Congress lead their second round of questioning for the execs of the major oil companies on why gas prices were so high and how they can be okay with making so much money while people are paying so much for gasoline.

Don’t they understand that the oil industry is a byproduct of the transportation industry. I liken the analogy of bringing in the oil men instead of the auto men to trying to treat the symptoms and not actually find a cure for the disease. As long as the disease is still there, there will always be symptoms.

In fact, we’ve been here before and unless the transportation industry changes, we will come here again in the future.

Why doesn’t Congress hold the auto industry more accountable for the fuel efficiency of automobiles?

In that same article, John Dillin says:

John DeCicco, an engineer and fuel efficiency specialist, told me in the early 1990s that we could boost the mileage of US vehicles by 20 percent, even 30 percent, just by using the technology we already had. But people weren’t listening.

A few political leaders also sounded the alarm. In 1991, Sen. Richard Bryan (D) of Nevada urged Congress to mandate more-efficient cars and trucks. He called it a matter of national security.

Senator Bryan’s bill would have required that gas mileage rise to approximately 34 mpg in 1996, and 40 mpg in 2001. But Congress sat o­n its hands. Not until last year, with gas prices again soaring, did it mandate 35 mpg by 2020.

David Steckling, founder of Vapor Systems Technology, says that the technology for 100+ miles per gallon is already here but the auto industry along with the oil industry doesn’t want it to be widely known.

I’m pointing my finger back at Congress, stop wasting your time trying to treat the symptoms of high oil prices and find a solution to increasing the mpg for automobiles or how alternative fuels can alleviate our dependency on oil.

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This entry was posted on Monday, June 2nd, 2008 at 6:00 am and is filed under Alternative Energy, Oil. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.