Pardon me, I have gas

I come across an article recently  in the Oregonian reporting that the Federal Government uses 7 million, let me repeat that,  7 million gallons of fuel EVERY SINGLE DAY.  Just to fill up one B-52 bomber costs us, the taxpayer, over $100,000.  The tank on this baby holds 48,000 gallons and lasts for about one normal flight.  I did a quick calculation and that is nearly the amount of petroleum I will use in my car in a lifetime.    

When an F-16 fighter jet takes off, it spews $300.00 worth of fuel out the back end in the first one minute of flight.  An army Abrams tank gets just one mile per gallon at a cost to the government (ummm...that's really  us paying this) of about $2.00 per gallon.  Plus, there are ships in the water, transport trucks all over the world, generators, helicopters, other types of aircraft, well I guess there is a pretty big list.   All in all, the government spends 7.1 BILLION dollars on fuel every year. That is a lot of fuel. 

I work hard at reducing my mileage and fuel consumption.  I'm even moving so my car can stay parked most of the time. I have already cut my fuel bill in half and by September I should have that cut in half again.   I hope someday to have it to nearly zero.

I  have committed myself to not being blatantly political in this blog so I am not going to call on people to write their elected representatives asking that the federal government conserve fuel.  However, when I read this article I realized there is a very good reason the government has not been promoting  we all conserve fuel.    It would make them look like a hypocrite. 

I have no intent to go back to my wasteful ways just  because they waste and it "wouldn't make a difference anyhow."  It will make a difference.  It may be smaller than taking one B-52 or F-16 out of the sky but it will make a difference and I will realize an instant reward in my pocketbook as well.    And with gas headed who knows where that is a good incentive to me. Keep an eye on the ticker down there to the left if you want to keep up on the price of gas.  If you commit yourself to using very little of the stuff, it is no longer an aggravation...it's just a number.