With the current record prices for gas.....

[OUinFLA]

I have a couple of questions.

1. When we went through a similar price increase about 20 years ago, the Federal government passed a law that set lower speed limits of 55 mph throughout the Interstate hwy system. They then stated that those states who failed to lower their speed limits to 55 would soon quit receiving federal money for highway construction.

I cant remember how many gazillion gallons of gasoline this was calculated to save. But it was irrefutable that gas usage would be decreased.

So.............why haven't I heard any rumblings of doing this again? Don't we need to save gas?

2. Why hasn't the fed gov instituted tax breaks and incentives to those companies and individuals willing to commit r&d towards energy conservation, and increased effeciency of current energy users? (Fuel cells come to mind here. As well as solar and wind power.)

I know the fed used to do this, but then let the tax breaks expire and no discussion has come about to re-instate them. Seems like there were numerous grants available for projects of this sort as well.


I suspect some of you will answer that "Big Oil" controls the politicians nowdays, and perhaps that is a possibility. But, it seems to me that soon, the masses who are not "Big Oil" are gonna be squawking rather loudly as gas approaches $4 a gallon.

Needing a new vehicle, we are looking at a Hybrid vehicle, with higher mileage being the objective. Amazingly, very few car dealers are even attempting to market the existing hybrid vehicles in our area. Our Mercury dealer has no intention of bringing one into his fleet. His excuse....we had "one" sit on our lot for most of last year and finally, the manager bought it for his daughter. Well, duh, how much was gas last year?

Also 10 years ago, the technology for Fuel Cell powered vehicles was available, and several companies have made some effort into making it work, but over the past 5 years, that interest has seemed to dwindle. The biggest obsticle being distribution of Hydrogen, however, since it's a practically inexhaustable resource, and the pollution is nil, I am surprised that the "greenies" and the pipeline companies haven't joined together to force the distribution issue.

Could it all be a political play by "Big Oil" to get the gov to relax their ban on building new refineries? That is where I hear all the pundants laying the blame for today's higher prices.

Im just perplexed that we are just appearing to "sit here and take it" and pay whatever it costs for this supposed "shortage" of gas.



Anyone have other thoughts?

[Harry Beanbag]

More domestic drilling, more refineries. Other than that I don't know.

[usmc-sooner]

we pay too much for insurance, drugs, education etc... nobody ever talks about putting a limit on how much these industries can make. High gas prices might actually make the world a better place when we finally drop kick the Mid East.

[olevetonahill]

Aint you been payin attention ?
Its all the Kennedies Fault
Dam Libs .:mad: :D

[Harry Beanbag]

From what I understand, oil companies are working off around an 8% profite margin, which isn't extreme in the least. The company I work for is at 38%...

[oumartin]

yeah, more refineries. good luck with that with the dems in control!

[RUSH LIMBAUGH is my clone!]

The higher the prices go, the more people will voluntarily constrain themselves when it comes to gasoline and petro-fuels usage...duh!
I believe politicians are FAR fom being open to easing restrictions on domestic drilling and increased refineries.

[olevetonahill]

I gota a special On 12 volt pumps and Hose . 399 .00 plus+ shipping :cool:

[Jerk]

The world moves faster than 55mph..

Hillary Clinton floated the idea around of a 55mph speed limit sometime last year during a speech. I don't think it was very popular because I haven't heard her bring it up again.

The biggest issue right now is refinaries. We have something like 30 of them and that number has not changed in 20 or 30 years. We're using many more times fuel today than back then.

[Okla-homey]

I have an idea on how to fix it. It doesn't stand a snowball's chance in El Paso, but it might work.

Pass a federal law fixing the minimum price retailers can sell gas indexed to the fuel economy of the vehicle. Every vehicle would need a certificate, kinda like they did during WWII gas rationing.

That certificate would state the mileage that vehicle averages. Gas guzzlers would be class "A." Models that got better than say, 20 mpg city, would be "B." Really efficient vehicles that got better than 30 mpg city would be "C"

Now, here's how it works. The retailers would have to charge at least $7.00 per gallon when selling to class "A" vehicles, $4.00 to "B's" and $2.00 to "C's".

Thus, people would be forced to bail on inefficent vehicles or pay more at the pump, the vehicle manufacturers would be motivated to build more efficient cars, and consumers would be big-time incentivized to buy more efficient cars. In the meantime, demand would drop, thus helping solve US dependence on foreign oil AND help clean up the environment.

Again, it would never pass. But I bet it would work.

[Tiptonsooner]

Homey, that would put an undue burden on the woking man Most blue collar workers work out of their pick up, also every thing you consume was brought to you on one of those 7.00 vehicles. The price of everything would get jacked up.

[Okla-homey]

Homey, that would put an undue burden on the woking man Most blue collar workers work out of their pick up, also every thing you consume was brought to you on one of those 7.00 vehicles. The price of everything would get jacked up.

they could switch to diesel. This is on gasoline only.

[Scott D]

Actually various states have floated the idea of going back to a 55 MPH speed limit on the freeways/highways for the past few years. I'm really curious on where the profits go in most regards, because the individual gas station owners aren't seeing any of it.

I can think of at least two in my general area that are basically convenience stores now because they refuse to sell gas while these prices continue to creep toward $4/gal for the "cheap" stuff.

[Hatfield]

the other issue with the refineries is that they are all getting old (30/40/50) years old....and there is zero motivation to really make sure they are kept up because if one goes down even for a day or 2 that simply increases profit.

[ultimatesooner1]

we pay too much for insurance, drugs, education etc... nobody ever talks about putting a limit on how much these industries can make. High gas prices might actually make the world a better place when we finally drop kick the Mid East.

insurance is regulated by every state and the states will make companies lower their rates if they are making too much profit. Most of our insurance costs are due to the high costs of healt care which are not regulated

[Petro-Sooner]

:texan:

[IronSooner]

Also 10 years ago, the technology for Fuel Cell powered vehicles was available, and several companies have made some effort into making it work, but over the past 5 years, that interest has seemed to dwindle. The biggest obsticle being distribution of Hydrogen, however, since it's a practically inexhaustable resource, and the pollution is nil, I am surprised that the "greenies" and the pipeline companies haven't joined together to force the distribution issue.


An engineering prof from Wisconsin came to talk last year about fuel cells. He basically said they're a great idea for everything but cars, owing to weight and size constraints. Nobody cares if a fuel cell sitting next to a building weighs 800lbs. It's kind of a big deal in a car. I've never heard anything about using them to cut down on industrial gas usage, but it would make sense to use your various resources according to the requirements they must meet. Cutting down on oil/gas usage in other areas frees up some for automotive until they get that all sorted out.

Another major problem with hydrogen is transporting/storing it. Right now you can store oil in large underground steel containers at the gas station. Hydrogen tends to embrittle steel, making cracking and leaking likely. There's research at Illinois into this. Since I'm not doing it though, that's about all I know of the materials-related problem. (i.e. don't ask me why they can't use plastic)

[soonerinabilene]

I know the Texas Leg. is trying to pass a bill to remove the state tax from the cost of gas for the summer, which would cut $.20 off a gallon. That is the only thing I have heard about them doing anything to reduce the cost of gas NOW instead of 5 years down the road.

[mdklatt]

I know the Texas Leg. is trying to pass a bill to remove the state tax from the cost of gas for the summer, which would cut $.20 off a gallon.

How are they going to make up the revenue difference? Or are they just going to cut costs?

Here's some more money in your pocket in the short term, but we're going have to kill a bunch of highway projects, so expect more congestion and fuel consumption in the long term.

And won't decreasing the cost increase demand? Then you're back right where you started.

The only long-term solution to higher oil costs is less oil consumption.

[mxATVracer10]

Just came across this article and figured it fits the discussion to some extent...

http://www.kotv.com/news/topstory/?id=127586


Federal Grants Helping With Cost Of Rising Gas Prices
KOTV - 5/17/2007 8:03 PM - Updated 5/17/2007 10:59 PM
The price of a gallon of regular unleaded gas jumped ten cents from $3.09 to $3.19 Thursday. This pain at the pump is forcing many cities and towns to take a look at ways to save money on fuel. News On 6 anchor Craig Day reports a federal program is helping some towns in Green Country save taxpayer money.

"Right now this is showing about, I don't know 35 or 40 miles per gallon at 35 miles an hour, but as I let off the gas and I coast, it runs way up over 50," said City of Collinsville employee Bob Wolfram.

When it all averages out, the car, a Honda hybrid, gets about 45 miles per gallon. That's nearly three times better than the old vehicle replaced by this one. Wolfram says that makes a big difference.

"I think smaller towns especially, as a percent of budget, cost of fuel has really hurt us over the past two or three years, like it has hurt the individual consumer," he said.

Collinsville uses the car mostly during code enforcement and inspections. Half the money to buy the vehicle, about $10,000, came from a Clean Air grant administered through the Indian Nations Council of Governments. The other half came from the city. INCOG has used the grant to also get hybrid cars and natural gas vehicles for Tulsa, Tulsa County, Sand Springs and Sapulpa.

Wolfram predicts with the high price of gas, many cities and towns over time will consider converting their fleets to hybrid vehicles.

"These things make a lot more sense at $3.00 gasoline than they did at $1.50 a gallon,” said Wolfram. “Again, I think cities will convert for fuel savings."

Is a hybrid right for you? Some hybrid's actually get better mileage during in-town driving rather than on the highway, which is opposite of most cars.

Collinsville says their hybrid is great for their situation. It does very well during stop-and-go traffic situations, but they also say they get great gas mileage for out of town trips. The best advice is to do a lot of research to see if it works for you.

[Frozen Sooner]

we pay too much for insurance, drugs, education etc... nobody ever talks about putting a limit on how much these industries can make. High gas prices might actually make the world a better place when we finally drop kick the Mid East.

The insurance industry is highly regulated in the prices they can charge. As it happens, most of the work of the insurance commission in each state is ensuring that insurers actually charge a high enough premium to remain solvent.

[OUinFLA]

The insurance industry is highly regulated in the prices they can charge. As it happens, most of the work of the insurance commission in each state is ensuring that insurers actually charge a high enough premium to remain solvent.

They're quite successful at doing their job down here in Florida.

[royalfan5]

I have an idea on how to fix it. It doesn't stand a snowball's chance in El Paso, but it might work.

Pass a federal law fixing the minimum price retailers can sell gas indexed to the fuel economy of the vehicle. Every vehicle would need a certificate, kinda like they did during WWII gas rationing.

That certificate would state the mileage that vehicle averages. Gas guzzlers would be class "A." Models that got better than say, 20 mpg city, would be "B." Really efficient vehicles that got better than 30 mpg city would be "C"

Now, here's how it works. The retailers would have to charge at least $7.00 per gallon when selling to class "A" vehicles, $4.00 to "B's" and $2.00 to "C's".

Thus, people would be forced to bail on inefficent vehicles or pay more at the pump, the vehicle manufacturers would be motivated to build more efficient cars, and consumers would be big-time incentivized to buy more efficient cars. In the meantime, demand would drop, thus helping solve US dependence on foreign oil AND help clean up the environment.

Again, it would never pass. But I bet it would work.
Two words on that proposal: Black Market.

[Frozen Sooner]

They're quite successful at doing their job down here in Florida.
Really? That's why nobody wants to insure down there anymore?