Petition for Diesel?

Taxing Motorists


Funny you should mention that, but it is already happening in the UK. There are certain areas of London where you are charged a "zone tax" -- sort of a toll that you must pay if you drive into a certain area during 'peak' hours.

I don't know much about it, except for what I have read in an article published in one of the car magazines to which I subscribe. I also know that there are certain politicians who would salivate at the concept of doing such a thing here in the USA.

In VA, we already have HOV (High Occupancy Vehicle) lanes that encourage car-pooling. They're great for some, but do not work very well for the rest of us who have to drive alone. I travel in a commercial truck to Northern VA three or four days every week {as part of my job} and see the congestion getting worse by the month.

Some people have resorted to buying hybrid vehicles (Toyota Prius, clean-fuel Civic, etc., etc.) just so that they can use the HOV lanes. Smart......but so much for ride-sharing.

The newest idea they have invented to separate us from our tax dollars is the HOT (High Occupancy Toll) Lane. Motorists could use them, but would have to pay a toll to do so. It is only in the planning stages, but might pass muster because they'll convince enough voters that "someone else" will pay for it. What they don't tell you is that trucking companies and other businesses will simply raise prices as a way of passing on the added costs.

I think most folks would favor this plan over a GPS-based system that would record where, when and how far you drove. To me, that smacks of Big Brother.......but what do I know?
:bash:

Part of the transportation solution is going to require "smarter growth" policies (I know that smacks of socialism, but I don't know what else to call it.), enabling more people to telecommute and perhaps expanding the use of 'flex time' hours so that not everybody on the road is working 7 to 3 or 8 to 4, etc., etc. Yeah, it would be nice to stick everyone on city buses and light rail, but that is just not feasible. Our country is a tad bit bigger than Germany, France or England for Pete's sake!

It seems as though VA is becoming one large megalopolis as everything between DC and Richmond slowly becomes one giant suburb.

<< END OF RANT - PART TWO >>
 
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Diesel fuel is a very CHEAP fuel in North America. We just do not know it. I've read somewhere that truck drivers with more then 3 axles have a discounts of 30 to 40% on diesel fuel. So Government just do not want regular cars use diesel. It's a petroleum lobby!!
 
AlexJet said:
Diesel fuel is a very CHEAP fuel in North America. We just do not know it. I've read somewhere that truck drivers with more then 3 axles have a discounts of 30 to 40% on diesel fuel. So Government just do not want regular cars use diesel. It's a petroleum lobby!!
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Sorry, I buy diesel at truck stops too. It is a few cents cheaper because of the volume. No, our consumer goods are going up in price because of the fuel costs.
 

Diesel is not exactly "cheap" in relation to unleaded fuel. While gasoline might run about $1.95, diesel fuel still runs $2.39 or so. It is certainly cheaper to make diesel fuel than gasoline, but is taxed more heavily.

In Europe, diesel costs much less than gasoline.....so it is no wonder that oil-burners are so popular there. Imagine gasoline being about four bucks a gallon and diesel costing only $2.75 or $3.00 and you'd see a surge in diesel sales in the USA.

As for trucks getting a 30 to 40 percent discount, that is a load of bull. I am a truck driver by trade and we do get "fleet" pricing when we buy fuel, but it is typically about ten cents per gallon; certainly nowhere near 30 or 40 percent. Also, our trucks only get about 6 or 7 miles per gallon......so we still pay much more on a per-mile basis when we drive down the road.

 
Dr. John said:
With the introduction of low sulpher diesel fuel in June of 2006, do you think there would be any value in starting a petition to Toyota to seriously consider offering a turbo-diesel option for the 2007 model year?

I believe that this would be the right time to do this and would give Toyota time to make whatever adjustments would be necessary to their production lines, if they were to do this.

I'm interested to know how many people would support such a petition and also whether you believe that Toyota would be responsive to it, or if we'd just be "spinning our wheels."



What do you think?
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I would rather see petition for e-85 fuel - as its always no more than $1.39 a gallon around my house...

but then again diesel is a good start.. bio diesel is also cheap around here..
 
Jeff Kleb said:

In Europe, diesel costs much less than gasoline.....so it is no wonder that oil-burners are so popular there. Imagine gasoline being about four bucks a gallon and diesel costing only $2.75 or $3.00 and you'd see a surge in diesel sales in the USA.
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Diesel use in Europe is encouraged by offering a lower tax, in relation to gasoline. In fact, OPEC just proposed that Europe lower it's high fuel taxes across the board. I don't recall why though. I think it had to do with the Europeans badgering OPEC to increase production. OPEC countered with the request that Europe and the US build additional refining capacity. We blame OPEC for their production levels, yet there has NEVER been a tanker ship turned away empty. The real issue is refining.
 

But then where do we put a refinery? Nobody wants it in their neighborhood or city......and every politician will do their best to stymie any company proposing building one with code violations, bureaucratic red tape and excess regulation until they give up.

You also have the eco-geeks in there as well. They'll complain about how much gasoline costs, but secretly smile because their goal is to force the public into tiny vehicles or mass transit. Rather than increasing the supply, they'll advocate reducing demand. Sure, that sounds nice in theory, but it ain't gonna happen in a growing economy; nor would we want it to happen.

Conserve? Yes. Increase efficency? Of course (where feasible). Lower our standard of living? Absolutely not!

Once it is decided by dictatorial fiat what kind of car you can own or drive, it will not be long before limits are placed on where you can live, what kind of house you may own, what you can eat, what you can listen to or watch and even what you do in the privacy of your own home.

Tyrants never rest or give up, folks.....they just change issues or alter their strategy; but their goals remain the same. Don't ever forget that.

As for OPEC, let's keep using up their oil as long as it is cheaper to do so. That way, when their wells start to suck wind, we will have enough of our own oil to be self-sufficient. They'll go back to living in the 7th century, as most of those countries are nothing without their dino juice. It is not good to have all of your economy based upon one industry or commodity, but that is exactly what they've done.

<< END OF RANT - AGAIN >>
:awais:
 
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Jeff Kleb said:

But then where do we put a refinery? Nobody wants it in their neighborhood or city......and every politician will do their best to stymie any company proposing building one with code violations, bureaucratic red tape and excess regulation until they give up. but it ain't gonna happen in a growing economy; nor would we want it to happen.


As for OPEC, let's keep using up their oil as long as it is cheaper to do so. That way, when their wells start to suck wind, we will have enough of our own oil to be self-sufficient. They'll go back to living in the 7th century, as most of those countries are nothing without their dino juice. It is not good to have all of your economy based upon one industry or commodity, but that is exactly what they've done.

:awais:
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1) Where to place a refinery? Oh, I'm working on a location in mid-America where one is desired right now. Don't kid yourself; there are parts of America where these excellent jobs are desired.

2) We import most of our oil from 1-Canada 2-Mexico then Nigeria, Venezuela, Russia etc... The guy I work for just hit with huge results in Bulgaria. The whole of Eastern Europe is just now being explored with fantastic results. We can tell Saudi Arabia, and the rest of the middle east, to go f--k themselves anytime we want. It apears that they are running out of oil anyway.
 
Refineries, OPEC, etc.

Originally posted by RL Lemke
1) Where to place a refinery? Oh, I'm working on a location in mid-America where one is desired right now. Don't kid yourself; there are parts of America where these excellent jobs are desired.


I know there are plenty of places - with both cheap real estate and access to major railway lines & Interstate highways. And yes, many of those places do have less expensive labor than found in more crowded areas. Some of those areas would love the skilled and semi-skilled jobs that would come with a new refinery; no doubt about that!

I am not an expert in petroleum engineering, but I would assume that building a necessary pipeline from a refinery could pose trouble, political or otherwise. (If you are old enough, you may recall all the squabbling about the one they built in Alaska almost thirty years ago.) Environmental extremists have been a major reason why no new refineries have been built since before Jimmy Carter took office! Their effect cannot be discounted.


2) We import most of our oil from 1-Canada 2-Mexico then Nigeria, Venezuela, Russia etc... The guy I work for just hit with huge results in Bulgaria. The whole of Eastern Europe is just now being explored with fantastic results. We can tell Saudi Arabia, and the rest of the middle east, to go f--k themselves anytime we want. It apears that they are running out of oil anyway.


Yep, it is true that we don't get as much oil from the Middle East as we do from other sources. Also, most folks do not realize that OPEC involves others besides Arabs. It can get complicated, as there are different grades of crude oil and some oil reserves are not as easily accessed as others.

Russia, as well as some of the other former Soviet satellite nations, sits atop vast reserves......but their distribution network is all screwed up and they're having a hard time harvesting it and putting enough of it to market. My father was working over there many years ago (for a US company) and he told me that they had pumping equipment that would freeze if they turned it off and that there was a lot of inefficiency in their system. Of course, I know that situation will eventually improve because they'll want to get more of their oil on the market so that they can sell it.

Even though we don't get 100% of our oil from the Middle East, much of the rest of the world does obtain theirs from the Persian Gulf region........and any disruption in the supply or distribution still has an effect on the prices everywhere else.

Still, if energy independence is the goal and we want to become self-sufficient, we're going to have to look into expanding our own sources of petroleum resources - as well as creating useful energy from other sources (bio-diesel, coal, natural gas, ethanol, methanol, hyrdoelectric and even solar power) besides typical methods involving refining crude oil.

P.S. This has turned into a neat discussion about stuff we never think of when we put the nozzle into the tank of our 4Runnners!
:D :p
 
Pipelines? Yes indeed, the issue of pipeline ROW will be an increasing issue. Fortunately, the amount of money that can be thrown at the issue is increasing. We are facing this issue with natural gas pipeline here in the Dallas area. Tarrant County, under Fort Worth, is part of the new supply of natural gas to the US market. However, there is a shortage of available natural gas pipe to get this gas to market. This has resulted in a capacity allocation system. 5 years ago there was almost no gas production within Tarrant County, now there are over $5 Billion in royalties paid EACH MONTH. That kind of money will fix the problem.

The US must move in a direction to our energy dependence on the middle east. I
 
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