From an environmental perspective it's great news. We need price signals to start the painful decoupling process of oil consumption from growth.
Also, why are high prices disproportionately burdensome for the U.S. The rest of the developed world has much higher prices (and lower rates of consumption).
http://www.economist.com/blogs/freee.../energy_prices
There are any number of good reasons to raise the petrol tax rate. The current rate no longer brings in enough money to cover current highway spending. Petrol taxes are an efficient way to raise revenue, and the government needs revenue; President Obama's deficit commission recommended an increase in the federal petrol tax rate. Burning oil produces carbon emissions, and dearer fuel would reduce America's sky-high per capita carbon footprint. But a higher tax rate would also diminish the possibility that a sudden rise in oil prices would throw the economy into recession. That would be a nice risk to minimise! And yes, higher tax rates would hit consumers just like rising oil prices. But those prices are rising anyway; better to capture the revenue and use it, all while improving behaviour.