Bush to call for 20 percent reduction in gasoline usage

[sabra]

http://www.cnn.com/POLITICS/blogs/politicalticker/2007/01/bush-to-call-for-20-percent-reduction.html

Bush to call for 20 percent reduction in gasoline usage

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush will call for a 20 percent reduction of gasoline usage over the next 10 years in his State of the Union Address Tuesday night, a senior Administration official tells CNN.

By decreasing gasoline usage among consumers, the president will say it's in the nation's security interest increase the supply of the government's Strategic Petroleum Reserve -- the nation's oil supply that is only tapped in crises.

The president will also push for more renewable and alternative energy sources -- initiatives he has pushed previously.

CNN has also learned the president will call for a balanced budget by 2012 and advocate several measures to accomplish this including a decrease of pet projects by members of Congress.

[no_hypocrisy]

1. Is he talking about gasoline rationing as during the second

world war, with "no unnecessary traveling"?

[Warpy]

9. Probably

Whatever that man wants, it's bad for the people who live in this country.

[Megahurtz]

56. Yikes.

:scared: That makes too much sense. No doubt there's a sinister ulterior motive.

[struggle4progress]

58. I'd bet he's talking about poor people walking while the rich drive Hummers

[bdamomma]

2. bushie is going to promote other energy resources

I wish he would take his own advice and stop invading and bombing other countries to get his oil fix. What a hypocrite!!

[AndyA]

3. Bush to call for 20 percent reduction in gasoline usage

Hell, we could do that if Bush would just keep his bush at home. Grounding Air Force One, not taking all those trips around the world where he really isn't welcome, and all those vacations to Crawford, we could save a ton of fuel.

So stay home, Bush. You might work on your explanations to Congress for your actions. You'll be needing them in the coming months.

[ninkasi]

50. That's the truth!

Between his many vacations, and his fund raising trips, which I expect will start again before the 2008 elections, the country could probably reduce gasoline usage by at least 20%. I wonder how much fuel the war in Iraq is costing?

[KansDem]

4. Well, if he only cuts out his vacations to Crawford...

That should save a whole-lotta gas. I doubt AF1 is very fuel efficient...

[sinkingfeeling]

5. How about we cut the gasoline allotment for the military first? We can start in Iraq.

Then we can reduce the use of US gov't. fleet vehicles and limos by about 50%.

[INDIA]

62. Great idea!

I'm calling speaker Pelosi's office TODAY and telling her to cut gasoline supplies to the military in IRAQ!!!! We should make this a Democratic talking point! Can't you just imagine? All those gas-guzzling armored Hummers, APC's and Tanks sitting around useless!

The troops can walk instead! GREAT IDEA!

[DavidDvorkin]

6. How about more money for public transit?

I doubt his plan includes that.

[Telly Savalas]

59. Sheesh. It's hard enough to get Democrats to talk seriously about public transit.

I wasn't exactly holding my breath while reading the transcripts of his little talk.

[dipsydoodle]

7. pet projects ? don't trust him

[sinkingfeeling]

13. LOL!!

[Porcupine]

40. How about that Mission to Mars? Great Huh?

Bush is in the habit of declaring things during the SOTU that he has no intention of backing up with money. In this case it's a fuel economy program that pushes all the pain till after he's out of office

Count this in as one of them.

The GOP would be insane to run a front line candidate in '08. The presidency will come with a stable neck high in shit and a toy shovel.

[Psephos]

8. Sounds like a good idea to me, regardless of the source

But then, saying is always easier than doing.

We could achieve this in three years if driving fuel-efficient machines became stylish.

Peace.

[qwlauren35]

19. I agree...

I would love to see details. Like improved public transportation, tax incentives for hybrid cars, and high gas efficiency cars, reduced tolls for carpooling. I'd like to see major manufacturer incentives to the Big Three car companies to produce high fuel efficiency and hybrid cars, which get over 30mpg CITY, preferably 40-60MPG City. I'd also like to see major manufacturer incentives to produce high fuel efficiency buses for public transportation, and long-distance transportation, and incentives to cities and states to improve and expand public transportation.

I'd also like to see an expansion of Amtrak, if it promoted greater fuel efficiency.

Last, given the INCREDIBLE advances we've made in communication technology, I'd like to see increases in "in-home" employment opportunities.

But i sense that I'm dreaming...

[One_Life_To_Give]

35. Probably acheive it without doing anything

When gas goes back over $3 this spring, people will start to conserve fuel again.

[depakid]

10. As usual, CNN spinning for Bush

and ignoring past and present reality.

[underpants]

22. "Addicted to oil" has a WHOLE year ago

:eyes:

ABC did have an article up entitled "What happened to Bush wheat grass?"

now it says "Bush to Offer Bold Energy Plan"

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=2816080

[Javaman]

11. Won't do a bit of good.

at the rate new drivers are put on the road, a 20% reduction over ten years won't even register a blip on lowing our oil needs.

He* needs to raise MPG on new cars, tax the oil bastards, institute a real energy program and fund solar and wind power. he* needs to get off the hydrogen and ethanol bullshit wagon and fund public transit.

we are so fucked. plain and simple. action is what needs to be taken now, but all we are going to get is more of morons* "programs" that are never funded or endorsed.

I will not be listening to the dribbling idiot son* tonight. Stupid people* make my brain hurt.

[AllexxisF1]

12. Hmmm....

President asks for 20% reduction of gas.

We attack Iran.

Iran attacks Saudi Processing plants.

U.S. gets screwed with a destroyed economy and 3rd World War.



Well my Outlook Calendar is full how about you fine folks?

[RubyDuby in GA]

14. So he's going to stop flying to photo ops in Air Force I?

That alone would probably do it.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

26. Oh, don't forget his late night flight from Texas to Washington re: Schiavo

As if that was necessary!

[babydollhead]

15. does that mean ending NASCAR?

[Theduckno2]

37. There's a good idea.

I vaguely remember hearing that during WWII the Indy 500 was shortened to save on fuel/rubber.

Better yet, let's have a Daytona 500 in pedal cars.

[fNord]

72. God I hope so n/t

:party:

[Hawkeye-X]

16. Stop using gas guzzler SUV's and order the owners arrested

for using them if they don't sell it to Haliburton for destruction within the next 10 days, after Haliburton pays full value of the SUV and tell them to buy a hybrid (thus creating new US jobs) Toyota or Hondas or even Ford.

Problem solved.

[Megahurtz]

54. Haha!

I like that idea. :)

[mainegreen]

17. Same as a call for 'voluntary CO2 emissions reduction': worthless.

[tabasco]

18. More meaningless babble from the puppet of the oil industry.

Is this useless gesture supposed to make Bush, the gutless puppet of industry, look like an environmentalist?

:rofl:

[CJCRANE]

20. And tomorrow Tony Snow

will tell us that * didn't "literally" mean 20%, it was just an example or guideline.

[underpants]

21. Bush to Offer Bold Energy Plan (ABC)

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=2816080

[CJCRANE]

25. I take that back then...

However, I like the link in the middle of the article:

"Which Unfulfilled Promise Should Bush Revisit?"

[leQ]

63. i think they mean 20% of 2017 levels, not 20% of today's levels. (eom)

[ryanmuegge]

23. CAFE standards. Period. End of story.

If you were serious about that, fucker, the 2005 energy bill would have mentioned. Since it did not. You are not serious about it. Therefore, spare me the fucking political theater.

Fuck you.

[aggiesal]

41. He is serious. Not about CAFE standards but ...

He has 3 ways to lower fuel consumption.
1) The most obvious is raising the CAFE standards.
A car with a 20 MPG rating, raised to 24 MPG could accomplish this.
2) Raise the price of gas, so 20% less people can afford it.
3) Ration 20% less gas to everyone who needs it.

What do you think he'll do? I'd bet on #2.

[spinbaby]

24. Great

Are they going to increase public transporation? In Pittsburgh, they're cutting public transportation. How the &^#@! are we supposed to get anywhere?

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07023/756042-147.stm

[Toucano]

47. Damn right!

Divert all those dollars to make 12 lane highways to natural gas powered public transportation.

Eliminate the tax breaks for SUVs and give people tax breaks when they buy a transit pass or card.

There's so much room for improvement in our national policy.

EDIT:

And give employers who pay for their employees public transportation expenses tax breaks instead of those who provide a company car.

Hell, in some small towns where one factory is the main employer, the company could send a shuttle service to collect employees before the shift.

[progressivebydesign]

27. Hmmm... so what about your corporate COAL pals?

Nothing from them, Bush? Dickhead.

[Skarbrowe]

28. Carlyle Group is busy into ethanol plants.

I was researching ethanol plants, one in particular that is going up in a town I have an interest in, and who did I notice was one of the owners of said brand spanking new ethanol plant? Yep. Carlyle Group. If they can't get all the oil they can out of a torn up Middle East, they are going to take over the ethanol plants in this country. I don't know if it means anything or not, just something that jumped out at me.

Yeah, I bet NASCAR does burn up a lot of fuel. And how 'bout Monster Truck racing or whatever it's called? eh...can't take all the fun out of life. We can wait until there's a complete breakdown in the economy for that. ::sarcasm::

[underpants]

31. When did ETHANOL become such a good idea?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1579635

[Toucano]

44. When oil reached $70 a barrel.

I think that's how it was explained.

[3waygeek]

49. December 12, 2000...

ever since then, my ethanol use has increased substantially :beer:

[Moby Grape]

61. when MTBE got banned

when MTBE got banned,
the market turned to ethanol.

ethanol now is used in a lot of gas,
and spreading.

for the record, MTBE was not banned,
the Energy policy act of '05 took
away the legal protection MTBE had from lawsuits,
so everybody stopped using it.

ethanol needs special handleing,
the MTBE 'ban' is helping put
the needed ethanol infrastructure in place.

[LiberalFighter]

29. How much gas do the unemployed need?

Personally, I already save about 90%.

If I don't do any long distance driving I could probably go at least 2 months without filling up.

[NewJeffCT]

30. Didn't he say something similar last year, only to flip-flops minutes later?

His SOTU speech last year said something about being addicted to oil and calling for a reduction in the amounts we import from the Middle East...

Only minutes after the speech, his Commerce Secretary was furiously backing away from those remarks.

[truthisfreedom]

34. yep.

that's what he did.

[NewJeffCT]

36. How is that initiative going?

Last I heard on Thom Hartmann was that we're importing almost 20% more foreign oil than we did when Bush took office...

[aggiesal]

42. All previous SOTU statements on energy. Rhetoric anyone?

* 2006 State of the Union: Keeping America competitive requires affordable energy.
And here we have a serious problem: America is addicted to oil, which is often
imported from unstable parts of the world. The best way to break this addiction
is through technology.

* 2005 State of the Union: To keep our economy growing, we also need reliable
supplies of affordable, environmentally responsible energy

* 2004 State of the Union: Consumers and businesses need reliable supplies of energy
to make our economy run -- so I urge you to pass legislation to modernize our
electricity system, promote conservation, and make America less dependent on foreign
sources of energy.

* 2003 State of the Union: Our third goal is to promote energy independence for our
country, while dramatically improving the environment

* 2002 State of the Union: Good jobs also depend on reliable and affordable energy.
This Congress must act to encourage conservation, promote technology, build
infrastructure, and it must act to increase energy production at home so America
is less dependent on foreign oil.

* 2001 State of the Union: We can promote alternative energy sources and conservation,
and we must. America must become more energy-independent, and we will.

[TexasLawyer]

48. thanks for that list

What a gas-bag that man is!

[AnneD]

32. Yahooo

20% fewer town hall meeting, 20% fewer photo opps, and dare I say....20% fewr fund raisers? Dare I hope for 20% increase in public transportation.

What an ass wipe.

[BadgerKid]

33. Hrmpf. Gas is up 16c today at the BP (eom)

[hatrack]

38. Saw another story on this - it's all about ethanol - in other words, nothing to see here

If you planted every acre of land now under cultivation in the United States in corn dedicated only to ethanol production, it would cut our oil consumption by 13%, and that's at today's rates of consumption.

Of course, we're already on the brink of starting a serious trade dispute with Mexico, since the demand for corn for the ethanol industry as it exists today is making the price of tortillas skyrocket. So, take this existing scenario and imagine what would happen with a projected buildout this big.

Expansion of this magnitude would also mean that the costs of pretty much all other agricultural commodities- i.e. "food" - would rise quickly and steadily, since acres switched to corn are acres NOT planted in soybeans, wheat, milo, durum, beets, potatoes, what have you. This is also a 100% guaranteed way of raising the cost of beef, pork and chicken.

Finally, since the entire industrial corn production machine rests upon non-renewable natural gas for fertilizer, oil for pesticides and herbicides and huge amounts of fuel inputs for pumping, transportation and drying, this is plain and simple an non-starter in the long run.

More bullshit to make it look like President Pantload is on the case.

[donco6]

39. Wonder what the states think of that?

Since most of them depend on the sales taxes from gasoline sales to fund road projects. Wonder if he ran this idea by the governors?

Nah.

[TexasLawyer]

43. Is this like the Mars expedition he proposed

a few SOTUs ago?

Sounds good-- thinkin' big-- blah blah blah. Not gonna happen-- at least on Bush's watch.

[Toucano]

45. Calling on consumers to conserve is great.

It should have happened A LONG TIME AGO.

It would be even better if he gave them the means to do so.

Real leadership on the issue would set up a internet based network to facilitate carpooling where people who work along the same routes could login to find rides.

Consumers could be encouraged (or reminded) to ask their neighbors if they need anything before making that run to the supermarket.

Unplanned and unnecessary trips should be avoided as much as possible. Do you really need to return to the store for that forgotten item when the Earth is in the balance?

Be a real community. Share.

[MasonJar]

46. We could save that if he kept still and didn't use gas vacationing

every other week or so. Also for a lame brain who never left the country on his own dime, he sure is seeing the world on ours.

[Placebo]

51. Hasn't he mentioned energy policy in every SOTU?

Look how good that's paid off!

...

What a crock of sh*t.

[Raine]

52. Forget it

I suppose he expects the rest of us to cut back so him and his fat-cat pals can have more for their use...I'm not falling for that. :silly:

[Megahurtz]

53. Better park Air Force One then!

:sarcasm:

[Martin Eden]

55. Actions speak louder than words

I don't trust that rat bastard for one second. He'll find a way to make it benefit his corporate cronies.

[Casablanca]

57. "Here's the agenda I'm going to set out for other people after I'm out of office."

"CNN has also learned the president will call for a balanced budget by 2012."

Yep, after 6+ years of aggressively UNbalancing the budget, he's just not going to stand for one more second of fiscal irresponsibility! Even if he was serious, where is he going to get all of that extra cash to balance the budget with? Hmmmmm ...

"President Bush will call for a 20 percent reduction of gasoline usage over the next 10 years ..."

So that his Exxon have's-and-have-more buddies can raise the price due to slackening public demand?

More likely he wants everyone else to get by with less cheap energy so that corporations can use up more. I wouldn't be surprised to see him try to enforce gasoline quotas on us all - with the National Guard, if necessary. It's President Credibility, after all.

[Imagevision]

60. Just make cars that get 40+ mpg. and the probelm is solved!!

[pcboss49]

64. reason for price hike at the pumps....

Stating that we need to cut our gas usage by 20% gives the oil companies free rein to raise prices at the pumps to slow down usage... yeah, right... and our economy is doing so well? Just wait, when gas goes over $5 or $6 per gallon, our economy will come to a screeching halt.

[w4rma]

65. How? Everything this guy has pushed has increased gas usage. (nt)

[IDemo]

66. Twenty percent or more reduction will happen, voluntarily or otherwise

The problem is that the four biggest supergiant oil fields on the planet are all crashing. Badly.

This includes Cantarell in Mexico, Burgan in Kuwait, DaQing in China, and the dying elephant, Ghawar, in Saudi Arabia.

Might want to learn to appreciate public transportation, bicycling, and walking, sooner than later.

[Imagevision]

67. 20 percent reduction in gasoline usage - we will never - ever hear anything about this again...

because of it's absurdity.

[Nihil]

73. Not a voluntary option as per Georgie's lies ...

... but prescient nonetheless (see #66 above).

[mvd]

68. Again, it's just designed to sound good

Bush and his oil buddies will never give the incentives needed to truly reduce gas usage and go to alternative fuels. In fact, oil companies charge more for gas on purpose when cleaner and more energy efficient fuels are introduced.

[4dsc]

69. Increase federal gas tax $1.00 for starters

then increase CAFE standards. Legislate auto manufacturers into increasing mileage standsrd for all cars and trucks next week!!

But this is just all window dressing to the bigger problem of peak oil. We cann go on keeping our head in the sand but it won't change the fact that its coming..

[slackmaster]

70. NEVER HAPPEN!@

EVERYBODY KNOS TEH B1G O1L COMAPNY'S ARE HIDING CAR ENGINE'S TAHT GET OVER 200 MPH ON A GLASS OF WYLERS GRAPE DRINK!

[fNord]

71. In 10 years, there WILL NOT be any fossil fuels left!!!!!

At the current rate of consumption, we will have completely drained mother earth of her blood a short wile before 2017. remember people, that fossil fuels are not only used to make gasoline or fuel power plants, they are also the prime ingredient in almost every thing used by the modern world. every piece of plastic (that means everything from the bottle of pepsi you bought on the way to work to the car you drove to C-D's and DVDs to the monitor you are viewing this Post on), synthetic fabrics and fibers, synthetic rubbers, asphalt, synthetic organs, and lest we forget, most pharmaceuticals as well. in short, this is one promise that monkey boy might actually keep, not because he or his regime are prepared to take the necessary steps, but ironically, because he wont. Basically We are completely fucking screwed. :scared:




"Good night, and good luck"