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Oil Addiction, revisited

America is perhaps the only country in the world where high gasoline prices rile up the population to a degree that could alter the outcome of elections. Never mind health insurance issues — or better yet, impoverished children’s health insurance issues. What gets many Americans steaming is the “pain at the pump” caused by gasoline prices beyond the $4 mark.

Personally, we don’t care. Driving our fat asses around in cars, polluting the environment, and becoming tomorrow’s obesity statistic should hurt, just so we’re constantly reminded of the anachronism of today’s automobile technology.

Also, we selected our (family) car last year with fuel efficiency as a crucial criterion. We ended up picking a Honda Fit, which gets us close to 40 miles per gallon. Filling up our 10-plus gallon tank used to cost us slightly under 30 dollars just a few months ago. Now it’s closer to — well, you do the math.

By the way, a fuel consumption rate of almost 40 miles per gallon is by no means good, measured by what is possible.

The curious thing is, we still see commercials advertising SUVs and trucks with mileage rates of around 20. Seriously, we have no sympathy with the poor souls still buying these vehicles and then complaining about gas prices.

Our point is this: President Bush today made a call for increased domestic oil production, drilling for the black stuff in all kinds of environmentally sensitive areas now off limits for exploitation.

The same guy made a plea in his 2006 State-of-the-Union speech to support efforts aimed at weaning America from what he called an “addiction” to oil. (He didn’t say “addiction to foreign oil,” by the way, so the argument that increasing domestic oil production is OK doesn’t count.)

He talked about American technological ingenuity and new, environmentally friendly programs that would lead the way away from petroleum-based fuels in the U.S. of A.

It sounded good at the time.

Now, Bush argued in a speech today, “Four-dollar-a-gallon gasoline has a way of changing people’s perspective.” Apparently, his own perspective also has changed. (Although it’s not like he actually pulls into an Exxon station to fill up the armored SUV he uses to get around town.)

We smell corporate interests of the oil industry making a last concerted push for unrestricted exploitation while a president receptive to their demands is in the White House. Congress must ignore this push and instead begin aggressively putting in place the fixes to America’s oil addition Bush laid out — even as Mr Bush himself relapses.

Posted by Chefredaktion at June 18, 2008 10:14 PM