Posted on 04/23/2009 9:53:18 AM PDT by Sub-Driver
CBS's Knoller: Obama Burned 9,000 Gallons of Jet Fuel for One Earth Day Speech By Ken Shepherd Created 2009-04-23 12:21
President Barack Obama burned roughly 9,000 of jet fuel yesterday, Earth Day, and that only to deliver one speech in Iowa, reports CBS News's Mark Knoller in an April 22 Political Hotsheet blog post [1].
As if that weren't amusing enough, Knoller notes that the Air Force and the White House wouldn't disclose to Knoller how much fuel the president's plane burns on an average flight, so he had to consult with the manufacturer of the 747, Boeing:
In flying to and from Iowa today, President Obama took two flights on Air Force One and four on Marine One.
The press office at Andrews AFB wouldn’t give me the fuel consumption numbers for the 747 that serves as Air Force One without the approval of the White House Press Office, which as I write this has yet to be given.
But Boeing says its 747 burns about 5 gallons of fuel per mile. It’s 895 miles from Washington to Des Moines, so a round trip brings the fuel consumption for the fixed-wing portion of the President’s trip to 8,950 gallons.
Knoller went on to detail Obama's fuel consumption on Marine One:
The trip also put President Obama on Marine One for round-trip flights between the White House and Andrews AFB and between Des Moines International Airport and Newton, Iowa, site of his Earth Day speech. It totaled about an hour of flight time. The VH-3D that serves as Marine One consumes about 1200 pounds of fuel per hour which comes out to about 166 gallons consumed flying the President today.
Not included in these calculations are the presidential vehicles that took him the short distance from the landing zone in Newton to the event site at the Trinity Structural Towers Manufacturing Plant.
In closing, however, Knoller arguably gave Obama a pass for the waste of gas, pitting the cost of the flight with the imagined benefits of the president plugging alternative energy:
President Obama could have saved at least 9,116 gallons of fuel by giving his speech at the White House – but no wind turbines are manufactured here.
While this is true, couldn't the president have killed two birds with one stone by doing a teleconferenced speech that was beamed by satellite to the plant in Iowa but filmed at the White House? In doing so, the president could have heralded the fuel and time-saving promise of telecommuting while also plugging alternative energy.
Of course doing so wouldn't mean the White House press corps getting a fun field trip with a president whose agenda they generally support, nor would it have yielded the still photos that the Obama White House communications shop would covet.
Some animals are more equal than others.
Sadly,Mark Knoller was let go by CBS News in a cost-cutting move!
Why does Mark Knoller always sound out-of-breath?
Oh but he did so much good for the planet by spreading the good word. (snicker)
It’s actually a hell of a lot more than that. It is not just his plane you have to take into account.. The backup plane follows a half hour behind. There is also another communications plane that shadows the aircraft. Then you have the C-130 that arrives the day before with the limo and the White House Communication van. Then if the helicopters are needed, they arrive on a different aircraft.
Because, bless him, he is grossly obese, and has been for years.
He likes to fly around in his big airplane. It makes him feel important. He needs that.
Well it was reported that Uhbama checked the tire pressure personally...........
I wasn’t aware of that.
Baraq’s plane isn’t solar powered?
Who knew?
They must need a huge plane to transport his ego.
Was he puffing away blowing smoke in the face of a baby while lecturing on clean air?
...And his ears :-)
What isn’t included is the fact that ALL of his vehicles were transported by 89th Airlift Wing. This includes the helicopter, Marine One. It is also standard procedure to send another aircraft as a spare just in case air force one has a mechanical problem.
Just FYI there is no such thing as air force one. It’s a name designated by air traffic control to any air force aircraft that carries the president. There are actually two 747’s SAM2800 and SAM2900.
Yeah, that was a suprise!
He used enough JP for me to drive may car to the moon!
Thanks, Mr. President!
Hypocrite Alert!
Don’t foget the greenhouse gases used to power the teleprompter.
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