As the first drops of oil from the massive BP Deepwater Horizon spill reach the fragile shores of the US Gulf Coast:
Senator Bernie Sanders has called for an end to US offshore oil drilling, combined with an energy proposal that will help us begin to break our addiction to the toxic brew.
“United States must learn a profound lesson from the BP oil catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico and make certain we protect our oceans from future disasters and transform our energy system away from fossil fuels.”
Senator Sanders’ proposal calls for increasing fuel mileage standards in US cars to 55 mpg. As a driver of a 7 year old Civic hybrid, I frequently get 55 mpg – even here in our lovely mountain state. So I know this is an easily achievable goal.
The improved fuel economy would translate into a savings of $1.43 per gallon of gas. Opening all of America’s coastal waters to drilling would yield such a modest boost in petroleum supplies that the price of gas would dip by only 3-cents a gallon.
“Is 3-cents-a-gallon in the year 2030 worth the potential risk of another disaster like this?” Sanders asked. “I don’t think it is.”
When reading the press release today, after having seen the latest news on the Oil-Spewing Volcano of Doom(TM) in the Gulf of Mexico, it struck me that if the “CAFE” (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) standards hadn’t been weakened by our former oil-company-tied Presidents, we’d probably be past that level by now. It made my heart sink to think how much we’ve lost – in terms of global climate change, soldiers in oil wars, and now much of the life in the Gulf.
I am bemused when people complain that it will cost more to produce cars that get better mileage. But they always stop analyzing cost at the edge of the dealership’s parking lot. That thinking misses so many of the costs that we pay in other ways by wasting gas in unnecessarily wasteful cars.
For example:
- As the price of gas increases, a car that uses less gas becomes less expensive every day relative to a car that gets average mileage (a 50 mpg car costs half as much to drive as a 25 mpg car).
- As our weather becomes less predictable, and insects (ticks, anyone?) that didn’t used to be an issue in one place or another find new homes in our warmer world, we face increased costs of associated diseases (mmmm, lyme disease) and crop destruction (who doesn’t like blue-stained pine?).
- As we watch an entire critical ecosystem be destroyed by risky exploration for more difficult to “harvest” oil, we face disruptions to the food chain for a large swath of the Gulf and Atlantic seacoasts.
- And finally, there is arguably the most painful and expensive cost of all: the cost of sending our kids to die in the Middle East to keep the gas pumps running.
Pushing manufacturers to cut all those costs is a good thing. It’s clear from their behavior in the lax regulatory days of prior administrations that they are disinclined to do the right thing out of the goodness of their own hearts. Coming up with new designs, doing serious R&D, and retooling assembly lines eats into profits (a little), though that’s recouped with the “more expensive car” thing later (and the added expense is then recouped by the consumer in terms of less money flowing out of wallets at the gas pump, coupled with reductions in the “hidden” costs listed above).
Yes, improving mileage will increase the cost of a car, but then we are more than willing to pay extra for iPod adapters and heated seats, so why not pay a little extra to keep our children safe from the clutches of war, keep our planet “human friendly,” and keep the base of our ecosystem from being slimed with the toxic salad dressing from hell?
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“…the cost of sending our kids to die in the Middle East to keep the gas pumps running.”
Good men and women died because they took an oath and kept their word. You demean the sacrifice and suffering of these fallen men and women when you attempt to portray them as children, dupes or weak minded victims. They gave everything they were and everything they might have been for their nation and their comrades, but now they must endure the indignity of you perching on their bones picking them clean for morsels to bolster your particular opinion? It is a loathesome act for you or anyone else to prostitute their deaths, the suffering of their families, and the grief of their comrades to advance some personal agenda.
Honda civic… 1.5L engine..AC..5 speed room for 4 with a hatchback… able to pass most volkswagon…cost around 9 grand…. comfortable but no lincoln….sticker on the window says 45 and 56 MPG city and highway… no electric battery to recycle or replace, nothing but a VTEC-E engine. Car was brand new in 1994. Technology that was available here for two or three years, no one wanted it so it went away.
I was in Bermuda last month and it became very clear as to why Detroit has died a slow death at the hand of the american consumer and insurance companies. Largest car I saw was a chevy cobalt. Largest vehicle for regualr transportation was a chevy astro. Gas is around 8 bucks a gallon. Cars are lighter and more efficient. No extra bumpers to protect the insurance company from the 10 mile an hour bumper pay out… simple efficient transportation. Cars you cant even get here. Companies that I did not know existed. Pretty cool stuff. Toyotas that you would not be able to identify…
We had the potential for 55 mpg before and turned it away in favor of the hummer and luxury…
I got a new civic this year. after 330000 miles the old one just rusted away… still got 60MPG on a trip to Albany one week before the trip to the junk yard… best I can do with the new one is 40…
Until we have the freedom to buy what the world market has to offer, and we become aware that driving in a car wrapped in foam isnt really that much more safe… We will continue to use more gas than in any way necessary.
Bernie is on the right track…
So blithely opened in the Industrial Revolution; so impossible to close.
We’ve spun a whole mythology of unlimited growth, patriotism and political colonialism around a fundamentally crude fire-starter. Now we simply can’t imagine living without it. What an achievement.
I hope everyone reading your post watches the video you embedded. It is heart breaking to see what is happening in Louisiana.
The AP Photographer’s narration of his photography is incredible. I especially appreciated his comparison between the macro and micro of the scene of the oil rig exploding and what the gulf coast looks like from the air to the faces of Louisiana’s fishermen put out of work and the destruction of Louisiana’s critical wildlife habitats.
Thank you for this incredible post. You have really brought home the necessity of protecting our environment, our livelihoods, and our children rather than corporate interests and CEO salaries.
It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small ‘inside’ group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes.”
From the summary of War Is a Racket by U.S. Marine Major General Smedley Darlington Butler aka Old Gimlet Eyes