According to this Time Magazine article by Michael Grunwald, Barack Obama is right in saying that keeping our tires properly inflated will save as much gas as we’d produce in offshore drilling. Sadly, Mr. Grunwald’s statistics don’t add up:

How out of touch is Barack Obama? He’s so out of touch that he suggested that if all Americans inflated their tires properly and took their cars for regular tune-ups, they could save as much oil as new offshore drilling would produce. Gleeful Republicans have made this their daily talking point; Rush Limbaugh is having a field day; and the Republican National Committee is sending tire gauges labeled “Barack Obama’s Energy Plan” to Washington reporters.

But who’s really out of touch? The Bush Administration estimates that expanded offshore drilling could increase oil production by 200,000 bbl. per day by 2030. We use about 20 million bbl. per day, so that would meet about 1% of our demand two decades from now. Meanwhile, efficiency experts say that keeping tires inflated can improve gas mileage 3%, and regular maintenance can add another 4%. Many drivers already follow their advice, but if everyone did, we could immediately reduce demand several percentage points. In other words: Obama is right.

What blithering idiot thinks that we’d only get 200K bbl/day from the OCS? Multiply that figure by 10 and you’re closer to reality.

One wonders where Mr. Grunwald got his information from. (Don’t be surprised if it’s from the EIA.)

It’s estimated that there’s almost 90 billion bbls hidden on the OCS. Here’s what the U.S. Minerals Management Service is forecasting:

Gulf of Mexico (GOM) oil production is forecasted to increase over the next ten years to a possible high of 2.1 million barrels of oil per day. The Department of the Interior’s Minerals Management Service (MMS) released today its Gulf of Mexico Oil and Gas Production Forecast: 2007-2016, at the Offshore Technology Conference in Houston, Texas. In the report, GOM gas production is forecasted to recover from recent declines over the next three years to a possible high of 8.3 billion cubic feet of gas per day.

Either Mr. Grunwald is a Democratic shill or he’s a sloppy researcher or both. One thing he isn’t is accurate. Mathematically speaking, that peak would be approximately 10 percent of the United State’s daily consumption in 2008. That’s also assuming that our consumption won’t drop as a result of better fuel efficiency.

Then let’s figure out how much gas we’d actually save by keeping tires properly inflated. I’ll readily stipulate that it does save gas. Mr. Grunwald’s estimation appears to assume that nobody currently keeps their tires properly inflated. If that’s the assumption that he’s making, then he’ll be wrong. Let’s assume that half of the vehicles have properly inflated tires. That means a savings of only 1.5% over what we’re currently using. 1.5% of 20 million bbls. is approximately 300,000 bbls. saved.

That 300,000 bbl. figure represents one seventh of the projected daily production from the OCS. That’s before we start talking about shale oil. That’s before factoring in ANWR production.

FYI- Let’s consider this report’s data:

The MMS estimates that the quantity of undiscovered technically recoverable resources ranges from 66.6 to 115.3 billion barrels of oil and 326.4 to 565.9 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

These estimates are usually conservative. Even so, 115.3 billion bbl. would supply all of our oil needs for 16.2 years. That’s if we didn’t have other wells going at the same time. That’s assuming that we didn’t import oil from Canada and Mexico.

CONCLUSION: Sen. Obama doesn’t have his facts straight. Neither does Mr. Grunwald. They’re peddling nonsense and shouldn’t be taken seriously.

Technorati Tags: Gas Crisis, Barack Obama, Tire Pressure, Pressure Gauge, Mike Grunwald, Research, OCS, ANWR

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

1. And its still not going to save enough.
   What in hell, over the next 10 years do these idiots think cars, tractors and harvestors (you know those big machines that farmers have to take out a second mortgage to pay for that bring all that corn to make ethanol to market with) and trucks, locomotives, ships, to bring that and 1,000 other things the country needs are suppose to run on, fairy dust?

   Comment by T.A Gray — August 5, 2008 @ 9:21 am

2. Obamessiah was out touting his economic and energy plans today (8/5), saying first we need to punish “Big Oil” for making a profit, then turning his head around and saying we need to create more jobs in our economy.

   Yes, the Obamessiah truly believes everything runs on fairy dust. He has to believe jobs are created with no capital, otherwise he would support allowing companies to make not only a profit but a reasonable one at that.

   If my return on investment were as low as Exxon’s I would find somewhere else to invest, and it certainly wouldn’t be somewhere I could see the Obamessiah’s fingerprints all over the regulations.

   By “punishing” “Big Oil” with an “excess profits” tax, he is hurting a numerical majority of investors, mostly middle class, because they’re the one invested in “Big Oil” to the max.

   Just one more way the Obamessiah wants to make us all equal(ly miserable).

   Comment by Carlos — August 5, 2008 @ 4:22 pm

3. Your problem Carlos, is your just a knuckle dragging 19th century guy that still believes in the Constitution and all that selfish free enterprise crap. You need to move on to modern thinking. Come on now, fork it all over to the nice big governemnt!

   Comment by T.A Gray — August 5, 2008 @ 10:27 pm

4. Fork what over? They got it all already and have lined up to take whatever shows up next! Maybe I should go hold a sign on a corner to get my money tax-free, go on welfare and get subsidized housing. Heck, if my last name was Mendoza or Garcia, I could even get hassle-free medical care.

   Comment by Carlos — August 5, 2008 @ 11:31 pm

5. I hear that! Can you imagine though when I get off work backing the GE DASH-9’s up to the roundhouse and plugging em in for a recharge?

   Comment by T.A Gray — August 6, 2008 @ 7:41 am