Obama Earth Day Flights Burned More Than 9,000 Gallons Of Fuel

(AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)

It happens every time a president leaves town to make an Earth Day speech. Reporters scramble to point out how much fuel was expended so the President could talk about conserving energy and using alternative fuels.

In flying to and from Iowa today, President Obama took two flights on Air Force One and four on Marine One.

The press office at Andrews AFB wouldn't give me the fuel consumption numbers for the 747 that serves as Air Force One without the approval of the White House Press Office, which as I write this has yet to be given.

But Boeing says its 747 burns about 5 gallons of fuel per mile. It's 895 miles from Washington to Des Moines, so a round trip brings the fuel consumption for the fixed-wing portion of the President's trip to 8,950 gallons.

(AP)

The trip also put President Obama on Marine One for round-trip flights between the White House and Andrews AFB and between Des Moines International Airport and Newton, Iowa, site of his Earth Day speech. It totaled about an hour of flight time. The VH-3D that serves as Marine One consumes about 1200 pounds of fuel per hour which comes out to about 166 gallons consumed flying the President today.

Not included in these calculations are the presidential vehicles that took him the short distance from the landing zone in Newton to the event site at the Trinity Structural Towers Manufacturing Plant.

In his speech there, President Obama called for a "new era of energy exploration in America."

At a plant that manufactures the towers for wind turbines, he urged Americans to support his plan for promoting expanded use of alternative and renewable fuels.

And he announced that for the first time, the Interior Department would be leasing federal waters for projects to generate electricity from wind and ocean currents.

President Obama could have saved at least 9,116 gallons of fuel by giving his speech at the White House - but no wind turbines are manufactured here.

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Earth Day Turns 40: A look at its History

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(CBS)

Mark Knoller is a CBS News White House correspondent. You can read more of his posts in Hotsheet here.

[mickrussom]

If you support Obama and his Regime, you support a Statist authoritarian who is an empty suit who speaks in platitudes who is beholden to the oligarchical collectivists and banking cabals. You are against freedom, liberty and our constitutional republic and the notion that all of our rights are inborn and are given by our creator. Some autocrat in Washington does not grant rights ? the constitution simply enumerates them for added protection. The constitution also limits the Powers of the Federal Government yet an expansionist authoritarian view is used in modern times contrary to what Madison had intended. If you support Obama you support the biggest threat to our free will in our history, and when the last bastion of freedom in the USA falls, there is nowhere else to go.

[Constitution_First]

It is not, and never has been about emissions.

Every lie since the "Coming of the New Ice Age" scandal of 1975, to the "Ozone Hole" 1985, to "Global Warming" 1990, "Global Cooling" 2002, and now "Climate Change", has always been about 1) Power 2) Money 3) Societal Control.

Eliminating the entire world population will eliminate .028% of CO2 and 5% water vapor (the driving greenhouse gas) So lets all jump off the economic cliff for.... wait for it... nothing at all! yeah!

You've got to love the nebulous "Climate Change". It is deliberately ambiguous because their lies fit so poorly, they don't even know what to call it anymore, so they have to come up with an umbrella term so large that ANYTHING could fit under it, including earthquakes, depression & hemorrhoids! LOL


Open your eyes Sheeple! stop listening to environmental - mental cases. All they want is your money, and to power to control your lives.

It is the na?vety of mankind that will kill us.

[SpecialPeople]

Why is there a HUGE, overwhelming amount of evidence to support it? Sounds like to me the only person who is a "sheeple" is YOU. Read a book, read a article from a periodical...or is that beyond the scope of your intelligence?

[jmatt55]

>>> President Obama could have saved at least 9,116 gallons of fuel by giving his speech at the White House - but no wind turbines are manufactured here.

So, see, its only important that *other* people find ways to conserve energy. Dear Leader's energy use is wholly justified. Yours is not.

[Buckrol]

They should change Earth Day to Carbon Emissions Day to celebrate all the Global Warming spazzes flying around in their private jets.

Check out this hilarious "Global Disastrification" parody: http://www.funnyconservatives.com/?p=89

[art41ad]

The thing that is overlooked here is the UNTOLD cost of the President's flying in AF ONE. On the flight to Des Moines today, not only did AF ONE go, but there were at least TWO other...either C-5s or C-17s...aircraft which accompanied him. Why? The Air Force aircraft carry one or sometimes two, for backup, Marine ONE helicopters which were noted in the article. Then, his limo and possibly a backup are flown in the AF planes. But this is not all that has to go. The Secret Service and their vehicles are flown inside the AF cargo planes. So, as can be seen, the cost mentioned in the article is just the tip of the iceberg. Now, tomorrow he is flying to New York City with Joe Biden flying his Air Force Two B-757. Accompanying these two planes with be several Air Force cargo planes hauling helos and limos plus MORE Secret Service and equipment. One would think that with the economy in such bad shape and with the country so far in debt, that the President would spend more time at his desk working on the country's myriad problems.

[nostudme]

Hypocritical bastards. Scoundrels. Remember November, before it's too late.

[rccpepper]

LIBERAL HYPOCRISY to go along with the LIBERAL VITRIOL AND HATE toward the real Americans

[BarbaFry]

This is the only President that people seem to worry about how often he uses Airforce One and Marine One. How do you expect him to travel? Do you want him to use a Greyhound bus or do you want him to use Amtrack? Or do you prefer he walk to cach of his destinations? I just don't understand the hatred and anamosity against this man.

[hrtuvau]

Why does he need to travel at all to deliver a message? I'm sure his main-stream media buddies would let him preempt all their programming to deliver the message. At least that way he wasn't burning fuel. The best way he could have contributed was to keep his mouth shut - he's letting out too much hot air every time he opens it.

[marmadoon]

He should travel safely. But the administration must think of more economical and ecologically friendly ways of accomplishing safe transport. I am not a travel or security expert, but I can think of numerous ways the travel can be more efficient. Why does he need to fly the 747 to NYC. Marine One can fly there in less than an hour and land rich at the Wall Street heliport.The press can get there by commercial aircraft. Someone can drive the Secret Service vehicles up to NYC in 3 - 4 hours. I suppose they just don't care. Unfortunately we are seeing a lot of arrogance from this administration. I hope we see some change.

[benjamindover]

Impeach Obama!!

[jackanory123]

screw earth day what about MY DAY!!!