CAFE Standards And Other Assorted Energy Stuff

An agreement among Congressional Democrats has paved the way for an increase in the CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) Standards of 40 percent to 35 miles per gallon by 2020. As a person working in the auto industry, I have always been a firm believer in letting the market dictate what kind of vehicles the consumer buys. But I am going to shock everyone by actually supporting this increase. Here are my reasons why:

1. The United States needs to decrease its' dependence on foreign oil, and this will save over a million barrels a day.
2. A million barrels a day at $96 a barrel equals $3.5 billion a year of our cash that we don't put into the pockets of Hugo Chavez, Armagedonijihad et al.
3. There is enough time for our auto companies to work out the technology to accomplish this feat. In fact, with the fuel cell and advanced dual-mode hybrid technologies that General Motors is already putting into production, 40 miles per gallon is not too far away.

My problem is in a couple of other parts of this energy bill.

This bill mandates a seven-fold increase in the production of ethanol for use as a motor fuel. Are they nuts? We currently subsidize ethanol to the tune of $1.45 per gallon. With the new requirement to produce 36 billion gallons of ethanol a year by 2022, subsidies would amount to almost $54 billion of our tax dollars. We are already seeing an increase in the price of corn and meat (corn is a staple in most animal feed). With the increased farm land that would have to be dedicated to corn production, we will also see an increase in just about every farm product.

Another part of this legislation that sticks in my craw is the requirement for non-public electric utilities to produce at least 15 percent of their power from renewable energy sources like wind and solar power. I can understand the desire to slow down our use of coal. Even if you don't believe in global warming, spewing all that crap into the air just can't be good. But unless they consider the atom a renewable energy source, they aren't attempting to use the cleanest energy available.

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Tragedy In Utah

The rescue mission for 6 trapped coal miners was suspended indefinitely today, as 3 rescue workers were killed in a cave-in as they were trying to reach the trapped miners. They will continue to locate the miners by drilling down from the top of the mountain. So far 3 holes have been drilled to no avail. Seems there was a bit of seismic activity that caused the cave to collapse. This is known as a "mountain burp" and registered 1.6 on the Richter scale. With all the seismic activity and the unstable nature of the mine, a decision was made not to risk any more rescue workers.

Of course, the environmentalists are already spouting off about how dangerous coal mining is and we should be using alternative forms of energy instead of coal. Why does everything have to get political with these people? I understand they have their "save the planet" agenda to push, but we are talking about people who have just lost their lives and families coping with the deaths of loved ones, or the uncertainty of the fates of those still trapped. To these environmentalists, I say that if you hadn't blocked the opening of every proposed nuclear plant in the last 25 years, we would have clean nuclear power and these men wouldn't need to risk their lives mining dirty, polluting, coal. So just shut-up and let the relatives grieve in peace ... there will be plenty of time for spewing your hair-brained ideas later.

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