emergent ink

Tomorrow’s SMNO in Citizen News continues my plea that we focus on the big picture, and not get bogged down in recriminations, name-calling, and rehashing past history. Unfortunately, I can see from some of the recent comments here that we’re getting distracted.

It might be too much for me to ask, but we need to focus on ways to come together, and in finding the good among us. There is common ground.

The distractions continue on the campaign trail, as Senator McCain talked about his energy plan today:

We’re not going to pay four dollars per gallon for gas because we’re going to drill offshore and we’re going to drill now. We’re going to drill here and we’re going to drill now. My opponent doesn’t want to drill, he doesn’t want nuclear power, he wants you to inflate your tires.

The Straight Talk Express is running on empty on conservation. McCain takes the predictable route, telling Americans what they want to hear. But he’s wrong that offshore drilling is going to have an effect on price, now or in ten years when the wells come on line. And he’s wrong to mock Senator Obama’s suggestion about inflating tires. But he’s doing that because that’s how you get Americans to vote for you: tell them the other guy wants them to make sacrifices, and you have a better plan.

Let’s check the math.

The Department of Energy has said that drilling in the offshore areas that have been banned until now might result in 200,000 barrels a day, starting in about ten years. That is not guaranteed. But let’s say that’s what happens. We’ll add 73,000,000 barrels a year. Some of that will become gasoline.

The Department of Energy has said that if Americans properly inflated their tires, it would result in a 3.3% reduction in gasoline usage (through improved miles per gallon).

In 2007, the United States consumed 3,389,269,000 barrels of gasoline. A 3.3% reduction in gasoline use would have saved 111,845,877 barrels of gasoline.

Conservation is the most important thing we need to do for our energy security. It’s an issue that matters; it’s part of the big picture. A true maverick would be talking about conservation, not Paris Hilton.