Better late than never, BushCo has delivered a present to this oil-addicted country of ours, a temporary suspension of environmental rules for gasoline! Yaaaaayyyyyy!
Surely this will bring down those gasoline prices, right? Prices are just about at $3 for regular here in Philadelphia.
From the AP:
Easing the environment rules will allow refiners greater flexibility in providing oil supplies since they will not have to use certain additives such as ethanol to meet clean air standards. The suspension of oil purchases for the federal emergency oil reserve is likely to have only modest impact since relative little extra oil will be involved.
…
The president said Democrats in the past have urged higher taxes on fuel and price caps to control fuel expenses, but he said neither approach works. Instead, he called for increased conservation, an expansion of domestic production and increased use of alternative fuels like ethanol.
Did you just do a double take too? Ethanol good? Ethanol bad? Grrrr. Hulk smash!
But for real, we have some ridiculous problems here. And Bush has his take on them:
Bush said that high gasoline prices are like a hidden tax on consumers and businesses, although he said the nation’s economy was strong. He urged Congress to take back some of the billions of dollars in tax incentives it gave energy companies, saying that with record profits, they don’t need the breaks. He urged lawmakers to expand tax breaks for the purchase of fuel-efficient hybrid automobiles.
A hidden tax on the community, indeedy. That tax is being collected in the Veep’s pockets. The economy is strong like steamd bok choi [hint hint]. Urged Congress to take back tax incentives he and his Veep pushed through?! Expand tax breaks for hybrids? How about taking away tax breaks for Hummers too.
What are your suggestions taking a longer term look at things than this myopic BushCo?
Dubya is right about supporting ethanol production, though he is unlikely to back his words with any action. Fifty percent of Ford’s current production constitutes flexible fuel vehicles, meaning they are factory-ready to run on a gas/ethanol mixture. Not everyone can run out and purchase a $22,000.00 Toyota Prius, even if you could get one at the list price. And then there is that battery pack, expensive to replace and potentially a disposal problem. (Or are these recycled?)
I believe the batteries of hybrids run for 8-10 years, not sure at all about recycling/disposal though.
If Japanese companies want to sell the same cars in Europe then they should be ready for recycling and/or reuse of parts.
See the EU “End-of-Life” vehicle regulation.
Short description found here:
http://www.volkswagen-environment.de/buster/buster.asp?i=_content/22687.asp
http://europa.eu.int/scadplus/leg/en/lvb/l21225.htm
So the cars itself should be ready for it.
That’s a really cool plan! Thanks for the heads up on that.
increased gas efficiency, some new refiniries, some new off-shore drilling, and a massive effort to create alternative energy sources and a reinvigorated auto industry based on those alternative energy sources, increased investment in public transport, including rail.
Sweet sweet railways. My fav. I love trains. And the rails last forever. They don’t need too much maintenance other than having trains run on them keeping them free of buildup.
Where’s our maglev system? Where’s our hispeed system?
We knew in the ’70s – the nineteenfuckingseventies – that mass transportation had to be the way of the future in America.
There has been practically no work done on these things in thirty goddamned years.
Shame on us all. Democrats and Republicans.
Don´t forget “re-zoning” and energy conservation.
Reading about that topic in the last few days showed me that lots of American suburbs don´t any shops near them.
Try to convert them into “real” villages if possible.
A real village or town center might also be the best point for a bus or light rail station.
Energy conservation should be self-explaining.
Bush believes it is “unlikely” that we will need to tap the oil reserves over the “next five months.” Has he forgotten that we are entering hurricane season? IIRC, Katrina disrupted oil/gas supplies significantly.
The part of the gas price upswing that bothers me the most is: Why does the price at the pump go up within 48 hours of a speculative surge in the price of a barrel of oil? Perhaps, someone can explain it to me.
Exactly how long does it take oil from the mid-east purchased at $76/barrel to be transported across the Atlantic, transferred thru a port to a refinery, refined, pipe-lined and tanker-trucked out to my nearest gas station? I would guess more than 48 hours. So why does the price at the pump jump when its cost should be based on the price paid for oil at the time of its production?
Unless there is another explanation, it looks like simple price gouging to me. The oil companies profit before their product actually costs them more to produce and pocket the difference. Every surge in the cost of oil is a surge in profits for them.
Hurricanes? Shhhhhhhhhh… nono, no hurricanes.
And in regards to gas prices, I’m under the impression that the oil futures market is the big factor here. What the prices are predicted to be a few months down the line. Not sure on that though.
All you have to do is watch the stock prices of oil cos. to see that shareholders love it when the price of oil soars. That said, it’s not so unreasonable that the price of gas would track oil. Refiners and gas stations are going to have to replace their stocks with higher-priced stuff when they sell current inventory, so they try to make enough to cover their next bill. Plus, of course, the hype around record oil prices makes gas price hikes seem more acceptable.
Bottom line is, the market system American style just doesn’t work very well when it comes to basics like energy.
Went out for lunch today and decided to check out what the right wing talk radio noise machine has to say about this. The talking points from Karl seem to be:
There’s no inflation because businesses can’t pass along the cost increases, NPR says. But something has to give somewhere, and it will likely be a downturn in discretionary spending, starting very soon (like now).
Mrs. K.P. is seeing it in the veterinary practice where she works – all of a sudden in the last few days it’s gotten very quiet, and the folks bringing in fido and fluffy are very vocal about not wanting to spend more than the bare minimum on pet health care. And the practice where she’s at is in the wealthiest suburb of Knoxville. This happened last summer when gas prices peaked as well; spending on veterinary care seems to be an accurate economic barometer…
The buzz where I work is motorcycles (among the 40-somethings that haven’t ridden in 20 years), bicycles (among the young and healthy), and mopeds/scooters, all of which would be a good idea.
In the long term, plug-in hybrids (or here) that are flex-fuel vehicles, as well as more mass transit, are the answer. But getting there may have to be a leaderless effort for the next 1000 days.
Forgot one other right-wing noise machine point – and this one nearly made me drive my car into a tree:
– See, if only the liberals had let us drill in ANWR, we wouldn’t be in this fix!
AAAAaaaarrgh!!!
Brave of you to listen to that shit. I don’t have the stomach for it. Nor the wallet either – I’d probably start breaking things.
“Boutique blends” – ha. It makes it sound like us damn bleeding hearts want to stuff bouquets of Amsterdam tulips down into their Mac trucks. Ugh.
I love me some motorcycles and if I had the dough, I’d be purring along on a Ducati Monster 660. Motorcycles get around 50mpg and take up little space. I hate scooters, but I think they get better than 50mpg.
Every analysis I’ve seen shows that ethanol production uses more energy than it produces. Ethanol is mostly made from corn, which requires fuel to plant, harvest, and process and then convert to alcohol. Some otherwise wasted biomass from sugar production, etc., might produce some net energy gains, but they will never be significant energy sources. Gasohol is just another subsidy for agribiz, not an energy solution.
There are very promising advances being reported in wind and solar technology as well as in batteries. With government funding for these technologies plus public transporation instead of for Hummers and more highways, it seems reasonable to think the US could be leading the way in a new energy age instead of scrambling to hold onto its dying old industries. A quarter-century ago, one of Reagan’s first acts as president was to have the solar collectors ripped off the White House. He set the pace for taking America into the dark ages in more ways than one.
It seems to me that the best thing is to start purchasing all electic appliances and vehicles, now, and learning how to use the technology ourselves…
A) Petro chemicals ARE finite
B) Petro chemicals are dangerous and toxic
C) Petro chemicals require infrastructure and processing that CANNOT be done in your basement or backyard. We will ALWAYS be dependant on someone else to get us our supply.
D) Electicity can be generated by equipment we can own and keep in our back yard, roof top, whatever.
E) Wind and sunlight are INfinite
F) electricity can power virtually all our technological needs without infrastructure (ie. water purifiers, vehicles, cooking, refrigeration, communication…).
I think Mad Max has it wrong – After the apocolypse, the ones who will be able to survive in luxury will be those who know how to generate and harness electricity. Anyone who is still dependant on fossil fuels will be shit out of luck.
I for one intend to get an electricians license and learn how to use solar and wind power. Then the oil companies can go f themselves…
Instead, he called for increased conservation
I like the idea of conservation. Does this mean he’ll cut back on the number of vacation days down in Crawford?
Doubt it.
LTE in the Tennessean
Fuel consumption for Air Force One, a Boeing 747 200B is approximately 1 gallon per second.
That’s just Air Force 1. Then you have the motorcades, entourage, and so on.
I thought I read somewhere that the Prez travels with the full entourage *everywhere* he goes with AF1 and AF2.
Would only make sense for an very unpopular prez.
Alcohol and Hydrogen are only energy storage systems. No different than gasoline with costs and quirks all of their own. The fundamental problem is declining petroleum stocks which means that oil no longer can be used as an ever expanding cheap means of transportation, around 90% of the usage in the USA.
The Malaise of the 21st Century will be the conversion of cheap automobile and airline transportation to energy efficient mass transportation i.e. standing room only on American Airlines, except for Republicans who will sit down in First Class. There will be disruptions and turmoil that will bring on Revolution version 2. If Armageddon, hasn’t intervened first.