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ST. LOUIS NEWS TODAY - Saturday, September 20, 2008
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As the giant pink Energizer Bunny® The Hot Hare Balloon peaked through the trees in Forest Park late Saturday afternoon at the height of the Great Forest Park Balloon Race, a young family enjoyed a ride on the bike path along Lindell Boulevard.
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Spectators near the tennis courts at Barnes-Jewish Hospital on Kingshighway enjoyed the hot air balloons lifting off from the Central Fields in Forest Park while the giant pink Energizer Bunny® The Hot Hare Balloon remained grounded due to poor weather conditions.
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Great Forest Park Balloon Race Gets Off to Late Start Under Gray Skies
by Betty Moore, SLFP.com
ST. LOUIS, MO, (SLFP.com), September 20, 2008 - Thousands of families and visitors gathered in Forest Park, Saturday, September 20, for the annual tradition centered around the festivities of the Great Forest Park Balloon Race.
The threat of light rain and gloomy skies did little to dampen the enthusiam for the event that featured live music, a Purina Children's entertainment area, food courts, photo contest, and numerous vendors.
Pilots from around the country fired up their 'hounds' balloons late in the afternoon after waiting for the final word it was a "go" for the race. The Macy's balloon served as the lead 'hot hare' balloon in place of the Energizer Bunny® The Hot Hare Balloon, which did not take off due to poor weather conditions.
Loud cheers greeted the colorful balloons as they lifted off from the grassy Central Fields. For many, the flight was cut short as diminishing winds brought several balloons down near the handball courts along Lindell Boulevard.
Families riding bikes on the paths enjoyed a very close and personal view as balloonists and their crew struggled to get control while avoiding structures and trees.
The giant, six-story, pink Energizer Bunny® The Hot Hare Balloon was still inflated at 6 p.m. as many families began leaving the park, causing long traffic jams.
Consumer Group Fumes Over Policies on Gas Prices
ST. LOUIS, MO, (SLFP.com), September 14, 2008 - On Friday, as the U.S. Senate rushes to appease consumer anger over gas prices, the Consumer Federation of America (CFA) released an analysis of the policies being put forward to solve the nation's oil problem and finds that fuel economy, conservation, and alternative fuels deliver over 50 times as much oil savings as expanded drilling can produce with far greater impact on the price of gasoline.
The new report entitled "A Boom for Big Oil - A Bust for Consumers" assembles and analyzes federal data from a variety of agencies, providing a first time comparison of four different policies on a consistent basis in the next two decades: 1) Expanding Drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), 2) Raising Fuel Economy Standards; 3) Increasing Alternative Fuels; 4) Fuel Conservation Measures.
"While much of the recent debate over how to ease consumer pain at the pump has been focused on expanding drilling for oil, this analysis shows that it is only salt on the wound," said report author Mark Cooper, CFA Director of Research. "Drilling won't bring gas prices down or lessen our dependence on oil, short or long term. It will only fatten oil company coffers. And, it diverts attention, support, and resources from policies that can produce much bigger results for consumers and the nation."
Combining recent analyses from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), as well as oil company financial statements, the report findings include the following:
- Efficiency, conservation, and alternative fuels deliver over 50 times
as much oil savings as expanded drilling can produce.
- Expanded drilling on the OCS would increase domestic production by a
scant 1.6 percent (the equivalent of about 23 billion gallons) between
2010-2030, which would have little to no influence on the world price
of oil, and therefore have little to no impact on domestic gasoline
prices.
- Expanded drilling provides greater profits for domestic oil companies
with no benefits to the consumer. In the first six months of 2008, the
net income of domestic oil producers was 50 percent higher on U.S.
production than on international production because oil is sold at the
world price and domestic production costs are far less than
international productions costs for domestic producers.
- Raising fuel economy standards to "maximum feasible" levels based on
today's market can deliver 609 billion gallons of gasoline over the
same 20 year period, which is over twenty-five times the amount that
could be produced from OCS drilling.
- The difference between the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration's proposed fuel economy rule and a "maximum feasible"
fuel economy standard is 280 billion gallons of gasoline, over ten
times the amount OCS could deliver.
- A full range of mechanical and behavioral steps including getting
regular tune ups, slowing down, properly inflating your tires,
avoiding idling, and using the air conditioning sparingly could lower
gasoline consumption by 13 percent.
- Demand-side measures (efficiency and conservation) combined with
alternative fuels can save over 1.3 trillion gallons of gasoline over
a 20 year period.
- Reductions in demand and increases in alternatives in the past year
have kept prices from rising even more than they have and these
policies can lower prices in the future.
The report blames political hype for the rush to open the OCS. Calling the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) the single most important step to reduce oil consumption and consumer pain, the report says responsibility for action on the current energy crisis now rests squarely with the Administration, who must rigorously execute the law, including raising fuel economy standards to maximum feasible levels.
NHTSA's latest proposed rulemaking, according to the report, falls well short of what is "maximum feasible" due to flawed assumptions (like $2.45 a gallon of gas in 2015), clearly inaccurate and out of sync with today's market and consumer behavior.
"Congress did its job last year by passing higher fuel economy standards. The Administration has dropped the ball and left consumers holding the bag," said Cooper. "Policy makers should be focusing on the options that can actually solve the problem. Expanded drilling makes little contribution even in the long term. The OCS bandwagon will only pad the wallets of oil companies, not consumers," said Cooper.
High Gas Prices Trump Environmentalism When It Comes to Buying a Car
ST. LOUIS, MO, (PRNewswire), September 14, 2008 - Even as gas prices drifted down during August, 44% of the car shoppers on AutoTrader.com responded in a recent survey that they are still considering downsizing to a smaller car. Of those respondents, an overwhelming majority - 82% - said they would downsize to "Save money on gas."
In a survey of in-market automobile buyers on AutoTrader.com conducted between August 6 and August 24 of this year, respondents were allowed to pick more than one reason for their interest in downsizing. Even so, at 82%, "Save money on gas" was by far the No. 1 reason buyers chose for downsizing, with "Save money on a car payment" sited as a reason 25% of the time and "Environmental concern" being sited only 21% of the time.
In the survey, 42% of auto buyers responding said they did not plan to downsize, while 14% were not sure if they would downsize or not. Forty-four percent of automobile shoppers on AutoTrader.com currently own or lease large SUVs, trucks, vans or station wagons, while 35% currently own or lease sedans and 14% own or lease smaller coupes, convertibles and hatchbacks, according to the survey. Seven percent of shoppers on AutoTrader.com don't currently own or lease a vehicle.
"What this tells us," says AutoTrader.com President and CEO Chip Perry, "is a large percentage of buyers are considering downsizing their cars. This is reflected in the decline we've seen in demand for large trucks, SUVs and other low-MPG automobiles on our site and industry wide. At the same time, it tells us that there is still a large market of people who, because of family size, their work or other factors, need a larger automobile and do not plan to downsize. Higher gas prices and sudden interest in downsizing caught many off guard, but as manufacturers cut production of trucks and SUVs, increase incentives and specials to move inventory and the supply of these automobiles equalizes with the new demand, there will still be a healthy market for these larger automobiles."
Perry also noted how dollars and cents had more impact on consumer choices than environmental concern.
"Overwhelmingly, people told us they are considering down sizing to save money on gasoline," he said. "With all the publicity and attention to 'green' topics these days, we would have expected to see 'Environmental concern' come out a good bit higher. But people make decisions based on their pocketbooks, and right now the high price of gas is the determining factor for people considering downsizing to a smaller, higher-MPG vehicle."
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