How high can it go???

It's already too dammed high , if ya ask me !
I work hand in hand with the transportation industry , and if you think your groceries are high now just keep watching . Five years ago it cost my company $3,000 to send a truckload of product to Los Angeles from Louisville , I just sent a paltry 14,000# load to the Bay Area this afternoon and it was $5,000 ! Gasoline isn't the only high cost fuel , and diesel prices directly impact everything we buy .

What ticks me off is that there is no shortage and they claim it is due to the refinerys operating at full capacity and the speculation of one goes down what bullcrap. With the profit these oil companies are making I am sure full capacity has been standard procedure for a while. No they are just gouging us. You know I saw a ad on TV tonite where GMC made a comment about their Hydrogen car who knows maybe this technology is coming along faster than we thought and the oil companies are hitting us in the pocket book so they can get more funds to develop this. Since they are in the Energy Business they sure are not going to let some one else get a head of them. Just a thought even if that is not the issue the gouging sure is.

Switching over to hydrogen fuel cell technology would require a complete restructuring of the US fuel dispensing infrastructure at a potential cost of billions , and guess who gets to pay for it ? That would just swap one leech for another .

The obvious answer would be biodiesel , preferably from already well established hempseed oil . The infrastructure to dispense it already exists . The only motor fuel that cannot be made from hempseed oil , a vegetable form of petroleum , is gasoline since you can't distill benzene from it .

It would also yield an inexhaustible supply of heating oil , jet fuel , lubricants , chemicals , plastics , and pretty much anything else we currently produce from oil . Hemp also produces the strongest natural fiber , and more pulp for paper acre for acre than trees . An added plus is that the very durable hemp plant can grow almost anywhere .

Hemp is already in production , primarily for the fiber and edible oil , internationally . China , France , and several other nations have thriving hemp industries . I'm not suggesting that we buy from them , and considering that gasoline and diesel aren't getting any cheaper it's about time we looked into industrial(not recreational) hemp . This region used to be the largest hemp growing region in the country before nylon displaced hemp for rope making , there's no reason that it couldn't be again . Farmers that are currently growing tobacco could get more per acre with little changeover costs by switching to hemp . The strain of cannibis that is grown for fiber is totally useless for recreational purposes and would cross pollinate , and therefore ruin , any of the funny stuff growing anywhere near it .

Corn and soybeans aren't as viable as hemp for producing biodiesel due to much higher processing costs and higher water and fertilizer requirements . Hemp literally grows almost anywhere and requires far less care and feeding . So much for controversy .

ABC news report on US Oil Refineries

Aug. 16, 2005 — There are 149 refineries in the United States, and the strain on them is showing. Months of operating at nearly full throttle — trying to satisfy record consumer demand — has produced a summer of fires, accidents and shutdowns.

"Refineries are strained, and they are having more accidents and creating worries about supply shortages that drive up the price," said Jamal Qureshi, an oil analyst with PFC Energy.

The system is so stretched that 10 percent of the nation's daily diet of gasoline must now be imported.

"Everybody has come to recognize in the last six to eight months that there is a significant shortage of refining capacity in this country," said Glenn McGinnis, chief executive officer of Arizona Clean Fuels.

Oil analysts say more refineries could make a difference in gas prices, especially if they were able to process what's called "heavy" crude.

Heavy crude is harder and more expensive to refine than "light" crude, but it's also $14 a barrel cheaper, and there are millions of barrels for sale.

But right now, less than a third of the nation's refining capacity uses heavy crude.

"The optimal scenario would be to build a lot more of these refineries that can process heavy crude," Qureshi said.


Would More Refineries Help?

Analysts say just a few new big refineries could produce enough extra gasoline to make a dent in prices. But building even a small refinery in the United States is a monumental task — just ask McGinnis.

He's been trying to build a refinery on a patch of Arizona desert for a decade, and at this point hopes to be operational in early 2010. It's taken five years to get the air quality permits — the site had to be moved from Phoenix to Yuma — and they still won't break ground for another year.

"By the time we're completed, it will have been 15 years since the project really got started until we got product to the market," McGinnis said.

Yet how many of us drive economy cars ?
Aint hurting too bad yet.


In regards to those refineries, G.W. needs to step in and kick some of the regulations out of the way to allow construction of a few. A big one in the northwest would allow us to use our Alaska oil. Meawhile, it's all going to Japan.

I've been feeding the beast a bunch lately. 5.2 V8 (318) full time 4X4 goin to the north side of indy all week. It's killin me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11

[quote author=jdmiller board=campfire . Anyone got a good idea how to strap a 200 pound deer on a bicycle .... I think thats where we are headed . [/quote]

I actually have a camo bike that has a home made lounger stand with wheels that will haul a deer! But being the wore out ol fart I am it is now for the youngins. Right now they just ride each other around on it.

I love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!