WASHINGTON - Four members of a national conservation group are stopping in Tampa Bay this Saturday as part of a tour of Florida to showcase real-world solutions to volatile gas prices and a means to move America beyond oil.
The travelers will join St. Petersburg City Council member Jamie Bennett and the Alaska Wilderness League at 10 a.m. at Blackthorne Memorial Park area, which is on the north side of the Skyway Bridge. They will demonstrate the vehicles as solutions that are available now to cut America's oil dependence and won't sacrifice Florida's beaches.
Four road-trippers - three guys and one woman - are all from the Natural Resources Defense Council. They will be driving a hybrid SUV and a biofuel sedan powered by ethanol across the Sunshine state, keeping track of their oil use and iPod playlists. Along the way, they will share money and energy-saving tips with Floridians, government officials, university professors and many others.
"These vehicles demonstrate we have the technology and the know-how to move our economy beyond oil and reduce global warming pollution, starting right now," said Deron Lovaas, NRDC's vehicles campaign director and one of the road trippers. "Whether it's using new fuels made from American crops, or new engines that use less gas, we can get this done, and Florida can be a leader in these new solutions."
As a major agricultural state, Florida could stand to gain economically by producing supplies for America's increasing ethanol demand. New technologies are making ethanol not just from corn, but from other crops like sugarcane and even wild grasses and waste plant material. Florida has only one public ethanol pump, however, in Tallahassee.
The tour will stop in 14 cities in seven days in their two gas-saving vehicles: a Chevrolet Impala sedan that runs on ethanol as well as gasoline, and a Toyota Highlander hybrid SUV that uses electricity to cut down on gas consumption. This route is the second leg of the "Drive Beyond Oil Tour" started by the group in August when they covered a large portion of the Midwest and coal country.
Compared to October, 2001, average gas prices in Florida have risen well over a dollar per gallon (from $1.14 to $2.30), with summer 2006 spikes putting the difference closer to a two-dollar increase. However, even with higher prices hitting American families hard, and national security and global warming concerns evident, Congress squabbled this past year without passing meaningful legislation that could provide solutions with the proper speed and scope needed to cut our oil use.
While in Florida, the NRDC travelers will also be making stops in Ft. Lauderdale, Miami, Miami Beach, Fort Myers, Sarasota, Lakeland, Gainesville, Tallahassee, Jacksonville, Daytona Beach, Orlando and West Palm Beach.
