President Obama is calling for increased energy efficiency standards for cars to 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016. Today the average is 27.5 miles per gallon. Passenger cars will need to get an average 39 miles per gallon and light trucks 30 MPG under the new rules.

The standards are going to increase the cost of cars substantially, by as much as $1,300 per vehicle according to Obama himself. Is this good for America?

No!

Obama’s actions are being cheered by many, but here are some energy myths that need to be debunked pronto:

Myth: Energy efficiency will reduce energy consumption. Fact: The more that energy efficiency is mandated by the government, the more energy we consume! Look at it this way: If all cars got 2 miles to the gallon, most people would ride buses and trains. But the more fuel-efficient an automobile is, the more people drive it, increasing overall fuel consumption. The more efficient an air conditioner is, the cheaper they are to run and the more people buy them. The more efficient that road construction is, the more roads are built.

Myth: The car makers are not offering enough fuel-efficient cars. Fact: Since the end of World War II, auto makers worldwide have offered small, fuel-efficient cars from the Volkswagen Beetle to the Honda Civic to the Dodge Neon to the Hyundai Accent. And many more. But many people do not want them and so the car makers produce less of them. People need to haul bigger loads and more passengers than small cars allow. Small cars also are dangerous when hit in accidents and will kill thousands more people annually in crashes. The question is: If half the public votes Democrat/environmentalist, why aren’t half the cars on American roads these fuel-efficient small cars? Answer: Because liberals like to make laws for other people, not for themselves.

Myth: Europeans ride fast passenger trains, increasing their fuel efficiency. Fact: Intercity passenger travel in the US is 81% by car, while in France it is 75% by car. And passenger trains dominate the railroads of Europe, leaving less room for freight trains. So Europe has high levels of truck congestion on its highways, canceling out the fuel advantages that Europe’s passenger railroads have produced.

Myth: The world is running out of oil. Fact: Along with the fantasy of ‘global warming’ – which even environmentalists are backing away from – the second Biggest Lie of environmentalism is the myth that the world is running out of oil. Mankind worldwide has used 1 trillion barrels of oil since the beginning of the modern oil age in 1859. Today there are known worldwide reserves in oil sands, oil shale and crude oil of 12 trillion to 16 trillion barrels (3 trillion in US oil shale alone) and this does not even account for the fact that 90% of the world is either unexplored (deep oceans, Antarctica, Greenland, Siberia etc.) or underexplored (the US, Russia, Canada, shallow oceans etc.)

Myth: Under Obama, we are going to see big family cars that get 50 miles to the gallon. Fact: All the efficiency possible has been wrung out of the internal combustion engine. The only way to make cars more fuel efficient is to make them lighter, i.e., the small car like the Honda Civic. A Harley-Davidson motorcycle gets only 60 miles per gallon! So what else are you going to do? The recent picture of a rickshaw-type car is the only thing lighter than a Harley.

Myth: The electric car is going to revolutionize transportation. Fact: This is the third biggest lie of environmentalism. Think of it this way: If you know someone who heats their house with electricity, you know that it costs a huge amount of money. Because electricity is a highly-refined resource that should be used to run light bulbs and computers and refrigerators, not heat houses. It also should not be used to power automobiles. Now imagine we get millions of new electric cars on the road. We would have to build hundreds of new power plants just to generate that electricity. Yet enviros already are fighting construction of new power plants, even windmills. Where will all this new electricity come from?

Myth: Everyone wants a pristine environment. Fact: This is the type of sound bite that enviros use to control us. They say that we all want pristine air and water. But what we really want is a balance between clean air and economic growth. Enviros, on the other hand, want only one thing: A pristine environment, and then they use the “everyone agrees with us” argument to push their radical agenda. Environmentalism today is populated by extremists who use their “green” message to fool people. “Green” today is what “red” was 50 years ago. It is often a far-left communist agenda to give total power to the government and to gut private capitalism.

Myth: The world is signing on to the ‘global warming’ agenda. Fact: Even liberal European nations are rejecting this nonsense. China and India are not even interested. Once people see what the extremists wish to do with this ‘warming’ legislation, they balk.

Myth: The earth is heating up and unless we do something, catastrophe will ensue. Fact: ‘Global warming’ is what Al Gore does to make himself and his friends rich. It has been debunked. A British environmentalist recently (in May!) had to call off his expedition to the North Pole on which he was going to expose the horrors of ‘global warming’. Here are the first two lines of a report from the UK Telegraph on Pen Hadow’s trek:

The veteran explorer and his team trekked more than 269 miles for 73 days but were unable to make it to the North Pole because of extreme weather, with temperatures dropping below minus 40 degrees F/C.

The Catlin Arctic Survey, the first Polar expedition to monitor the affects of climate change on sea ice, was also unable to measure the ice using state-of-the art equipment because of the freezing conditions.

Please visit my website at www.nikitas3.com for more. You can print out for free my book, Right Is Right, which explains why only conservatism can maintain our freedom and prosperity.