,315	$128	1.68
16	Minneapolis--St. Paul, MN--WI	12,152	$126	1.93
17	Houston--Galveston--Brazoria, TX	12,049	$125	1.97
18	San Francisco--Oakland--San Jose, CA	11,885	$123	1.71
19	St. Louis, MO--IL	11,873	$123	1.80
20	Kansas City, MO--KS	11,857	$123	1.92
21	Pittsburgh, PA	11,620	$120	1.56
22	Louisville, KY--IN	11,583	$120	1.65
23	Los Angeles--Riverside--Orange County, CA	11,532	$120	1.80
24	Washington--Baltimore, DC--MD--VA--WV	11,514	$119	1.75
25	Portland--Salem, OR--WA	11,426	$118	1.80
26	Sacramento--Yolo, CA	11,318	$117	1.84
27	Phoenix--Mesa, AZ	11,212	$116	1.92
28	Cincinnati--Hamilton, OH--KY--IN	11,058	$115	1.64
29	San Antonio, TX	11,048	$114	1.79
30	San Diego, CA	10,905	$113	1.93
31	Detroit--Ann Arbor--Flint, MI	10,900	$113	1.79
32	Chicago--Gary--Kenosha, IL--IN--WI	10,853	$112	1.74
33	Rochester, NY	10,736	$111	1.80
34	Tampa--St. Petersburg--Clearwater, FL	10,594	$110	1.58
35	Cleveland--Akron, OH	10,556	$109	1.76
36	Seattle--Tacoma--Bremerton, WA	10,549	$109	1.88
37	Philadelphia--Wilmington--Atlantic City,PA--NJ--DE--MD	10,544	$109	1.64
38	Austin--San Marcos, TX	10,531	$109	1.83
39	Salt Lake City--Ogden, UT	10,468	$108	2.18
40	New Orleans, LA	10,439	$108	1.84
41	Indianapolis, IN	10,435	$108	1.71
42	Boston--Worcester--Lawrence, MA--NH--ME--CT	10,153	$105	1.77
43	Norfolk--Virginia Beach--Newport News, VA--NC	10,086	$105	1.90
44	Buffalo--Niagara Falls, NY	9,738	$101	1.58
45	Grand Rapids--Muskegon--Holland, MI	9,593	$99	1.96
46	Miami--Fort Lauderdale, FL	9,308	$96	2.01
47	New York--Northern New Jersey--Long Island,NY--NJ--CT--PA	8,499	$88	1.50
48	Las Vegas, NV--AZ	8,111	$84	1.76
49	West Palm Beach--Boca Raton, FL	8,014	$83	1.53
50	Honolulu, HI	7,051	$73	2.00

Source: U.S. Departments of Energy and Transportation, 2005

About This Report

Principal author: Dusty Horwitt, Richard Wiles
Graphics and web design: T.C. Greenleaf

Thanks to the Surface Transportation Policy Project, Smart Growth America and Rob Puentes of the Brookings Institution for their ongoing help with this work.

This report was made possible by a grant from the Surdna Foundation. The authors and editor are responsible for any errors.

Methodology: 

Environmental Working Group (EWG) developed its Persian Gulf oil dependency index by analyzing the U.S. Department of Transportation's 2001 National Household Travel Survey (NHTS). From the NHTS survey, EWG obtained data for the 50 largest metropolitan statistical areas including the number of drivers in each area, total miles driven and the number of households in each area. The data was obtained from 141,860 surveys in the 50 cities. The sample size ranged from 465 people in Oklahoma City to 26,477 in New York. A metropolitan statistical area (MSA) is defined as an area that includes at least one urbanized core area of 50,000 or more people "together with adjacent communities having a high degree of economic and social integration with that core" (Census 2005).

From these data, EWG calculated the mean number of miles traveled per driver in each MSA. EWG then multiplied the number of miles traveled per driver by the U.S. Department of Transportation's (DoT) 2003 reported average fuel efficiency for cars and light trucks of 20.3 miles per gallon (DoT VMT 2003). The result gave us the total amount of gasoline consumed by the average person in each urban area. According to data from the U.S. Department of Transportation, the mix of vehicles and their fuel efficiency is approximately the same across metro areas nationwide (DoT Fuel Efficiency).

To determine geographically where our gasoline originates, we consulted the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration (EIA) which reported that each 42-gallon barrel of crude oil produces an average of 19.9 gallons of gasoline (EIA Ask an Expert 2005). About 95 percent of our gasoline is refined in the United States from domestic or imported crude oil. Only about five percent of our gasoline is imported in the form of already-refined gasoline (EIA Net Imports 2003). The U.S. exports less than five percent of the gasoline produced from domestic crude oil (EIA Exports 2003).

EWG estimated that because about 16 percent of our crude oil came from the Persian Gulf in 2003 (2,425,000 barrels per day out of 15,333,000), 16 percent of our gasoline came from the Gulf (EIA Net Imports 2003, EIA PAD 2003). We adjusted this figure to 15 percent of our gasoline to account for the fact that most of our already-refined gasoline that is imported comes from outside the Gulf. We then multiplied the average gallons of gas consumed per driver in each metro area by 15 percent to determine the portion of Persian Gulf gasoline consumed by the average metro area driver.

The EIA reports that it does not track the origin of American gasoline. The EIA adds that "even if we knew at which company's refinery the gasoline was produced, the source of the crude oil used at that refinery may vary on a day-to-day basis. Most refiners use a mix of crude oils from various domestic and foreign sources" (EIA Primer on Gasoline 2005). Therefore, EWG estimated that the mix of gasoline from the Persian Gulf, the U.S., and other sources is consistent across the United States. In any event, every region of the nation depends on the inflow of Persian Gulf oil, either because the region uses the oil directly or because the use of Gulf oil in one region means that more oil is available from other sources in another region.

To determine how much money each metro area resident sent to the Persian Gulf, we multiplied the portion of Persian Gulf gasoline used by each resident by the average U.S. price of gasoline as of August 15, 2005 ($2.55 per gallon) and then multiplied the product by 55 percent, the amount of each dollar paid for gasoline attributable to crude oil as opposed to taxes, distribution, marketing and refining (EIA Gasoline Update 2005).

EWG obtained transit ridership data from several tables listed by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA Ridership Report 2003, APTA Factbook 2005).

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