Your senator is going to have to start some pretty unpopular initiatives if he seriously wants the looming gas crisis averted.
Your state needs to go with a carrot and stick approach to responding to the petroleum problem:
1. You need to invest heavily in mass transit. Buses, trolley's (bring 'em back; they're fun, cheap, effective, and pretty), light rail...etc..
2. In your major towns and cities you need to provide sufficient bike-lanes and legal protections to keep vehicle owners from harassing and harming your bicyclists.
3. Tax gas; raise the price further. You need to get people out of their cars slowly but surely before a major price shift hits. Instead of a slow 1-2 dollar increase in prices over a few years, leaving people plenty of time to adapt, a sudden shock could boost the price five or so dollars in weeks.
4. Get people off the highways, stop expanding highways, and reduce the ability of people to use their cars in downtown areas. Many cities in Europe are turning vehicle roads into pedestrian-only roads; making people walk, bike, or use mass transit instead. Tolls could help in this respect in addition to zoning and taxes.
5. Zone out massive parking lots in suburban areas, increase state property taxes in non-city zones, and make it more difficult for people to choose to live miles and miles from where they work, entertain themselves, and buy food. Increasing state parks should also help, completely eliminating some areas for development purposes.
6. Create tax incentives and start grant programs for upward expansion of real estate (making places taller and close together instead of wider and further apart). Start purchasing bikes for children and teens, maybe even adults.
