Wake Up America: Soon Is the Winter of Our Discontent
Commentary
Many Americans are woefully unaware of the impending (and in Europe, already underway) spikes in energy prices and shortages of supply. Last month it was reported that the United States has only 25 days’ worth of diesel fuel remaining—the lowest level in October since the Energy Department’s Energy Information Administration (EIA) began such reporting in 1982—while seasonal demand is the highest since 2007. Far less than needed is available and in transit to replace this existing stockpile when it’s exhausted, and some predict that supplies will not return to normal levels until next summer at the earliest.
Diesel fueled-engines transport nearly all consumer products. They are in trucks, trains, ships, and barges. Diesel also powers most farm and construction equipment as well as most local, interstate, and school buses. The problems with electric buses in Duluth and Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota; Kent, Washington; and Hamden, Connecticut—where one of 12 electric buses spontaneously burst into flames while parked in a bus yard—indicate that diesel is a safer, more stable, and reliable technology….