Richard WarnickCongressmen Should Use Hot Air to Inflate Their Tires
On Capitol Hill, GOP partisans representing Big Oil are staging political theater in support of more offshore petroleum leasing. Senator John McCain opposed offshore oil production for years but changed his position a few weeks ago in exchange for $1.1 million in campaign contributions. Never mind that market speculation and the Bush administration’s threats to attack Iran are the main reasons for high oil prices.
The McCain campaign is now mocking Senator Barack Obama for saying exactly what McCain himself, the Department of Energy, the auto industry and even NASCAR have been saying for years. Offshore drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf, combined with drilling on the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge, would yield a savings of 6 cents a gallon two decades from now, at the cost of polluting pristine areas. By contrast, car maintenance can save 12 cents a gallon immediately.
But everybody does scheduled tune-ups and maintains proper tire pressure on their cars already, right? No, not everybody. In fact, it turns out that members of Congress and their staffs seem even less aware of tire pressure than the rest of us. Via Think Progress:
Last week, the Auto Alliance and the National Auto Dealers Association sponsored tire pressure checks for members of Congress and their staff who park in the Rayburn Office Building. Surprisingly, we found that most drivers had tires between 5 and 7 pounds under inflated — some had tires under-inflated by as much as 20 pounds. This significantly reduced their vehicle’s fuel economy.
• Experts estimate that 25% of automobiles are running on tires with lower than recommended pressure, because people don’t know how to check their tires or don’t realize that tires naturally lose air over time.
• The Department of Energy estimates that 1.2 billion gallons of fuel were wasted in 2005 as a result of driving on under-inflated tires.
• Fuel efficiency is reduced by 1% for every 3 PSI that tires are under-inflated.
• Proper tire inflation can save the equivalent of about 1 tank of gas per year.
• Proper tire inflation also reduces CO2 emissions.
Maybe they ought to take those McCain tire gauges and use them!
August 5th, 2008 at 4:45 pm
Pressure gages, Brittany and that Hilton girl, sure have me sold on the puglican agenda! Drill, Kill, and shill. Gotta love it.
August 6th, 2008 at 2:21 am
This is it! At the last minute, Americans will change their vote to McCain because of Obama’s tire inflation policy, defying the exit polls again. Seems plausible!
August 6th, 2008 at 8:06 am
Jimmy Carter may have been the highest IQ president ever. But whenever he talked about energy policy, the Republicans would ridicule his proposals by trivializing and seizing on symbolic stuff like sweaters. It worked, too. Most Americans aren’t smart, and making fun of smart people is usually good politics.
Obama has to close the deal. Do we want a smart president who actually knows stuff about the issues, or a repeat of Bush? McCain is only offering slogans on energy policy.
This morning, McCain was on CNN challenging Obama to call Congress back to Washington for a “drill here, drill now” special session, something Presdient Bush has refused to do. McCain has missed more votes than any other senator– he should be the last one to criticize.
August 6th, 2008 at 9:25 am
For all his brains, he was the President that believed in the viability of synfuels and extraction of oil from shale. Put a mask on him, and have him suggest it democrats today.
At least he had a vision. Compare Carter to the Democrat party now, the no drill, no coal, no nuclear, no storage, no real plan, placing their future in technologies that sound good, are good, but cannot provide the measure of the energy required.
Few concepts for what to do in transition, that are yet realistic.
The Democrat party could use some of Jimmys’ brains.