Gas Pains

Ignorance is contagious. I saw this when someone at work said that gas prices will go up after the election, and a bunch of other pundits jumped on the bandwagon. Folks, you're right, but for the wrong reasons.
George Bush did not lower the gas prices before the election any more than he raised them afterward. Yes, he was an oil man. Yes, his father was an oil man. Dick Cheney had a hand in the energy business as well. But the main point is this: they had nothing to do with gas prices!
It's called Supply and Demand. When demand goes up, prices go up. When demand declines, so do prices. It's not to make excess profit; prices go up primarily because it will cost more for the companies to make more and source more product. They have to also change gasoline blends with winter coming on (gasoline in the summer resists evaporation, winter blend is formulated to evaporate because the "volatiles" tend not to boil off in the cold, and your car is hard to start if you use sumemr gas in winter).
But there is a sinister element out there: OPEC. If we could just produce our own oil, convert it to gasoline or diesel, add domestically-produced ethanol, and use that in our cars, we'd at least eliminate one variable. Sure, prices would fluctuate with demand, just as they do now. But our domestic market would control it, not countries that hate us!
I'm amazed that Georgia doesn't have even one retail outlet for E85, the gasoline-alcohol mix touted by General Motors. Doesn't sound like Georgia is even interested in alternative fuels. Case in point: I asked the tag office what I had to do to get the Alternative Fuel Vehicle license plates, as I am contemplating a LPG conversion on my truck. No response. I looked on their web site and found scant information. Basically it said I could use propane or CNG, or maybe hydrogen. That's about it. No tax incentives exist. In fact, the tags cost more than regular tags, and no longer allow me to use the HOV lanes if I drive an alternatively-fueled vehicle. Sigh.

I want to do something about the situation, but my options are limited. I guess I'll just have to finish working on my propane-powered lawnmower project this winter and go from there.