Automotive Blog

Okay, I’m as unhappy about high fuel prices as anyone, but when I read this story on ABC News blaming the pain at the pump on the push for alternative fuels I confess my reaction was, “This is a bad thing?”

Essentially the theory is this. The current high rates can be blamed on a lack of supply at the nation’s refineries. It takes time and moolah to build or expand existing refineries. Oil companies are reluctant to do this because all the talk right now is on various forms of alternative fuels like ethanol or biodiesel.

And, lest we forget the Reluctant Oil Man in the Oval Office, the White House has finally stepped up to the plate and backed measures to bring American gasoline consumption down 20 percent.

Again, how is any of this a bad thing? You know the old adage, you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink . . . until he gets so damned thirsty he bows his stiff neck and does what he has to do. Ditto with the petroleum addicted, SUV-driving American.

We can talk alternative fuels and greener living until we’re blue in the face, but ultimately our fellow countrymen will have to be forced to make the change. If that push comes from gasoline being too high and alternative fuels being cheaper, so be it.

Without question, the American automobile industry and the American driving public are facing some real changes in the not so distant future. Environmentally and politically, lessening our dependence on oil is a good thing. The good just may come with some short-term bad and frankly, I don’t see how that’s avoidable in a cultural and economic transition of this magnitude.

Posted on June 18th, 2007 by Shorty
Filed under: alternative fuels, lifestyle |

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