With the Democratic National Convention underway, and Barack Obama officially nominated as the democratic presidential candidate, his stance on offshore drilling needs to determined. The “Gang of 10″ Republicans and Democrats have come up with a plan that will allow offshore drilling by oil companies in areas currently considered off-limits because of environmental concerns to the coastline.

So what is this plan being pushed and what are the perceived benefits? In short, the plan is to lift the ban on offshore drilling to bring down the price of gasoline for Americans. A secondary goal is to raise $84 billion for alternative energy and conservation funds. This money would start accumulating immediately once exploration begins, as oil companies will no longer be eligible for a manufacturing tax credit. It’s as simple as that…

Now, what are the realistic expectations Americans should have about this plan?

• It will be 10 years before oil will start to be pumped into refinery pipelines, from the point the exploring begins.
• Oil will start being pumped out in 10 years, but maximum capacity isn’t expected to be reached until 2030.
• As the oil is pumped from these new leases, it will just be auctioned off into the global market, and the highest bidder will buy the oil. It will not be set aside solely for Americans, unless we are planning to change the way we participate in free global markets.
• Even though the plan projects to raise $84 billion for alternative energy projects, drilling in these off-limit areas will risk serious environmental damage to our coastlines.

With those kinds of expectations, you may wonder why there is even a debate. Well, it comes down to votes. The fear of continued high gas prices may lead voters to choose whatever candidate tells them their plan will reduce prices at the pump.

A recent WSJ/ABC News poll revealed voters’ stances on how they feel about about expanding offshore drilling:

Obama Voters

Right Direction: 41% Unsure: 14% Wrong Direction: 45%

McCain Voters

Right Direction: 88% Unsure: 4% Wrong Direction: 8%

Undecided Voters

Right Direction: 61% Unsure: 17% Wrong Direction: 23%

Those numbers look a little concerning. Our two nominees should start focusing on realistic alternatives to gas price reduction, instead of lobbying for whatever plan gains traction at the polls.

We’re interested to see what DumpItInThePump readers think about this issue. Let us know!

We recently wrote a post regarding predictions of travel over the Fourth of July.  At that time the price of fuel was at an all time high with the national average gallon of gas at $4.07.  As expected travel was down when compared to previous years.

Labor Day weekend is fast approaching and unlike previous holiday’s in 2008 we are starting to see some relief at the pump.  Gas prices have dropped approximately 42 cents since a peak not long after the Fourth of July.

The question is whether the decline in fuel costs will change motorists attitude and cause them to hit the road this weekend.  The AAA predicts a slight decrease in travel this Labor Day weekend vs. last year.  More specifically a .9% decrease is expected for people traveling over 50 miles.  I have to admit I’m a little surprised that the AAA expects such small decline when comparing the travel this year to last year.  Yes - gas prices have declined 42 cents in the more recent weeks, however, the prices are still up by almost a dollar when compared to last year.   My prediction would be a more significant reduction in travel this holiday… I guess we’ll see what happens.

If you have been watching our US Nationwide Gas Price widget you may have noticed a steady decline in prices over the past 30+ days.  Average prices have fallen by about 40 cents nationally.  The Daily Fuel Gauge Report provided by the AAA shows that the average gallon of regular gasoline today costs $3.70 while the average a month ago was at $4.06.  At this point, I think consumers will take any relief they can get although this is still not a huge drop considering that the avergage gallon one year ago was $2.78.

With the increased cost of fuel, many consumers have taken measures to decrease their usage.  The aggregate nationally and worldwide is causing a significant reduction in demand from this time last year.  It will, however, be interesting to see if consumers will continue forward with a reduction in usage or if with the reduced prices we’ll go back to our old ways.

Our Gas Price by State pages provide some interesting graphs on the change in prices in different states:

Highest Prices:

• Alaska
• Hawaii
• California

Lowest Prices:

• Missouri
• South Carolina

As written up by Gas20.org, Suzuki plans to sell cars that run entirely on ethanol gas in the US and Brazil by 2010. They note that Brazil’s economy is ready to supply these new cars with fuel as in Brazil, ethanol is just as prevalent as gasoline. They use sugar cane to produce ethanol and claim it is a self sustaining industry.

Unfortunately, in the US, crops used to produce ethanol are also used to feed cattle and sustain other critical parts of our comprehensive agricultural industry. The mandates to increase ethanol as fuel have driven the costs of these crops so high that farmers and consumers are starting to feel the impact. So, will these cars really sell that well in the US? Will our economy allow ethanol to be prevalent enough to fuel Suzuki’s new lineup?

Miles per gallon on a pickup was as important in 1979 as it is today. Take a look at the commercial below for Ford pickups from 1979.

The measure of miles per gallon became an important factor in consumers minds for the first time when buying cars in the late 70’s / early 80’s. The oil shock forced car manufactures to focus on fuel efficiency as a stronger selling point.

This Chevy commercial offers to “electronically certify each car under manufacturers specs, to get maximum gas mileage“.

What’s really interesting is to compare gas mileage of pickups from the 80’s to those of today. The following Ford commercial claims 20/30 MPG for the most powerful pickup in its class.

Today’s most fuel efficient F-150 gets 14/20 MPG. While this rating is much lower than trucks of the early 80’s, its still very competitive in its class. So how did car manufacturers let fuel economy slip so bad over the past 25 years? With consistently low gas prices, fuel economy was less important than power, comfort, and luxury.