The U.S. has approximately 260 million vehicles consuming petroleum fuel at a rate of roughly 19 million barrels / day... or 7 billion barrels / year.
The U.S. spent $337 billion in 2010 on oil imports.
Energy in the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
71% of Petroleum is used for transportation
[] 19 million barrels / day consumption
BUT domestic production is only 6 million barrels per day
[] Import 13 million barrels /day (68%)
If the people of the United States wish to remain hostage to the automobile / petroleum / highway self-interest group, do nothing.
On the other hand, America could stimulate the economy in a most dramatic way - by transitioning to
electric traction rail transportation.
Transitioning to rail for 80% of all trips, means an 80% reduction in the 71% of petroleum consumed for transportation.
(19 million x .71 = 13.5 million barrels / day)
Reduce by 80%
(13.5 x .20 = 2.7 million barrels / day)
Domestic production = 6 million barrels / day
(6 x .71 = 4.26 million barrels/day available for transportation)
Result : no need for imports - save BILLIONS
To provide alternate transportation for 80% of the current automobile / bus bound passengers, an estimated 280 thousand train cars will be needed. At 1.1 million per car, that's $308 billions. In addition to electrifying mainline tracks, we would also need to construct urban and interurban tracks (where they were torn out). Let's say we need about 87,000 miles. At $900k per mile, that comes to roughly $78.3 billions. Total : $387 billions roughly.
To put that in perspective, in 2010, we EXPORTED $337 billions for our "oil fix". That's money not spent on American jobs nor American products.
But how can we pay for it?
We must insist that government have NOTHING to do with it. If government is involved, odds are that it will be more wasteful, fraught with graft and corruption, bound with red tape and delayed to the max.
Solution is simple - instead of tax grants, loans or other tax payer funds, grant ZERO TAX LIABILITY for any company (and its employees) that is 100% involved in designing, manufacturing, building, installing, operating, and / or repairing electric traction rail transportation.
It doesn't take administrative overhead to account for "not taxing", it eliminates government paperwork. It simplifies management and operation. It will draw investors seeking tax exempt profits. It will attract workers, too. Expanding existing rail rights of way or reclaiming abandoned rail lines should speed up the process, too.
With 100% tax exemption, American railroad manufacturing will ramp up rapidly. And no company will be rewarded for its skill at manipulating its bookkeeping to keep the tax man at bay - no tax man! If a company wants to make the most profits, it will do so only by providing the best service to the most customers, not how well its upper management schmooze government regulations and grants.
Assuming that half of that $387 billions is used in hiring labor, at $30k / annum (tax exempt, no less), that would result in 6,450,000 new jobs.
Last week, it was estimated that 14 million people were out of work.
Of course, with 6.5 million new workers, all the support industries and auxiliary enterprises would be boosted, too. It will boost food service, house construction, consumer spending, etc., etc. That means more hiring, ditto, ditto.
America once built an electric traction rail transportation system, between 1890 - 1910, with far less technology. Sadly, GM and others, helped sabotage it. It may have made sense when the USA was queen of oil, but no longer.
http://saveourwetlands.org/streetcar.htm (broken link)
In 1921, GM lost $65 million, leading GM to conclude that the auto market was saturated, that those who desired cars already owned them, and that the only way to increase GM's sales and restore its profitability was by eliminating its principal rival: electric railways.
At the time, 90 percent of all trips were by rail, chiefly electric rail; only one in 10 Americans owned an automobile. There were 1,200 separate electric street and interurban railways, a thriving and profitable industry with 44,000 miles of track, 300,000 employees, 15 billion annual passengers, and $1 billion in income. Virtually every city and town in America of more than 2,500 people had its own electric rail system.
Do you think it's time for America to get back on track?
ASAP?
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