President Obama proposes 50% increase in spending on clean transportation, funded by $10/barrel tax on oil

Sigh. Seems it's that time of year again, to pander to the base by making proposals, while knowing there's absolutely no chance of passage. Via GCC:

President Obama proposes 50% increase in spending on clean transportation, funded by $10/barrel tax on oil

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http://www.greencarcongress.com/2016/02/20160205-obama.html

. . . The President’s plan invests nearly $20 billion per year above current spending to reduce traffic and provide new ways for families to get to work and to school. The plan would expand transit systems in cities, suburbs and rural areas; make high-speed rail a viable alternative to flying in major regional corridors and invest in new rail technologies like maglev; modernize the freight system; and expand the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) program begun in the Recovery Act to support high-impact, innovative local projects. . . .

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Meanwhile, I think we're about due for another equally pointless attempt at repealing Obamacare. Wake me when it's over. Actually, wake me in June in time for the California primary, then not again until November. - otherwise my B.S. cup runneth over.

Obviously this won't get passed. But, are we sure this is not part of some bargain - "Ok, we'll drop this proposal if you include this other thing in the budget".

evnow said:

Obviously this won't get passed. But, are we sure this is not part of some bargain - "Ok, we'll drop this proposal if you include this other thing in the budget".

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Nah, this is exactly like the President's previous annual proposals to change the tax credit to a rebate, and raise the amount - red meat for the faithful, with absolutely no chance of passage. It's a freebie, getting the pol pats on the back from the true believers, while knowing that they'll never have to pay for it. Various Republican congresscritters have already said it's DoA. Anyone who's surprised by this probably still waits for the Easter Bunny (or the Great Pumpkin) to put in an appearance every year.

On a related note, Obama has decided to cure cancer, preferably within 5 years. Bush II's Mars mission made more sense, achieveability-wise.

70% of the EV faithful are in favor of the tax.
https://plus.google.com/u/1/+DanielCardenas/posts/VwCq8K9V2im

a tax is a good idea but it needs to be adjustable with current market price of gasoline. A blanket tax is too inflexible and will be much tougher to justify

While I'm in favor of taxing carbon, I think our country would be ill advised to blow all of the resulting tax revenue on new spending. How has that DOE-subsidized Blink Network worked out for us? :lol: In the US, high speed rail projects are another good way to waste money - billions of dollars to serve relatively few passengers while bus riders are literally left in the cold. (Tax credits or rebates are likely the "least bad" way of putting money toward goals like EV adoption or renewable energy generation, as opposed to simply taxing fossil fuels.)

Based on what I'm reading on the republicEn site ("Energy Optimists, Climate Realists"), some of the Republican presidential candidates may be finally starting to admit in public that AGW (anthropogenic global warming) is indeed occurring and that we need to come up with solutions. Regardless of who gets elected to our national offices, I hope to see solutions that are more palatable across the political spectrum.

Cheap fuel costs promote waste so why should fossil fuel be so cheap ? We've paid high costs for energy here for many years and it hasn't killed us and it has made us a lot more aware about energy usage.

Why do people want to drive 3.0L to 5.0L engines to drive to work ? and vehicles much bigger than they need ?

Why do people believe cheapf fossil fuels is an absolute right ?

The ICE/ Oil industry has had probably trillions of subsidies over the decades. So time to put a tax on fossil fuels to make people change other than this there will be no change to alternatives.

I guarantee 10 USD per barrel is a joke, that's nothing to make people change.

Maybe if people paid 8 USD /Gallon it would bring a whole raft of new technologies and electric vehicles to the roads.

I think domestic oil produced should be given a 50% exemption.

smkettner said:

I think domestic oil produced should be given a 50% exemption.

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I think oil production should be exempted based on how (relatively) clean it is, not on where it's located. Exempt shale oil? No thanks.

I get the need to do something though. Spend some time in Europe on high speed rail, rapid transit, intracity light rail, etc etc. Its like stepping back into the fifties coming back to North America.

DanCar said:

70% of the EV faithful are in favor of the tax.
https://plus.google.com/u/1/+DanielCardenas/posts/VwCq8K9V2im

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People who like this sort of thing say that this is the sort of thing they like! So, let's see, 70% of the less than 0.7% of new car owners who bought PEVs agree that this is a good idea. Yeah, that 0.49% is likely to make politicians change their positions, especially in an election year.

o00scorpion00o said:

Maybe if people paid 8 USD /Gallon it would bring a whole raft of new technologies and electric vehicles to the roads.

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I was talking to my Dad on Skype, he lives in England, and he was shocked at how cheap our "petrol" is over here. That is why they drive smaller and, sometimes quicker, cars. Government really taxes the stuff over there. They have so much choice though, I'm jealous.

DuncanCunningham said:

o00scorpion00o said:

Maybe if people paid 8 USD /Gallon it would bring a whole raft of new technologies and electric vehicles to the roads.

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I was talking to my Dad on Skype, he lives in England, and he was shocked at how cheap our "petrol" is over here. That is why they drive smaller and, sometimes quicker, cars. Government really taxes the stuff over there. They have so much choice though, I'm jealous.

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The E.U mostly pays much higher fuel taxes than a lot of places but it really does make people buy a lot more efficient vehicles. + European cities were build long before cars were invented so we got much narrower windy streets, you won't find towns and cities designed here in lines of straight blocks.

Sometimes you need a larger more practical car but it still doesn't need a 3.0l or 5.0l Engine. Maybe a large SUV but we really don;t need many SUV's unless you live in the country and have crap roads.

A 1.4 L turbo petrol can still do 120 mph and accelerate 0-60 in 8.5 seconds. Or a 2.0L turbo for a larger car, can still pump out 200 HP.

I know Diesel vehicles are very popular here in the E.U which is wrong, diesels are far too polluting but E.U emissions regulations are far too lenient and even in light of the VW emissions scandal there was little impact in the E.U because our emissions regulations are a joke. There isn't even a hint of change on the horizon because E.U car makers will cry that they can't meet the regulations but instead of eliminating diesels and reducing taxes on petrol they will continue to promote diesel because of it's lower planet killing Co2 emissions and ignore the Nox and PM emissions that do actual harm.

So while we do have much higher tax and much more fuel efficient cars in the E.U diesel sales are high contributing to much more pollution.

I think people are beginning to buy more smaller CC turbo petrol's now though which is good. But I would like to see far more electric vehicles on the road but that won;t happen as long as fuel is getting cheaper here and very cheap elsewhere.

I think the U.S needs much higher fuel taxes to get off petrol, 10 USD per barrel of oil is a complete and utter joke, it will be barely felt at the pumps.

15.84 US Gallons of petrol in Ireland would cost 80.00 USD at today's petrol prices. How does this compare to the U.S now ?

It's about $1.80 per US gallon in Utah right now.

DuncanCunningham said:

It's about $1.80 per US gallon in Utah right now.

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So that would make it about 5.40 USD per U.S Gallon here.

I bet if people had to pay that price they'd change to EV pretty fast !

GRA said:

DanCar said:

70% of the EV faithful are in favor of the tax.
https://plus.google.com/u/1/+DanielCardenas/posts/VwCq8K9V2im

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People who like this sort of thing say that this is the sort of thing they like! So, let's see, 70% of the less than 0.7% of new car owners who bought PEVs agree that this is a good idea. Yeah, that 0.49% is likely to make politicians change their positions, especially in an election year.

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Well, we will just have to make sure more people buy PEVs.

smkettner said:

I think domestic oil produced should be given a 50% exemption.

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I was thinking he should have proposed an oil import surcharge in exchange for the republicans' vaunted "keystone pipeline". The Canadian oil of course would be subject to the surcharge...

NOW how much would you pay?

But wait! Don't answer yet. There's More!!

DuncanCunningham said:

It's about $1.80 per US gallon in Utah right now.

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I saw $1.629/gallon here a few days ago. And we have higher prices here than the Denver area (they are down to $1.30/gallon).

I'm not sure how many gallons of gasoline come from a 42 gallon barrel of oil, but $10/barrel would be a rather small price increase.

o00scorpion00o said:

So that would make it about 5.40 USD per U.S Gallon here.

I bet if people had to pay that price they'd change to EV pretty fast !

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Yes, people making $17k a year (Median income for hispanics in Indiana) buy a lot of new cars, or $15k used ones. I'm sure they are fine with $5-$6 per gallon gas too. Its not like they need food or rent money or anything.