Today new standards were set for fuel economy along with forthcoming national emissions standards for new vehicles by 2016. The target for a manufacturer fleet average is 35.5 mpg. Passenger vehicles are expected to reach 39mpg while trucks are set at around 30mpg. By 2016…? Did you see the date? 2016… Six years from now. My first question is… Why Wait? Why color this green appeasement with anything that even resembles a promise for the future? It is obvious we have the technology to build these cars now. To be clear, I am purposefully excluding hybrids in the mix of current technology and mpg possibilities. Hybrids are still very new technology. The effects on the environment have not been measured correctly and they have not been around long enough to show any real figures on dependability.
That leaves only combustion engine vehicles for review of mpg possibilities. We’ve been building 40+ mpg cars for some time. The 1991 Honda Civic CRX got and average of 45mpg and it was fun, quick and dependable. Early Saturns were hitting the high 30s. Nissan and Toyota were already hitting this mark in the early to mid ’90s. Even “performance” cars are capable of hitting the upper 20s to low 30s with six and eight cylinder engines. The hold up is not the combustion engine technology. The timetable is there to allow time to “soft sell” Americans into further believing that we will all die of sun poisoning unless we park our butts inside these vehicles the auto manufacturers will be forced to build.
Make no mistake (beyond the one that was made in November of 2008). This has nothing to do with foreign oil dependency. This has everything to do with just oil, period. If it was about foreign oil dependency, we would be drilling within our own borders. We would be building new refineries. Instead, we are setting in motion a pipe dream of “green energy” job creation which can’t even begin until there is an infrastructure of businesses with the capacity to sustain itself. Where are these “green” businesses? If they are so keen on expanding their product (and workforce to produce it) why are we still bleeding out jobs? Why haven’t they stepped up and brought these newly jobless in? The answer is simple. The jobs aren’t there because the “green” energy product does not have the resource to expand at the rate needed to counter current unemployment. Any jobs created in the “green” sector will not be created by simply saying so. In the mean time, we need fuel now. And as long as we need fuel now, we will continue to get it from where it is available. The promise of “green” energy jobs does two things. It appeases the “climate change” crowd by promising renewable energy (deliverable or not. The promise is all that is required) and, most importantly, by not allowing drilling within our borders. The latter is the key. Green agenda nuts are unconcerned with the economy, the free market, the sustainable growth of the United States or anything that obstructs their view of setting standards attempting to force us all into their narrow view of what human life should be.
Take the blinders off. Take a peek under the curtain. You are being lied to. A recent Administration memo so much as said so. CO2 memo
President Obama says these new cars will save “billions” of barrels of oil and cost Americans about $1,300 more per vehicle by 2016. Where do these figures come from? What is the baseline for making these predictions? He also makes the claim the fuel costs savings by having higher mpg vehicles will return that $1300 back to the consumer over time. Again, how does he know what fuel will cost in 2016? How does he even know these “new” vehicles will only cost an additional $1300? Even so, is that $1300 more than a current Ford Fusion or a Chevrolet Aveo? Until the baseline numbers these “predictions” are based on are made public and verifiable, these are just empty words from a President who has become famous for promising everything with no real consequence in offering nothing.
He is counting on you not to peek under the curtain. He is counting on you to simply nod your head and go back to watching “American Idol”. He is counting on you to not question and not look beyond the presentation. He isn’t lieing. He isn’t telling the truth. He is simply saying nothing at all.