Comments on: Dems Reach Deal On Fuel Economy Rules

First Increase In Fuel Efficiency In 32 Years Would Require 35 Miles Per Gallon By 2020

[j-whitman]

MichaelT302,,,,, Tie a wind generator to your backside, you can power the state of Texas

[michaelt302]

A roundup of Gallup health polls over the past four years finds that Republicans are far more likely than Democrats to report having excellent mental health.
The survey found that 58 percent of Republicans polled reported having excellent mental health. Only 38 percent of Democrats and 43 percent of Independents reported the same.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/102943/Republicans-Report-Much-Better-Mental-Health-Than-Others.aspx
The study concluded it was unclear why there was such a strong correlation, but the relationship between party affiliation and mental health was virtually constant even within categories of income, age, gender and other factors.
"The reason the relationship exists between being a Republican and more positive mental health is unknown, and one cannot say whether something about being a Republican causes a person to be more mentally healthy or whether something about being mentally healthy causes a person to choose to become a Republican," the study said.
The study speculated that the fact that Republicans have on average higher incomes than members of others parties could play a factor. But in the study, even Republicans making less than $50,000 a year reported having excellent health far more than Democrats earning the same.
The study was based on interviews with 4,014 American adults who were at least 18 years old, conducted from November 2004 through 2007. The margin of error was 2 percent. (we''ve all known that Liberalism is a Mental Disorder for years now)

[geezer62]

speakinup.....
Usually I disagree with you but your last post is very right on. Just goes to show that there are always issues we can agree on no mater what our politics are. They have known for years about extracting oil from shale but the excuse was always that it was to expensive. If your numbers are correct they have been lying their azzes off. Maybe the thinking was that as long as they could basically steal oil from the arabs they could sit on our supply here until the arabs wised up. And did they factor in China and India as becoming large consumers. Whatever the reason, we must find a way to free ourselves from foreign oil and we must do it soon. Hang in there and keep posting.

[geezer62]

RowdyTexan2
In the late 70''s I lived in L.A. and I vividly remember the gas lines and the odd/even system. I thought that people would get the idea and start demanding better fuel efficiency. Boy, was I wrong. After making a laughing stock out of Carter because of his pleas for conservation of oil along came Regan and here came the guzzlers. It has gone downhill since then. We can develop super computers, working space craft, and all sorts of electronic devices but we can''t develop an efficient engine. Doesn''t make sense does it? Generally speaking I think people are so easily led by Madison Avenue that if they told us that Sherman tanks were "cool" everyone would have to have one. Look at the Hummer demand. Until we get our heads out of our azzes and start to think nothing will change. It''s all smoke and mirrors brought to you by big oil and the current administration.

[speakinup]

The single best thing that would give our economy a huge boost would be getting gasoline down to 70 cents a gallon again. And it can be done with insitu mining of shale oil.

What''s more - that prospect scares the hell out of hugo chavez!

Shale oil can be mined insitu: (A) Put a frozen ring around the area you want to mine using drilling rigs. (B) Heat the Shale to 750 degrees - extract gas and oil until it no longer flows -unlike with liquid oil this means you have the VAST majority if it. (C) let rock cool - as it does it traps the remaining oil and gas. (D) stop freezing around target shale.

This yields a three and 1/2 to one energy output. WE HAVE APPROXIMATELY THREE TIMES THE AMOUNT OF SHALE OIL THAT SAUDI ARABIA HAS IN LIQUID OIL. IT CAN BE PRODUCED AT $30 A BARREL. With over 1,500 barrels for a plot of land 20 X 35 feet!!!

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/news_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_86_4051709,00.html

And Shale oil is in the middle of NO WHERE in NE UTAH and SW Wyoming.

http://ostseis.anl.gov/guide/maps/index.cfm

Ask your Representative WHY we haven''t been doing it!
http://www.house.gov/writerep/

[blancadebree]

How will increasing fuel economy do anything about the price of oil? That''s like saying reducing your caloric intake will decrease weight, or exercise builds muscle, or dropping a ball will cause it to fall to the ground. Geez, these Democrats with all their crazy thinking and voodoo science!

http://blancadebree.blogspot.com

[cyberus-2009]

Ever notice that all these *green* deals are set 12-25 year in the future?
In the meantime all the bigwigs will be chauffeured about town in their gas guzzling limos.
And another thing .. whats with this *industry wide average* BS?
Create a 75mpg tonka toy that nobody will buy and SELL a million 15mpg SUVs does NOT in my book help matters.
What we really need with the mpg standards is a MPG MINIMUM, 35mpg average is a good *target industry average* number IMHO, as long as the minimum for all cars and light (non-commercial) trucks is 20mpg.

[pepperp1]

35 that is an underperforming target it should be 60 easily.

[neobrian-2009]

BIG OIL & GOP ,Partners in Crime!
Friends don`t let friends vote republicon !

[kevboom]

Sadly this bill doesn''t go far enough. Sadder yet, the Republicans will see to it the bill never passes. With record warmth and unending drought in the south that could make Katrina look like a FEMA internship, one would think politicians could stop selling out the people to energy lobbies for five minutes. It''s insulting that Republicans would trash a bill promoting the smallest of renewable energy. As if our national energy policy needs more reliance on oil, foreign or domestic, or coal (the energy so nice it pollutes us twice, mined and burned). Even ethanol is a weak alternative, inefficient and costly to produce, compared to sugar cane which Brazil has used to ween itself from oil. Every energy policy made in this country has a tie-in to some lobbyist greasing the pocket of a politician (the latest, big corn). As for the $16 billion in tax breaks for oil, raking in record profits off the backs of Americans, would it be too much for Congress to require these companies document how they''re really spending this extra income on developing renewable energy sources? I know we don''t require any accountability for Bush''s famous no-bid contractors in Iraq, just for all the overworked and underpaid teachers through NCLB. There''s a bill you''ll never see in Congress, "No Corporate Handout Left Uninvested in the People." I think the Nash equilibrium is playing out in Congress--politicians acting in their own self interest and not that of the people or globe. Big surprise.

[rowdytexan2]

I drove a VW Beetle for years because I commuted 100 miles round trip to work. They were wonderful little cars, easily maintained. I don''t know where we got the idea that we have to have huge vehicles that guzzle gas.

I had plenty of room for my two kids and even the dog, and we even managed to go on camping trips in that car. You just have to plan well. And even when they became teenagers and we were taking everybody''s kids with us, we graduated to an MPV that got great mileage.

We need to get the idea out of our heads that vehicles are some kind of status symbol and are simply a means to get us from one place to another. Buying a supercab eight cylinder truck is ludicrous when you''re living in the city.

Frankly, I think they should outlaw gasoline engines in the city and make every body drive golf carts. The freeways are so congested you can''t drive over 30 MPH anyway. And if everybody couldn''t drive so fast among hundreds of cars, you wouldn''t need to drive a tank in defense.

If you''re not working a farm, you don''t need more than a small pick up truck to haul things anyway.

We''re going to have to get cheap and tough if our dollar is going to mean anything again.

[ontheleft]

"But Pelosi has said its aim is to turn away from fossil fuels toward development of renewable fuels and place greater emphasis on spurring energy efficiency and conservation."

Pelosi hit the nail right on the head. That is what we need to do. Oil will not be powering us in 100 years. By then the Middle East will go back to being the sand pit it was before oil was discovered and we''ll no longer have to sacrifice lives and trillions of dollars staking out territory there.

[mtracy9]

You get what you vote for. Keep electing moron Republicans to office and you will keep getting an energy policy that is beholden to big oil and big coal.

[danstoned]

standlee5, I bought a new 2000 Ford V-8 pickup that got 8mpg in town, 15 mpg highway. I was shocked that mfgs didnt take the social responsibility in year 2000 to produce 25 mpg pickups. The mid 70''s Arab Embargo made the need to change our disgusting energy habits so clear to see. Then Ronald Reagan was elected president, and Big Oil took control of US energy policy. I have a flat in Ukraine mostly because their public transportation is cheap, and efficient, no car needed in the cities anyway, same as New York City. Then the 1994 GOP Congress eliminated all fuel economy standards, mfg. social responsibility was overlooked, thus the hugely profitable SUV. How sick is that for an energy policy since 1981?

[standlee5]

Long overdo we should have cars getting double that. You have to wonder what the whole SUV 5MPG thing was really all about. We had gas guzzlers shoved down our throats and nobody stood up for the people.