Friday, April 22, 2005

Bush energy plan omits the obvious


Instead of only trying to mollify angry American motorists about their higher gasoline prices, U.S. energy policymakers should welcome the costlier fuel as an opportunity to devise policies to reduce the nation's reliance on imported oil.

It's one of the few events, unplanned as it is, that can focus politicians on devising real fuel-saving policies for the nation.

More expensive fuel means drivers will be inclined to look toward more fuel-efficient vehicles, begin to live closer to their workplaces, use city transit for relief, and cut back on unnecessary driving. All could help shrink the heavy demand for oil from abroad.

Better mileage in personal and commercial vehicles also would be a boon to conservation. But President Bush and his circle of energy yes-men have a pact with Detroit's automakers to not demand better automotive performance, just as the president won't expect much cleaner air from smokestack industries.

That was obvious Wednesday in the president's speech to the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Although he expressed concern about demand growing faster than domestic production of petroleum, not once in the talk's 4,014 words did Bush suggest that improved automotive mileage be on his agenda. He mentioned ethanol, hybrid cars and hydrogen power, coal and nuclear power, improved refrigerators to save electricity—and drilling more wells in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

However, if he demanded automakers improve vehicle fuel mileage a notch every year, fuel savings would begin to cut into the imported petroleum supplies.

The numbers tell the story. According to the American Petroleum Institute, more than 60 percent of oil is imported. U.S. drivers use more than 370 million gallons of gasoline a day, which translates into more than 37 percent of world's gasoline production. That will grow by 2.4 percent this year alone.

A collage of self-defeating policies have gotten us here—tax breaks for buying gas guzzlers, no higher demands for improved vehicle fuel mileage, even a multi-billion dollar congressional handout for the U.S. petroleum industry to find ways of squeezing a few more drops from exhausted stripper wells.

Imagine the impact of a 10 percent savings in vehicle fuel consumption.

It's achievable. In the city of Bellevue, Wash., the city's traffic engineers have developed a unique computerized traffic signal system that speeds in-city traffic faster than on the highway.

A study shows drivers have saved 10 percent in fuel consumption by avoiding long delays and stop-and-go driving.

President Bush's alarm about the nation's increased gasoline demand rings hollow when he ignores one of the most sensible conservation methods because he doesn't want to offend political allies in Detroit.




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