To Get Off Foreign Oil, Pressure Your Congressman or Congress Woman

Sure there are steps we can all take to alleviate the need of foreign oil such as carpooling, buying a flex fuel vehicle or hybrid. We can convert our homes to run off electric heat as opposed to homes heated by oil and various other steps. However this will just slow down the process of sending all of our money overseas. We need to bring it to a screeching halt.

In the wake of the auto bailout we need to make sure that provisions are in place to force the auto industry to build all of their vehicles as flex fuel vehicles. In other words, they will be required to build vehicles that can run on gas, ethanol, methanol and electric. When the big 3 auto makers are building nothing but flex fuel vehicles, that will force the hand of foreign manufacturers to do the same because no one will buy gasoline only powered vehicles anymore.

Currently the auto industry makes a small number of vehicles that do this, but because this number is so small gas stations around the country have no reason to install ethanol/methanol pumps. The only exception is in California where Governor Schwarzenegger signed into law forcing every gas station to install at least one E85 pump. That is good news because we all need other states to do the same!

By forcing the auto industry to build nothing but flex fuel vehicles this will create a larger market demand for ethanol thereby forcing the hand of gas stations in this country to install pumps. Even better is the demand for American farmers and their products.

As we all know if every car today was altered to run off ethanol there just wouldn’t be enough to go around. So why the push for it then? In steps methanol. Methanol can also be made from corn and other biomass, but it also can be made from coal. As we all know the United States has enough coal in mines currently being tapped to create enough methanol fuel for our cars for the next 2 centuries!

Now many of you are probably thinking, “but I thought coal was harmful to the environment.” In part that is true because it is a burnable fossil fuel. What coal does allow us to do is help get off oil while we build the ethanol infrastructure we will need for energy. Coal is also domestically mined which means all of the money stays here, creates jobs here and so forth.

“I thought coal is needed for electricity?” many will say and that too is true, which is why we need to move our electric supply to wind, solar and the creation of electric from burning our garbage. By implementing this type of strategy the coal normally used for electric can be used to create methanol to run our vehicles without any loss of electric on our national and local grids.

“This is all great Bruce, but how can I help, I am only one person?” Write to your state’s senators and your congressional representative. Keep writing until you stop receiving the stupid “form” letter they send to everybody. I write to my representatives at least once a month just to tell them how I feel. Sometimes I receive a response, sometimes I don’t but at least I am getting my views out there to the people that are supposed to be representing me. Consider this process your own little type of lobbying!

The safety, security and future of our nation are far to at risk to continue down the path of buying foreign oil. Together we can put some pressure on our political leaders to write up some legislation that will force the auto industry (who is being bailed out with our money) to create vehicles that use far more ethanol and methanol as opposed to gasoline.