You'd think Republicans would learn to do a little fact-checking before pulling a stunt like this.
Sarah Lenti, a spokeswoman for Victory '08, a branch of the Republican National Committee, based out of Farmington Hills, was handing out tire gauges to Obama supporters outside the Lansing Center.
Lenti said the gauges were in response to a suggestion Obama made last week that people could save energy by keeping their tires properly inflated.
Lenti said, "It's probably one one-hundredth of what has to happen to fix the $4 a gallon situation."
She said her candidate has a more comprehensive energy policy.
Yeah, we know McCain's plan. Drill, drill, drill, and lower the corporate tax rate on oil companies from 35 percent to 25 percent, giving the six largest companies nearly $4 billion in tax breaks. McCain's plan doesn't conserve a drop of oil. On the other hand, Obama's suggestion does, and the government agrees.
The Department of Energy estimates that (based on gas costing $3.96/gallon), "you can improve your gas mileage by around 3.3 percent by keeping your tires inflated to the proper pressure" which would ultimately save "up to $0.12/gallon" or, nearly the amount of the federal gas tax ($0.18/gallon)... Moreover, the auto industry agrees with DoE's assessment.
But more importantly, Obama is correct to suggest that inflating tires properly and getting regular tune-ups "could save all the oil that they're talking about getting off drilling" - and by a long shot. According to the Energy Information Administration, if Congress lifted the moratorium on offshore drilling, by 2030, oil crude production in the "lower-48? outer continental shelf will increase by about 200,000 barrels per day. By contrast, the production offset based on Obama's proposal will likely approach 800,000 barrels per day, immediately.
Too bad Republicans would rather pull stunts than come up with real ideas that work. |
