LawlessMan
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Feb 9, 2005
- Messages
- 332
In upstate New York, where the gas taxes are already pretty high and we run about 30 cents above the "national average" cost per gallon, we saw the price of regular gas jump from $2.69/gal to $2.99/gal to $3.49/gal in about 3 days after Katrina. The stated reason, as reported by the local TV news was that "several refineries in the south were damaged by Katrina and won't be able to refine gas for an indefinite time". This is exactly the same "knee-jerk" reaction the oil companies have every time there is a crisis. The temporary shutdown of a few refineries won't affect any of the gas that is already refined, so why sell THAT gas at such outrageously inflated prices? We all know that as the fuel reserves (and I don't mean the federal oil reserves) start to get drawn down, the oil companies will do two things. One, they will futher inflate the cost of gasoline to make a few more billions at our expense, and they will simultaneously ramp up production at still-functioning refineries. Oh, yeah, don't think that they won't get billions in additional money from the federal government to repair the damage to their refineries, which are probably heavily insured, anyway. My question after all this is: "How many MORE ways can the oil companies screw us over?" The government will enjoy a huge windfall on the gas taxes, but the oil companies are the REAL bandits here. And, after the consumers, who gets hurt the most? Gas station operators, who STILL make only a few cents per gallon, regardless how much it sells for. IMHO
BTW, I don't remember if anyone addressed the question of what do you eat if you turn your crops into methanol, but as I understand the process, you wouldn't be using edible crops to do that. Bio-fuels can be made from just about anything that grows, some crops yield more than others. But if the information I've read is correct, you could conceivably turn a lot of bio-trash into bio-fuel. In France, they use spoiled wine. Cars can be converted to run on vegetable oil recycled from places like McDonald's (and they small like french fries, too, LOL). And propane and natural gas, which we theoretically have in abundance. The car companies are so in bed with the oil companies that they really don't want us to do that, though, so they make it very expensive to do it.
Some enterprising companies ought to be volunteering to clean up downed trees in the hurricane area, not just for the wood, but also for the leaves and branches, which can be chipped up and used as fuel.
BTW, I don't remember if anyone addressed the question of what do you eat if you turn your crops into methanol, but as I understand the process, you wouldn't be using edible crops to do that. Bio-fuels can be made from just about anything that grows, some crops yield more than others. But if the information I've read is correct, you could conceivably turn a lot of bio-trash into bio-fuel. In France, they use spoiled wine. Cars can be converted to run on vegetable oil recycled from places like McDonald's (and they small like french fries, too, LOL). And propane and natural gas, which we theoretically have in abundance. The car companies are so in bed with the oil companies that they really don't want us to do that, though, so they make it very expensive to do it.
Some enterprising companies ought to be volunteering to clean up downed trees in the hurricane area, not just for the wood, but also for the leaves and branches, which can be chipped up and used as fuel.
