Frustrated as I can be !

[Chuck Riddling]

I have tried to contact canidates and whom ever would listen on Obama and his energy issues. But no one will call him out on it. He says he is looking to make algae the fuel of the future, BUT you can no longer purchase 10-10-10 fertlizer because the government has made the manufactures stop putting phosphate in it making it 10-0-10 to stop the growth of algae also he want's the public to start buying fuel efficent cars while he still rides in the beast and is followed by his fleet of suburbans and he still flies alone in an aircraft burning a few hundred thousand gallons of jet fuel a year not to mention the fuel it takes to fly his family ahead on a seprate aircraft. Also if the "VOLT" is such a fine vehicle why aren't they used by his Secret Service instead of suburbans and why don't they make a limo version to show us just how committed they are about their clean energy vehicles! It's called leading by example.

[Chuck Riddling]

How long before the battery manufacture at the Cecil Commerce Center goes belly up, just one more billion green energy company fleesing the taxpayer right here in Jacksonville. I was out there not to long ago and there were no trucks comming or going, so that tells me there is nothing going on inside. How about the media looking into it? Green Energy is going to help kill this country.

[Chuck Riddling]

I feel being as the Volt is Obama's answer to everything and the government has so much money in G.M. get some repayment by having the government buy the Volt and prove how good they are, Then show me by putting Obama's protection on the line and change the entire fleet of Seceret Service vehicles to the Volt and the first fuel made from algae fuel Air Force One's fuel tanks with it and see how he can go on a gallon. As for lake Apopka it was not gas that caused it's problems, but it was big money getting around stopping the run off and instead of reclaimg it and reusing it, but taking phopsate out of fertlizer is not the answer, Phospate is part of growing food and food is part of surving and it makes more jobs than you relize it does, As for reclaimed water, it might fine for grass and flowers, but I don't think I would want to eat something irrigated with it, there are reasons neighborhoods have to post warnings when they use it for irrigation, and what about the millions of gallons of reclaimed water being pumped into the river from the 12" pipes on Fleming Island and the Town of Orange Park. It's the homeowners fertilizing their yards, there are more yards running off in the river than farms. What about the homeowners and landscaper blowing your fertlized grass cuttings into the street and then into the storm drain to go into the river and lakes The farmers and ranchers who make their livings from their land know how much is at stake and most take soil samples to find out just how much fertlizer is needed to grow their crops and pastures not just pour it on until it turns green, but homeowners get a pass. Farmers and ranchers are far less dangerous to the enviroment than the envirolmentalist and homeowners are. Why haven't any laws been passed requiring the homeowners and landscapers to bag and properly dispose your grass clippings instead of taking the phospate out of my fertlizer? 

[Patricia M. McBride]

They make them both ways Amanda...................one was on display at one of our antique car shows and it was batteries only.  I have driven the prius and loved it.  Very fun car and got about 60 miles to the gallon the week I had it as a rental, and one of the Volt models is similiar to it, but the prius recharges the batteries when they get down to a certain level and cycles between the electric batteries and the gas engine and has a dynamite display panel where it keeps you abreast of what is doing what (unless you have one then you would know).  Took me by surprise how it started though and no one explained it, so it was stay in the airport parking lot or figure it out :).

[amanda choate]

Patricia not to make an issue here....but the Volt has no limit on the miles you can drive. It is a true hybrid, gas and electric. It can go about 35 miles to a charge and afterwards a gas motor runs a generator. And Chuck we want gas as a fuel source, but we don't want it in our rivers and lakes. Visit Lake Apopka, dead for nearly 40 yearsbecause of nearby farm runoff. It is the second largest lake in the state and it is little more than an puddle as far as its value to its neighbors.

[Patricia M. McBride]

Obama is also grasping at straws on the green energy being our primary fuel for everything................it will happen eventually, but not probably in his life time.  And in the mean time, the current situation hurts out economy and is very hard on low income folks.

[Patricia M. McBride]

Chuck, I certainly agree with you.............the Volt is great is you only need to drive 20 to 35 miles depending on whether you are in perfect weather and there are no hills.  They are not selling all that well and the line is shut down which is not a good indication.  I think once people understand you an only recharge the batteries so many times and then, you have to pay for a new set at a cost of $2,000 to $3,000 for the change out, the love affair for the few that had one will be over.  Secret Service could not be saddled with something that unreliable.  It isn't bad if you only drive 10 miles a day or less each way somewhere, but if you want to go back and forth 2 work and several other errands all at once, you are out of luck.  It just doesn't work for most people because of the extremely short range it has between charges.