sure fire way to fix the gas crisis...

[Zurvan]

[ QUOTE ]
Thomas Friedman has been advocating a national gas tax for the past few years. I think that it will end the crisis rather quickly, although admittedly would slow some growth and perhaps adversely affect certain demographics more than others.

It would certainly make soccermom think twice about buying an XtremelyEnormousExcursion or whatever they have now.

[/ QUOTE ]

For reasons why this wouldn't work, see Toronto. We have a national gas tax, a provincial gas tax, and a sales tax on top of it all. SUV's are everywhere, racing the sports cars to the next red light.

[groo]

[ QUOTE ]
quit being so dam weak-tight and start drilling in
alaska already...

[/ QUOTE ]

Though I understand and feel your frustration, you have given a moronic, reactionary response to a serious problem.

This is a problem we should have been working on in the US (I say US and ignore the rest of the world here because we use such an absurbly high percentage of the worlds petroleum based fuels) for many years, and the last President to give it more than lip service was Carter.

The Bushes are so tightley tied to the petrochem industry that they will never move on it (as shown by history). Yet we keep fighting wars, killing innocent people, and convincing our young give up their lives to further the profits of these miscreants (yeah, I know it's probably spelled wrong). Drilling more oil wells isn't going to stop any of that whether they are in Alaska or the in the middle east. The only thing that will stop it is using something besides oil for energy. Something that can be manufactured instead of coming out of the ground. If it comes out of the ground it gives the title holder to that land more power than they probably deserve and causes power struggles/wars, just like with oil.

I'm sure their are other options waiting to be found, but we had hydrogen power in use prior to World War II. Now we are being told that it isn't viable for at least another 10-15 years, though I recently read a story about some automaker rolling out a test model later this year. There are too many inconsistancies in the information currently being presented for it to be believable.

Energy is the most important commodity in the the US and around the world, (more important even than food since it is used to harvest food) and it is controlled by an incredibly small group of people. People getting richer and richer on the backs of our taxes, on the backs of the money we spend and more importantly on the lives of many people (civilians and soldiers) in war zones around the world.

What the hell, I'm getting mine, what do I care.

[AngryCola]

Define "fix."

Although it would help in the mid-term (obviously new drilling won't help in the coming months), it does nothing to solve the eventual 'real' oil/gas crisis.

Politics

[Patrick del Poker Grande]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm sure their are other options waiting to be found, but we had hydrogen power in use prior to World War II. Now we are being told that it isn't viable for at least another 10-15 years, though I recently read a story about some automaker rolling out a test model later this year. There are too many inconsistancies in the information currently being presented for it to be believable.

[/ QUOTE ]
The fact that a prototype has been built is an indication of development, not maturity of the technology. There is no inconsistency here. Hydrogen technology is not viable at the moment. Also, just because all you see coming out of the car's tailpipe (as it were) is water, doesn't mean that the only byproduct of this energy is water. The pollution is still there, it's just shifted from the tailpipe of the car to the facility that produces the fuel. It takes energy to produce the hydrogen fuel just the same as anything else.

[Patrick del Poker Grande]

[ QUOTE ]
The EPA recommended today to the governors of each state/territory to temporarily (through September 15) relax the requirements for volatility and sulpher standards in order to allow for more fuel for the country.

[/ QUOTE ]
In this vein, we would also do well for ourselves to have a set of nationwide (or at least regional, where it makes sense) standards for fuel quality and ratings instead of a hodgepodge of varying qualities of fuel from state to state.

[jakethebake]

[ QUOTE ]
In this vein, we would also do well for ourselves to have a set of nationwide standards for fuel quality and ratings instead of a hodgepodge of varying qualities of fuel from state to state.

[/ QUOTE ]

Take it to politics, n00b. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]







<font color="white">And yes, more involvement by the federal government is the best thing for any situation. </font>

[jackdaniels]

[ QUOTE ]
And yes, more involvement by the federal government is the best thing for any situation.

[/ QUOTE ]

New batteries needed for this one?

[NutzyClutz]

Although not immediate fix. lets borrow some Iraqi oil. We got an excuse now.

[threeonefour]

gas still isn't expensive. there is no crisis. just a bunch of whiners.


imho at least

[theghost]

[ QUOTE ]
gas still isn't expensive. there is no crisis. just a bunch of whiners.


imho at least

[/ QUOTE ]

It's relative to the prices we had. gas prices have doubled in 3 years, has your salary?