Posted on 04/22/2006 9:32:49 AM PDT by SmithL
ST. HELENA, Calif. -- Unable to drive down high oil prices, President Bush is spending Earth Day promoting futuristic hydrogen fuel technology as a way to wean Americans from gas-guzzling vehicles.
After a bike ride near his Napa Valley resort Saturday morning, Bush planned to visit the California Fuel Cell Partnership in West Sacramento for a tour and speech on his energy plan.
The plan does not include any measures that would reduce gas prices in the short term, the White House acknowledges. But with Republicans worried that the increasing cost to drive could hurt them in the voting booth this year, Bush said he understands Americans are hurting.
"I know the folks here are suffering at the gas pump," Bush told an audience Friday in San Jose. "Rising gasoline prices is like taking a — is like a tax, particularly on the working people and the small business people."
But to address the immediate problem, Bush offered only a pledge that "if we find any price gouging it will be dealt with firmly."
The White House hopes the high gas prices will pressure Congress to act on the energy proposals the president outlined in his State of the Union address, such as increased federal research into alternative fuels and batteries for hybrid and electric cars.
Democrats, meanwhile, contend that the Bush administration places too much emphasis on drilling reserves and not enough on alternative fuels.
The promise of hydrogen fuel cell technology in vehicles is a favorite of automakers, environmentalists and politicians because it accomplishes two important goals — automobiles that run on fuel cells would not require gasoline and emit only water.
The problem with the technology is that it's many years away from widespread use.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Hydrogen, electric cars for the commute that don't use any gasoline at all, and not a penny cheaper to run but at least they aren't dependent on foreign oil.
So out of touch...
"Unable to report the news in an unbiased manner, AP today assigned Nedra Pickler to . . ."
"Prez......promoting futuristic hydrogen fuel technology"
read my lips....its not in the thermodynamics, stupid!
"automobiles that run on fuel cells would not require gasoline and emit only water."
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No its dihydrogen oxide they will emit, a substance that kills countless people every year. This is terrible!
And in the evening barbequeing a whole cow for the Border Patrol and Minutemen....
Or ignoring Lennin's birthday altogether and telling folks why.
Bush promotes fuel cells, rides his bike on Earth Day
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Notice he didn't take the Gub up on an offer of a ride in his motorcycle sidecar.
Yeah, like the President controls the oil prices. But to Leftists, the gubermint is supposed to control everything, from the price of oil, to its availability (those with special "need" like celebrities and Party officials will always have top priority), to the amount of time you can pass gas in a day.
The City Council where my SIL lives actually tried to ban DHMO.
So much for drilling under this GOP controlled government. Independence from foreign oil was one of the major issues for which I voted all GOP since 2000.
Promoting fuel cells is nice, but without legislation fast-tracking nuclear energy, it's not very helpful. If you have to burn imported fuel to produce hydrogen, then you are set further back because the process is less efficient than gasoline engines, due to the multiple conversions.
Actually, it is more expensive:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1284737/posts?page=1
Stupid thieving government.
Now there are a bunch of crooks, IMO. Firoz Rasul, chairman of Ballard Power Systems Ltd., took over chairmanship of the California Fuel Cell Partnership in 2004. He has a pretty sleazy history.
We have been over and over this on FR for a long time. The idea is to get free of imported oil, not to find a cheaper source of fuel. Reason being, there is nothing cheaper on this planet than oil.
The object of this exercise is to eliminate foreign oil. Cost is of interest but is secondary.
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