Letters to the Editor
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Internal Combustion
What is missed in the article is the incestuous relationship between the automobile industry and the oil industry in this country. The American oil industry is the main force lobbying for lower mileage (for obvious reasons). A good book to read to get an understanding of this is: Internal Combustion by Edwin Black.
Consider that the Western EU and Japan have cars that meet or almost meet the CAFÉ standards. The biggest reason for this is they are not oil producing nations so they do not have a powerful, national oil lobby opposing high gas mileage.
The oil industry in this country will not allow the large production of such things as electric cars (see: Death of the Electric Car) or high mileage gas driven vehicles. That is not until the industry is in its death throes, which unfortunately may be our death throes as well. Greed was defined as a deadly sin because people are too ignorant and defensive to know such a thing themselves. It is defined that way because it destroys others, not just the perpetrator