From Peter Wilson: Forget the war on women, the Obama Administration has been waging a war on petroleum. This is not a deranged partisan accusation but the aim in the mission statement of the Clean Cities Coalition Program at the Department of Energy, which reads as follows:
“The Clean Cities’ mission is to advance the energy, economic, and environmental security of the U.S. by supporting local decisions to adopt practices that contribute to the reduction of petroleum consumption in the transportation sector.”
In other words, despite all those “handouts to oil companies” that the President grouses about, a taxpayer-funded government agency is actively attempting to discourage the use of a product hat private companies have brought to market.
Clean Cities came to my attention recently when my local newspaper, the Cambridge Chronicle announced with great fanfare that a free electric vehicle charging station had opened in Cambridge, funded by “the federal Department of Energy” through the Clean Cities Coalition. That’s right, “free.” According to the Chronicle, Chevy Volt owner Leon Alexandrou lobbied to have the charging station installed. No wonder, since the 46-mile commute from Alexandrou’s affluent suburb of Marblehead to his high tech job in Cambridge was more than the Volt could accomplish without switching over to fossil fuels. According to my calculations, Mr. Alexandrou is getting a $180/year subsidy from taxpayers, in addition to the $7,500 rebate he collected to purchase his vehicle.
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