I have been criticized by some people for having this on the
   newsletter so here are my reasons. Our dumb U.S. politicians are
   threatening to double the price of gasoline by increasing the
  taxes on
   gasoline and other forms of energy such as coal.

Paul Lamar


I haven't heard any politicians planning on doubling the price of
gasoline via taxes?

One gallon of gasoline or diesel emits 20 pounds of CO2 or so.
Carbon taxes bandied about rarely exceed $40 per ton, and are usually
closer to $20.

$40 per ton implies $0.40 per gallon.  $20 per ton implies $0.20 per
gallon.

Hardly doubling the price, right?

Nate Fairchild

That is only the direct tax.
To quote comrade Obama "the price of gasoline will necessarily skyrocket". CO2
increase is his rational for reducing phony "global warming". Check out cba3.com
where you will find the actual NASA data that shows the rate of warming is flat
to declining for the last ten years since the sat was put up. Other data suggest
the earth is cooling off. Up until the advent of the NASA satellite there was no
accurate direct way of measuring the earths temperature. The satellite can
sample and measure every square mile. There was no practical way of doing that
pre satellite.

Any CO2 tax increase is totally unnecessary and counter productive as CO2 at the
380 ppm levels the alarmist are talking about is actually greatly beneficial for
plant and tree growth. It takes 20,000 parts per million before it starts to
affect health.

Paul Lamar
--

Paul,

Where did you get the figure 20,000 parts per million? The C02 levels
alarms in submarines go off a 2000 ppm.  Scientist friends of mine were
living for a month or so in the Biosphere II at levels of 13,000 ppm and
it actually did affect their health and aged them rapidly.  Plants were
happy and growing at phenomenal growth rates and sizes.  Still there
wasn't enough oxygen. They later found out the concrete in the basement
was absorbing it.

So where did all the CO2 come from?  You are going to love this:) To much
bullshit.
Yes, when the two and half area vessel was under construction they
thought the soils were poor so they added tons of cow manure to them.
All of the original crew were technicians and scientists and almost
starved during their two year stint.  Of course when plowing their
garden plots to plant, many greenhouse (literally) gases were released.
As an interesting aside the second group contained a Nepali friend of
mine and with his gardening skills everyone ate well.

Again the global issue isn't about CO2 though that is something the
average Joe can understand.
And I notice instead of talking about the real issue of hydro-carbon
emissions you and everyone else is skirting the issue and doing the "he
said she said" routine.

In the seventies it was the Clean Air Act.  Not a sexy name but it helped
clean up the West Coast and North East corridor and of course put a
heavy financial burden on American industry. Should we whine about it?
Heck no. Europe, Japan, Korea and other developed countries have done
the same and the result was an increase of factory efficiency and a
better financial bottom line. The state of mess our economy is in is
because we never cleaned up our management practices.  Profits and
earnings targets are based on a 3 months plans, and government is
concentrating on sound-bites and gee whiz short term fixes.  The mess we
are in didn't start two years ago, it started about 40 years ago.   We
believe we have the right to waste.  Fine but put a fair price on waste
and everyone will soon lower theirs.

The gasoline tax is only one of the ways your government plans to pay for
 the war in the middle east. That is what people should be bitching about.
Gasoline has always been too cheap anyway.  The real value should be ten times
as high. Why get angry when you read this?  Rather
make sure the tax is only used for making highway infrastructure, and
lowering hydrocarbon emissions.

Still don't like that tax?  Buy a more fuel efficient car with a
turbocharged diesel power plant. Or better yet buy an electric car and
put photovoltaics panels on your roof to charge it up with.

Doug in Japan

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cba3.com and:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_dioxide

We are currently at 380 ppm in the high arctic.

"CO2 is a trace gas being only 0.038% of the atmosphere."

"It is thus a major component of the carbon cycle."

"CO2 is toxic in higher concentrations: 1% (10,000 ppm) will make some people
feel drowsy. Concentrations of 7% [70,000 ppm] to 10% [100,000 ppm] cause
dizziness, headache, visual and hearing dysfunction, and unconsciousness within
a few minutes to an hour."

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Here is a chart for current hydro carbon emissions in the US.
http://www.dupontelastomers.com/autofocus/a1/af1.asp?article=regulations


1 gram = 0.00220 lbs

At .000022 pounds per mile Hc emissions are down in the noise level.


You do have google in Japan don't you? :)

Paul Lamar