Gas guzzlers in Sacramento. California lawmakers show hypocrisy in action
This week California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into a law a first of its kind Global Warming bill. The law set limits on emissions of greenhouse gases. The intent is to reduce the emissions back to 1990 levels by 2020. However, just because lawmakers are willing to stand up and vote for such a law, it doesn't necessarily mean they practice what they preach.
The governor, for example, openly supported the bill, but he gets transported around in a Ford Excursion which gets about 11 mpg at best. In addition, he always has an escort of California Highway Patrol cars. The hypocrisy as usual extends across both sides of the legislative aisle. Co-author of the bill Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez, D-Los Angeles, gets around in a 2003 Ford Explorer that's provided by the state. Two other Democratic assembly members who voted for the bill, Dario Frommer and Rebecca Cohn, both get around in Jeep Grand Cherokees, which, while they have tremendous off-road prowess (you know for getting up down all those dirt trails in the back yard of the capital), get the worst mileage in their class.
It's not all gas-guzzlers in Sacramento. Twenty-seven of the 120 members of the state assembly are now driving hybrids. Democratic assemblywoman Fran Pavley, another co-author of the global warming bill, drives a Toyota Prius.
[Source: San Francisco Chronicle]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
boc 5:28PM (9/28/2006)
All state provided vehicles should be hybrid, electric, or B100 biodiesel. All three of those are completely viable options. If they claim they can't do it, at the very least any gasser they use should get a minimum of 30MPG or more. It's time to put some action behind those words.
For the record, I drive on B100 biodiesel that's 100% California made. Win win for less pollution and supporting my local economy!
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Howard Lee Harkness 8:32PM (9/28/2006)
"For the record, I drive on B100 biodiesel that's 100% California made. Win win for less pollution and supporting my local economy!" -- boc
TRIPLE win -- you also send less money to countries that hate us.
Just what sort of auto do you drive?
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mark f 7:27AM (9/29/2006)
To say Gov Schwarzenegger practices hypocrisy is ridiculous and simply shows liberal bias rather than impartial reporting in Autoblog Green. Of course the Gov travels with a small police contingent, he is one of the Western world's most high visibility terrorist targets - American political leader better known than the Vice President, superstar celebrity millionaire, and staunch defender of personal responsibility & freedom (an poor immigrant who achieved tremendous success in the US). Also he travels with 1 to 2 bodyguards and personal staff in the large Excursion vehicle which carries a high level of communications equipment and armoring. What should be drive - a bullet-resistant Prius with his staff stuffed into the hatch? Not everyone has the inconsequential 'career' of an intolerant blog writer, and comparing such an unfulfilling lifestyle to that of the Gov simply reflects badly on the Autoblog Green publication. PS - sorry for the use of the terms 'impartial reporting' and 'Autoblog Green' in the same sentence, it won't happen again.
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Guenther 9:10AM (9/29/2006)
And who is to say that the Excursion in question ISN'T running on B100???
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ted 11:20AM (9/29/2006)
"To say Gov Schwarzenegger practices hypocrisy is ridiculous and simply shows liberal bias rather than impartial reporting in Autoblog Green."
Get real.
The guy goes out of his way to make sure everyone knows he has a hydro-hummer and signs big-time green legislation, then keeps cruising in his own guzzler.
I don't give a crap what party you side with, that's hypocirsy to the max.
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MikeW 3:26PM (10/01/2006)
The 6.0 diesel excursion gets the best mileage and is the fastest. Ford never bothered to fit a five speed automatic to the V8 & V10 gasoline engines, nor did they fit the three valve cylinder heads.
If they are getting 10mpg, then they could achieve 50% better energy efficiency by using the 6.0/TorqShift, get an actual 16.5mpg.
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