IKNOW WE'VE all been noticing that one of the side effects of the stock market crash has been falling gas prices and falling prices for fuel oil as well. It may give us some welcomed relief this winter.

Cartoon by Peter Donahue, The Northfield News On the other hand, I'm wondering whether gas prices falling to levels lower then we've seen for many months will allow us to forget that we need to press forward with the development of renewable energy.

If you have some thoughts on this, we'd like to hear from you.

Gasoline prices are falling fast and could keep dropping for months.

"The only place they have to go is down," said Fred Rozell, a gasoline analyst at the Oil Price Information Service (OPIS). "We'll be closer to $2 than $3 come Thanksgiving," he added.

AAA foresees prices 10 cents a gallon lower by the end of next week. It reported a nationwide average on Tuesday which was the lowest since April.

In July, gas reached $4.11 a gallon here in town. Three months later, prices are as low as $2.50 in some places. The lower prices have drivers talking and rethinking their trips.

The pain at the pump this summer had most of us changing our driving habits.

"My wife and I, we carpool together now where we didn't before," said a local resident. "We all had to rethink our routes and made less trips to the grocery. We had to think whether it was absolutely necessary to go somewhere."

Another resident said that at 80 miles to the gallon, a scotter allowed us to pocket more money."

Jim Smith, CEO and president of the Florida Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association in Tallahassee, said that lower gas prices are a direct result of consumers using less gas. He said, consumers "have the power to affect the retail price of gasoline, and they have done it: Reduce demand."

Demand for gasoline has dropped nationally to 8.7 million barrels a day, down from 9.2 million a year ago, according to a U.S. Energy Information Administration report released last Wednesday.

Also keeping prices down is a dollar that is strong in relation to other currencies, inventories of crude oil and gasoline, the report stated.

In addition, Mr. Smith said, speculators are leaving the market, pushing down the price of oil futures. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, November crude has continued to fall.

"With the current global financial situation, speculators aren't speculating anymore," he said. "They are fleeing the market."

Not everyone is pleased with the lower prices. OPEC will hold another meeting on November 18 to address the market slide and decide whether they should further cut production. However, a cut two weeks ago did nothing to stem the fall in prices.

For now, though, motorists are enjoying the break from a stream of otherwise tough economic news.

The lower prices have started to get people to forget completely about their earlier woes.

One local man said he has been bringing in his extended family's cars, one by one but no longer. "I just filled up five cars," he said. "I am going to get another one."

Are people going to forget about the Pickens Plan, about drilling, about natural gas, about wind power and solar?

That's what happened the last time gas prices increased, then fell.

There was a flurry of ideas about other sources of energy back during the gas crunch of 1974 and after it was all over, all of the ideas were quickly forgotten and the alternative energy business dried up.

Will this happen this time as well?

Send us an e-mail at News@nfldvt.com or write to Northfield News, 7 South Main Street, Unit 3, Northfield, VT 05663. We'll get your concerns to the right authorities and we will publish your letter so others will know how you feel about this issue.