[Carfreeliving] Car lighter....

[Bert Hill]

How was it enforced in the 70's - didn't it go by license plate digit or
number?
----------------------------------------------------
 
This is where the faded memories of Baby Boomers come in...
License plates were one scheme in certain localities.  Most areas limited
fuel filling to 5 gallons at a time; people waited long hours in gas lines,
carpooled, didn't drive, kept jerry cans in their trunks & garages,
installed illegal underground tanks, and siphoned each other's gas tanks.
The national freeway speed limit was set at 55 MPH, and all speed limits
were rigidly enforced, under threat of losing federal highway funds.  Nixon
and Congress played with price controls.  Unfortunately, the rapidity of the
shortage was such a shock that everyone suffered, even city dwellers,
non-drivers and conservationists.  There was no system of equity for the
victims of the secondary effects of high fuel prices, and the nation faced
inflation and recession at the same time.  A number of elderly and poor died
because they couldn't afford to heat their homes or wait in line for heating
fuels in the Northeast.  Wood became a valuable commodity, and there was an
increase in carbon monoxide (and air inversion) deaths. For the next ten
years, compact cars were the best sellers, and Toyota & Honda became major
companies in the U.S.
 
We can only hope the memories of the fuel embargo are latent but recoverable
in the minds of enough people that we are moved more towards sensible
conservation, technological alternatives (sustainable energy), and equity;
and not repeat the actioons that led to WWII with global resource
imperialism in a short term effort to mollify the panicked masses.
 
For those who haven't read it, 'Collapse' by Jared Diamond and 'Out of Gas,
the End of the Age of Oil' by David Goodstein are instructive.
 
Bert Hill

  _____  

 
 
 

Published on Tuesday, March 29, 2005 by Reuters <http://www.reuters.com/>  

Unlikely Bedfellows Lobby Against U.S. Gas-Guzzlers 

by Chris Baltimore
 	

WASHINGTON -- A group of former national security officials on Monday took
up the cause of weaning U.S. drivers from their oil addiction -- normally
the realm of environmental groups -- and asked the Bush administration to
spend $1 billion on lighter, more fuel-efficient automobiles. 


Retail U.S. gasoline prices now averaging above $2 a gallon make U.S.
reliance on foreign suppliers like Venezuela and Saudi Arabia a looming
national security crisis, a group of 31 national security officials said in
a letter to President Bush. 


"This really constitutes a national security crisis in the making," said
letter signer Frank Gaffney, head of the Center for Security Policy, a
thinktank, and a former Defense Department official under former President
Ronald Reagan. 


Other signers included Robert McFarlane, Reagan's national security advisor,
and James Woolsey, Central Intelligence Agency director under President Bill
Clinton. 


In an uncharacteristic move, the security experts sought input from groups
like the Natural Resources Defense Council, which have long lobbied for more
fuel-efficient cars. 


"It's strange bedfellows but this is actually the real American majority,"
said Nicole St. Clair, a spokeswoman for the NRDC. "It's common sense." 


Policymakers should address rampant oil demand from gas-guzzling vehicles,
and stop trying to solve the problem by opening land like the Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge to drilling, she said. 


The letter urged the government to encourage car makers to design vehicles
from lighter materials to improve mileage. It also endorsed the use of "plug
power" -- hybrid vehicles that can run off internal batteries for short
trips before switching to their internal-combustion engines. 


The program would cost $1 billion over five years. 


Regulations known as Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards require
automakers to achieve an average fuel economy of 27.5 miles per gallon for
all passenger cars sold, and 20.7 mpg for vans, sport utility vehicles and
pick-up trucks. The standards have not been tightened for more than a dozen
years due to opposition from Detroit. 


The average fuel economy has steadily dropped since 1988. It was 20.8 mpg
for all 2003 model vehicles, according to the Environmental Protection
Agency's annual mileage report. 


McFarlane told the White House that stricter mileage standards could help
cut U.S. crude oil imports in half. 


The group's recommendations gave short shrift to hydrogen-powered vehicles,
a Bush administration priority, because they will take decades to field. 


U.S. drivers should not depend on foreign suppliers like Saudi Arabia for
security reasons, they said. Although Saudi officials say the kingdom's
oilfields are protected from terror attacks, McFarlane said the oil
installations are "extremely vulnerable from a military point of view." 


If Saudi oil facilities are damaged, "You're not talking about $100 (per
barrel) oil. You're talking about well beyond that," McFarlane said. U.S.
crude oil prices peaked on March 17 at $57.60 a barrel. 

 

Cheryl Brinkman 
McKesson Corporation 
Sr. Product Manager 
Generic Rx 
415-983-7501 
415-732-2699 - fax 
cheryl.brinkman at mckesson.com 

 


 

 
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