The Virtues of Gas Guzzling

Since I don't believe in "peak oil"--and regard oil "shortages" as contrivances by the oil companies and allied brokers and middlemen to run up the price--I fill my aging fleet of 1950s- and '60s-era Chryslers with a light heart, although for longer trips these days I fill an '82 Mercedes 240D with diesel. True, diesel now costs more than high-octane gasoline, but the Mercedes gets thirty-five miles to the gallon, whereas the '59 Imperial ragtop and the '62 Belvedere wagon get around eighteen mpg, which is still way ahead of the SUVs.

Part of my lightheartedness comes from the fact that gas guzzling can be a revolutionary duty, like puffing Montecristo No. 4 Cuban cigars back in the sixties as a way of doing one's bit for the Cuban revolution. Not so long ago Citgo stations were owned by City Services, which was controlled by the W. Alton Jones family, which through the family foundation exercised--via strategic disbursement--control over much of the environmental movement, such as World Wildlife Fund, National Wildlife Federation and Worldwatch. As with the other big donors like Pew Charitable Trusts, the Alton Jones foundation cut loose any green group showing signs of disruptive militancy.

So I used to give Citgo a wide berth, until Citgo and its 14,000 gas stations and eight oil refineries (undamaged by Katrina) passed into the hands of the Venezuelan national oil company. Alas, Citgo signs aren't a prominent feature of the landscape in Northern California or west of the Rockies. I just drove across Texas, and Citgo outlets are everywhere, as they are in Florida and the Carolinas. But even if you can't pump Citgo, guzzling keeps up overall oil demand, and hence oil prices, thus helping not only Venezuela but also Russia, which needs every ruble it can get.

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