Asheville will be considering whether or not they would like to apply for a $210,000 LEAP grant through ARRA. The grant would give the city newly-printed dollars from the federal deficit in order to generate a Regional Strategic Fuel Plan. The plan is intended to deal with the next fuel shortage through government rationing programs and emergency responder strategies, and to try to prevent another shortage through development of alternative energy technologies. The sophisticated way to say this is, the city is to plan a regional approach for energy assurance capability.
The plan, with its regional scope would limit competition among local governments. It also appears to use the force of government to grant special favors to energy producers who are not of the traditional petroleum persuasion. If government were not so opposed to domestic drilling, somebody might take the initiative to provide redundant supply lines.
The grant request will be used directly to fund staff to: collect data on fuel storage and use, to analyze and review existing emergency fuel plans, to conduct training on developing emergency fuel plans, to develop a regional emergency fuel plan which unify [sic.] the emergency fuel plans in the region, and to create a long range plan to assist in the development of a fuel plan that focuses on non-traditional vehicle fuels.
