Free exchange | Petrol taxes

Feel the spill

Time for Americans to pay more at the pump

By R.A. | WASHINGTON

ON SATURDAY, the New York Times published an op-ed piece by Lisa Margonelli, who writes:

The Deepwater Horizon spill illustrates that every gallon of gas is a gallon of risks — risks of spills in production and transport, of worker deaths, of asthma-inducing air pollution and of climate change, to name a few. We should print these risks on every gasoline receipt, just as we label smoking's risks on cigarette packs. And we should throw our newfound political will behind a sweeping commitment to use less gas — build cars that use less oil (or none at all) and figure out better ways to transport Americans.

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