Plunging gas prices in perspective

Three-dollar gasoline?

Oh, how much had to happen in the past 12 months to make us welcome that prospect.

But that's the benchmark now, and suddenly everyone from your favorite airline to your typical expressway commuter is all but jumping for joy.

It is not, however, entirely a good thing.

Sure, like everyone else, we welcome gasoline costs that slip below $3 a gallon. In an atmosphere defined by depressing economic reports, it's nice to have at least one significant cost trending south.

But, remember, it was just last November that we all were wringing our hands over the impending breakthrough in the $3 ceiling. Less than four months later, we were growing numb to the notion of $4-a-gallon gasoline and only a couple of weeks ago, we were even hearing predictions of $5-a-gallon gas by the end of the year.

Clearly, this is a commodity whose future value defies prognostication. For all we know, today's $3.50 gasoline may well be $1 a gallon higher by Christmas or early next spring.

And therein lies the danger of being too happy about the current downward trend in oil prices. Invariably, when gas costs go down, we all start firing up the family van again for a two-block trip to the convenience store, and today's ubiquitous grand talk of solar power, wind power and electric cars quickly fades to the parlor conversation of those comparatively few drivers who value the long-term environment over short-term expedience.

In many ways, 80-year-old oilman T. Boone Pickens is hardly the poster child for the coming green paradise. But Pickens' traveling road show on alternative energy arrived in Chicago this week at a propitious time.

We need reminders that it wasn't so long ago that we considered $3-a-gallon gasoline a bad thing. We need to keep talking not about whether we can push the price of a barrel of foreign oil to $50 but whether we can harness enough wind energy to operate a city or build an affordable battery-powered car with a range of a few hundred miles.

As gas prices hurtled toward $5 a gallon, alternative energy was high on the list of talking points of both presidential candidates - even if they were both short on details. The sudden plummeting of those prices should not drag the topic down with it.

The United States desperately needs to turn away from the pollution, foreign debt and inefficiency of its oil addiction. Economics appear to be the prime factor capable of pushing us in that direction, and even the most optimistic of environmentalists must eventually accept the practical reality of that conclusion.

But the economics also cannot be denied. Today's $3 bargain gasoline easily may be next summer's $5 extravagance. So, let's enjoy the bargain while we can - without letting that ease the pressures on government officials to produce a replacement.