If you are an environmentalist, member of the Sierra Club, or liberal Democrat, you are partly responsible for the BP oil spill in the gulf. Had you allowed the oil companies to drill onshore in the lower 48 and offshore in shallow waters in California and Alaska, they would not have been forced to go offshore into deep water drilling. The Chinese are drilling off the coast of Cuba, and the Russians drill on their side in Alaska, but our government and EPA are in a state of denial that the world does not run on oil.
In Europe, more than 60 percent of all cars are clean diesel. Here, we have forced Americans into American and Japanese cars that deliver 30 or more miles per gallon, whereas in Europe, 50 to 65 MPG is the norm.
We have no energy policy and build cars that run on flex fuel; no one produces with no distribution system. The Leaf and the Volt will not revolutionize the car industry. So either change your point of view or expect more of the same: higher prices and more stupid rules by government.
This article appears in Jun 10-17, 2010.