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From: warren@ihnss.UUCP (Warren Montgomery)
Newsgroups: net.auto
Subject: "The biggest farce ever"
Message-ID: <2104@ihnss.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 18-Jun-84 17:02:44 EDT
Article-I.D.: ihnss.2104
Posted: Mon Jun 18 17:02:44 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 22-Jun-84 08:56:45 EDT
Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Naperville, IL
Lines: 25

(Fuel for the flamethrowers)

I beg to differ with a recent posting (on the 55mph limit) claiming
the fuel shortage to be the biggest farce ever.  It is still true
that the world is using up ~40M barrels/day of oil.  Virtually no
new oil is being created, and the rate of use still exceeds the rate
at which new deposits are being discovered.  We may have pushed too
hard on the panic button 11 years ago, but barring some unforseen
scientific discovery, sooner or later the world will run out of gas.
The dates for this remain about the same as were envisioned 11 years
ago as well (some time early next century).  Please don't confuse
the factors that drive the short term panic/glut reaction cycle with
the long term problem.  I don't like the 55mph limit any better than
you do, and I don't know if it saves gas in the country as a whole
(It did make a significant difference in my Toyota, which did
noticably better on tires as well as gas when I stopped driving at
70-75), but I wish people would stop trying to promote the view that
there is no energy problem and no reason to conserve gas as an
argument against the 55mph limit.
-- 

	Warren Montgomery
	ihnss!warren
	IH x2494