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I've been debating buying one of the new VW Jetta diesels. They get 29/45, but the price of fuel is too spendy. Now I'm wondering if I should change my rental from an Exploder to a Prius?
I was reading a newspaper the other day, Barkley - I think the Anchorage one - and it had a story about a couple who owned a Prius who was sitting on their deck when they noticed their Prius was rocking back and forth and the windows were all fogged up. Turned out a bear had gotten in there; they believe they hadn't closed the back of it tightly and somehow he had gotten in and it had firmly latched behind him. They opened the back and he scrambled loose, but had left quite a mess in his wake - tore up the upholstery fairly well and pooed in their front seat, gouged the console, etc. The wife called her insurance company and surprisingly, they are covering the costs
I've been debating buying one of the new VW Jetta diesels. They get 29/45, but the price of fuel is too spendy. Now I'm wondering if I should change my rental from an Exploder to a Prius?
A gasoline running Subaru can go a long way, and still take you there on all-wheel drive. I drive a 1987 Honda Civic (fuel injected) to work and back each day, and it does very well on fuel. 50 miles each day adds up, but I top off the 11-gallon tank every week. I imagine that it uses around 6 gallons per week during the summer, and twice as much in the cold of winter.
We are a nation awash in natural resources but yet so many citizens have to suffer because of the prevarications of radical environmentalists. It makes me nauseous.
Do you really, really, in your heart of hearts think it is the rantings of a few hundred idiot, leaf licking, tree hugging, eco nincompoops that is keeping the mighty wheels of industry and capitalist expansion from sticking oil derricks all over the great state of Alaska and sucking every last drop they can find??? Do you? A five year old given the facts on cost/benefits ratio's etc. pertaining to the feasability of drilling Alaska could tell you it is because the oil companies don't want to drill there... yet. Would you, given that without doing so your profits for last year were 22 Billion dollars? I haven't checked but what is retail for regular unleaded in Maui, HI? Diesel? Why would that be? New York City? Same thing. Just because there is oil in Alaska doesn't mean that your retail price for gasoline would be any less. There is a new paradign in American business and it doesn't involve wildly rewarding those not directly in the top chains of command. Sorry some of you are having such a hard time with this. If you think it is bad now I wonder what you will think when pump price for regular is $6.00.
Do you really, really, in your heart of hearts think it is the rantings of a few hundred idiot, leaf licking, tree hugging, eco nincompoops that is keeping the mighty wheels of industry and capitalist expansion from sticking oil derricks all over the great state of Alaska and sucking every last drop they can find??? Do you? A five year old given the facts on cost/benefits ratio's etc. pertaining to the feasability of drilling Alaska could tell you it is because the oil companies don't want to drill there... yet. Would you, given that without doing so your profits for last year were 22 Billion dollars? I haven't checked but what is retail for regular unleaded in Maui, HI? Diesel? Why would that be? New York City? Same thing. Just because there is oil in Alaska doesn't mean that your retail price for gasoline would be any less. There is a new paradign in American business and it doesn't involve wildly rewarding those not directly in the top chains of command. Sorry some of you are having such a hard time with this. If you think it is bad now I wonder what you will think when pump price for regular is $6.00.
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Those people, leaf licking, tree hugging, etc. have had a lot to say about what happens whether up here or in the -48, and they have no clue. One place in particular I was longer than up here was in the Black Hills. If would have been allowed to go log - the natural course of fire and destruction would probably not have happened just a few years ago, it would have been avoided and most people there would not have the "on edge" feeling this time of year, as we did when out there in NE Wyoming,which is another energy meca that is not being played out. We are fortunate enough to be off the Sterling Highway out of Soldotna and have natural gas for main source of heat, water heating, cooking, etc. Twenty to thirty miles (probably less) down the road they pay maximum price for fuel oil, because the gas is not going that far, better to ship out just like the oil. I would really like to know what happened to "take care of your own" in this country - though doubt it ever existed. I have a son in the military out there for everyone - and when he comes back has to deal with this mess after being away from his family for a year (yes his choice). We came up here to get away from the mentality and be away to some point, but learned it is more rampant up here because they are losing the battle in the lower 48, they have no clue what it is like to live here and the costs that go with it (my problem and everyone else here and that comes here). I am sure you will rip me to shreds because I did not take time to research and state facts, so be it. I am a 52-year-old mom and gramma raising a grandchild brought with us here, that has paid dues and when I hear statements like these, makes me ill, because there is nothing else but that to do with the cost of fuel, groceries, etc., because it needs to be shipped. I am fortunate enought to live in a populated area, but after seeing the news here and the people that are not close and what they have to pay, I cannot imagine. Somebody dropped the ball somewhere, because these people are ours.
Last edited by Grannysroost; 07-20-2008 at 08:33 PM..
Reason: ??
Most of the oil in ANWR would be heavy sour crude anyways, not the light sweet crude that's really needed, hence the reason it would at most lower the price of a barrel of oil 75 cents (amounting to very little if any change in gas prices). Poor excuse to drill ANWR. Find real, long term solutions instead of being stuck on using a resource that's slowly but surely drying up. Heat with wood, for example, rather than oil.
"Those people, leaf licking, tree hugging, etc. have had a lot to say about what happens whether up here or in the -48, and they have no clue."
You've got that right. And from what I've seen, they are the biggest hypocrits around: driving their old-school, dirty fuel-burning claptrapmobiles that look like they're held together with shoestring, all to show us how oh so sensitive and anti-consumeristic they are for driving these suicide machines in the first place, that pump more cr*p into the air than any of the Hummers on the market today. Once these idiots take up the bicycle or ditch their hippie-mobiles, then I'll listen....maybe. Oh and doesn't AlGore have a huge mansion with all sorts of water fountains blah blah and it's just him and Tipper living there? I mean who needs all that room? But we're supposed to live like paupers whilst he is touting how wasteful we are and lighting up his house like a Christmas tree? Uhmm. no thanks. Yes, the leaf licker, blow hards have ALOT to say about what happens and how it happens.
"Those people, leaf licking, tree hugging, etc. have had a lot to say about what happens whether up here or in the -48, and they have no clue."
You've got that right. And from what I've seen, they are the biggest hypocrits around: driving their old-school, dirty fuel-burning claptrapmobiles that look like they're held together with shoestring, all to show us how oh so sensitive and anti-consumeristic they are for driving these suicide machines in the first place, that pump more cr*p into the air than any of the Hummers on the market today. Once these idiots take up the bicycle or ditch their hippie-mobiles, then I'll listen....maybe. Oh and doesn't AlGore have a huge mansion with all sorts of water fountains blah blah and it's just him and Tipper living there? I mean who needs all that room? But we're supposed to live like paupers whilst he is touting how wasteful we are and lighting up his house like a Christmas tree? Uhmm. no thanks. Yes, the leaf licker, blow hards have ALOT to say about what happens and how it happens.
Well, I'm neither an ultra-greenie or a industrial profit-monger; but I do drive a 17 yo "beater" that has definitely seen better days... at least on the outside. I recently put my car up against some of my greenie friends, here's what I found out:
1. My blue bomber gets 34 mpg mixed (in town/highway)... that's down a bit from when it was new in 91 (got around 38 back then).
2. My emissions are cleaner than the newer "better" cars and about twice as clean as my neighbor's Hummer, even though I had a slight oil leak when my car was inspected.
3. In the last 17 years, I've done routine maintenance every 3-6 months and replaced the battery, alternator, ignition, head gasket (see oil leak above), radiator and had the transmission rebuilt. All total, that maintenance has cost me less than $15k... much less than a new car, and all the fluids and parts were recycled.
So, keeping and maintaining my POS car has resulted in a cleaner, more efficient vehicle that costs less. It's better and cheaper than most of the new "fuel efficient" vehicles and the gas-guzzling SUVs. I'm not driving around patting myself on the back about it, or shunning people for their choices... I'm just keeping my ol' girl running until they come up with a truly viable alternative fuel that will work in the heart of Alaska when it's -70 outside! She made it through an AK winter once already, but that was almost 50k miles ago and I don't think she's got it in her anymore
Personally, my philosophy is that nothing saves you money and resources like the thing you already have as long as you take care of it. People give me a hard time about keeping her, but I've never much subscribed to the "disposable" mentality and only replace things when they are no longer serviceable or more expensive/unhealthy to keep than to replace. I don't care that my car has dents and dings, a truly annoying belt rattle when it's humid, or that the roofliner hangs down... she gets me where I'm going just fine and doesn't cost me an arm and a leg to operate, maintain or insure (plus no car payments!)
I'm very disheartened by people's attitudes recently - both the left and the right. It's not impossible to find alternatives and solutions that satisfy both sides, but as long as we are fighting each other we'll never find it and things will just keep getting worse. If anyone is a conspiracy theorist, you could say that this in-fighting is exactly what "Big Brother" wants because it keeps our eyes off what they are (or aren't) doing. Just a thought....
Do you really, really, in your heart of hearts think it is the rantings of a few hundred idiot, leaf licking, tree hugging, eco nincompoops that is keeping the mighty wheels of industry and capitalist expansion from sticking oil derricks all over the great state of Alaska and sucking every last drop they can find??? Do you? A five year old given the facts on cost/benefits ratio's etc. pertaining to the feasability of drilling Alaska could tell you it is because the oil companies don't want to drill there... yet. Would you, given that without doing so your profits for last year were 22 Billion dollars?
Trying to talk sense clearly isn't likely to have much effect on those who believe that sort of nonsense.
You are absolutely correct that is has virtually nothing to do with what environmentalists are saying, but ranting and raving and calling everyone names if they disagree (in particular if they have a logical reason for that disagreement) is emotionally the only satisfaction that people can get out of this.
Our Vermont correspondant is at least on the right track, as you are. He points out that "most" of the oil in ANWR is heavy sour crude rather than light sweet crude. In fact, ALL of the oil on the North Slope is "heavy, sour" crude. But ANWR might be worse than most. The closest producing field to ANWR is Badami, which was originally tapped with high hopes but it turned out to be so thick and so full of contaminants that it has been nothing short of a vast disappointment. It was twice (and I understand is still currently) closed down due to inability to maintain sufficient flow to be economical.
It is indeed quite likely that all oil, if there actually is any, in ANWR would be exactly the same. There have been several holes drilled just outside of ANWR, and one inside... none of which appear to have discovered anything useful. When former governor Frank Murkowski offered offshore leases in the Beaufort Sea adjacent to ANWR there were no takers (in a lease auction that saw record bids for massive leases in other parts of the Beaufort).
You are also dead on that the oil industry itself has very little or no interest at all in ANWR today. It is a political football that the Bush administration uses to hype emotional responses from people who do not use logic.
Last edited by Floyd_Davidson; 07-21-2008 at 12:32 PM..
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