An MSNBC report today gives us something new to worry about with skyrocketing gas prices – thermal expansion. According to them:
As the temperature rises, liquid gasoline expands and the amount of energy in each gallon drops. Since gas is priced at a 60-degree standard and gas pumps don€™t adjust for any temperature changes, motorists often get less bang for their buck in warmer weather.
Consumer watchdog groups warn that the temperature hike could end up costing consumers between 3 and 9 cents a gallon at the pump.
The effect could cost U.S. drivers more than $1.5 billion in the summertime, including $228 million to drivers in California alone, according to the House Subcommittee on Domestic Policy, which recently addressed it in hearings. The committee€™s chair, Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, has long been an advocate on the issue and has new clout as a member of the congressional majority.
My first clue to something being wrong with this is in the last sentence: Dennis Kucinich. After a failed presidential bid in 2004, this guy is grasping at straws to keep himself positioned as a hopeful for 2008. Typical shallow-thinking from the Democrats, all it takes is a little thought to realize that fuel isn’t stored above ground. The tanks are stored underground, where temperature fluctuations above ground have no influence at all on the temperature of the fuel going into your tank. It doesn’t expand until after it comes out of the ground and goes into your car. If anything, that fuel is in the mid-50 degree range at the pump, and we’re actually getting more for our money based on that 60-degree pricing standard.
20 federal lawsuits have been filed over this already, some of which are actually seeking class-action status. Have any of the lawyers filing these suits even bothered to check the temperature of a gallon of gas?
How foolish are they going to feel when this is candidly pointed out to them in the courtroom?
I don’t relish the job of having to make fools out of politicians and lawyers, but most of them do a fine job of it all by themselves.
“Hot” Gas Costing You More at the Pump?
An MSNBC report today gives us something new to worry about with skyrocketing gas prices – thermal expansion. According to them:
My first clue to something being wrong with this is in the last sentence: Dennis Kucinich. After a failed presidential bid in 2004, this guy is grasping at straws to keep himself positioned as a hopeful for 2008. Typical shallow-thinking from the Democrats, all it takes is a little thought to realize that fuel isn’t stored above ground. The tanks are stored underground, where temperature fluctuations above ground have no influence at all on the temperature of the fuel going into your tank. It doesn’t expand until after it comes out of the ground and goes into your car. If anything, that fuel is in the mid-50 degree range at the pump, and we’re actually getting more for our money based on that 60-degree pricing standard.
20 federal lawsuits have been filed over this already, some of which are actually seeking class-action status. Have any of the lawyers filing these suits even bothered to check the temperature of a gallon of gas?
Gallon of Regular Unleaded Fuel: $3.00
Thermometer: $1.99
Making 20 attorneys look like idiots: Priceless
How foolish are they going to feel when this is candidly pointed out to them in the courtroom?
I don’t relish the job of having to make fools out of politicians and lawyers, but most of them do a fine job of it all by themselves.