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


My thought is Doug has about hit the horse crap/cow crap debate nail
on the
head.
Dale Davies


I recommend 15 yards as a "piling on" penalty.
jd