This page was last updated on April 15, 2012.
Natural gas is the answer; Steven McKenna; Beaver County Times; April 11, 2012.
Mr. McKenna has written at least eight letters since 2008. The only previous McKenna letter I critiqued was “Health care doesn’t need fixed.”
Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.
“Experts agree gasoline may reach $5 a gallon this summer, yet none of our representatives are talking alternatives besides Obama and his pipe dream that is called a Chevy Volt.
“How about 3 letters CNG, compressed natural gas. Gas is clean, plentiful and found in the United States. Oil is $109 a barrel, gas is $2.50. Dodge and Chevy are rolling out CNG vehicles within the year. Why aren’t Obama and the Republican candidates promoting this? My guess is they are all elbow deep in oil kickbacks either from the U.S. or the Saudis or both. Makes me sick to say they are our ‘representatives.’”
[RWC] Mr. McKenna wrote, “Oil is $109 a barrel, gas is $2.50” but didn’t give the units for gas. On a BTU basis, one barrel of oil is the equivalent of about 5,800 cubic feet of natural gas. Oil at $109/barrel is about $0.019/kBTU. For 2011, the average futures price for natural gas was $0.004/kBTU.
By necessity, oil companies also produce natural gas so the “oil kickbacks” comment has a logic problem in addition to no evidence.
Why should “Obama and the Republican candidates promot[e] [CNG]?” If/when it makes economic sense, the market will develop on its own.
© 2004-2012 Robert W. Cox, all rights reserved.