Democrats talk at the Denver convention about creating and keeping American jobs.
Ironically the building that housed the largest research and development division of Arco Oil Company in Texas was sold by British Petroleum to Perot Systems and now serves as its headquarters. Perot Systems was founded by Ross Perot who previously created EDS Electronic Data Systems and who most importantly has been credited with throwing the 1992 Presidential election to Bill Clinton by drawing off many independent voters who would have voted Republican for George Bush senior. Perot Systems derives a significant amount of its business from state and federal contracts. A building that used to house American engineers, geologists, scientists, logistics people and ordinary employees who worked for an American owned oil company that strived to fill the gas tank for the average American now houses a company that focuses on giving computer support on state and the federal government social service contracts. This is the Democratic Party version of a success story. Outsourced government work under Bill Clinton replaces a former American owned world admired jewell of the oil industry that had provided gas for the American gas tank and many good American jobs for many years. So if you need reasonably price gas for your car, contact Bill Clinton and Perot Systems and ask them to give you a gallon of gas. This is the Democratic version of a success story, outsourced government work replacing a real company that produces a real needed product for the average American household.
The second take home point from this comment is that nuclear power is a friend of the environment and does not emit green house gases.
The Truth About Tire Pressure
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He's right; they do. And government experts agree: According to FuelEconomy.gov, a Web site jointly administered by the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency, "You can improve your gas mileage by around 3.3 percent by keeping your tires inflated to the proper pressure."
But how many Americans are driving around on soft tires? According to a National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration 2001 survey, 26 percent of passenger cars and 29 percent of light trucks were found to have at least one tire that was 25 percent below the manufacturer's required level. That's more than a quarter of all motorists running on one or more soft tires. So the savings could certainly add up. But add up to what?
Some have used an estimate of 2.8 billion gallons per year, but we think that's too high. That comes from a release issued last April by the Rubber Manufacturers Association and others in connection with an event in California. One tire executive was quoted as saying that "tire experts speculate" that U.S. drivers waste 2.8 billion gallons of gasoline per year because of under-inflated tires. But we could not find support for that figure, and a spokeswoman for the Rubber Manufacturers Association told us that the estimate was "not scientific."
A far more authoritative estimate comes from the U.S. Government Accountability Office, which puts the figure at 1.2 billion gallons of fuel per year. In a report dated Feb. 9, 2007, GAO says:
GAO: The Department of Energy's designated economist on this issue indicated that, of the 130 billion gallons of fuel that the Transportation Research Board (TRB) estimated were used in passenger cars and light trucks in 2005, about 1.2 billion gallons were wasted as a result of driving on underinflated tires.
That figures out to be just under 1 percent of all fuel consumed by autos and light trucks. But would saving 1.2 billion gallons of fuel per year equal the expected increase in oil production from opening up offshore areas to drilling? For the next several years, yes. But after that, probably not, according to the best estimates we can find.
How Much Oil?
Nobody can say for sure how much oil lies under the sea in the areas currently off-limits to drilling, and estimates of potential production from these areas over the next 15 to 20 years vary widely. The Energy Information Administration of the U.S. Department of Energy – which we've quoted a number of times in the past – is conservative compared with estimates that appeared in a 2007 report from the National Petroleum Council, a group which exists "to represent the views of the oil and natural gas industries" before the federal government. The estimates in the NPC report were taken from a 2006 report done for the Department of Energy by a private research firm called Advanced Resources International.
According to EIA's official projection, allowing drilling in Outer Continental Shelf areas that currently are off-limits in the Gulf of Mexico and off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the lower 48 states would produce an additional 220,000 barrels per day by the year 2025. The more optimistic ARI assessment predicts an increase of 990,000 barrels per day by 2025.
ARI's prediction is more than four times larger than the official government prediction. The DOE expects only enough oil to equal about 1.4 percent of total U.S. demand, while ARI's prediction would amount to more than 6 percent.
ARI also predicts that oil could start flowing as quickly as three years after offshore areas are opened up, at least in those areas where leasing could begin immediately. But Phyllis Martin, an EIA senior energy analyst, projects a longer lead time. She predicts it would take two to three years for the Interior Department's Minerals Management Service to put a leasing program into place, and another two to three years for oil companies to explore and drill the first producing wells, for a total delay of four to six years.
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