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Originally Posted by LarrySpencer
Wow, there's a great idea, cleaner fuel and car maintenance....
You must be from California, because that's where I'm from and the cost of driving is higher here than anywhere else in the nation. For instance, all cars registered in California must be built for California emission standards. This means that every two years, when your vehicle is registered (by the way you have to register it every year) it must pass a smog test by an independent testing facility. If it doesn't pass, it will not be registered and cannot be on the road. So let's see, registration is about 80 per year on my car and the smog test is another 60.
Now lets talk about fuel. California is the only state that requires that fuel be refined differently and additional chemicals added to make it cleaner burning. This makes our fuel cost about $.20 above the national average. Take in mind that the national average is skewed already because it includes California fuel costs, therefore the average cost of fuel in CA is really a little closer to $.25 higher. I fill my tank about twice every week...let's see, an 18-gallon tank, times $.25, times 2X per week, times 52 weeks per year....So I'm paying roughly 468 more per year just for fuel. So, that is approximately 17% of the average income of the dominican public in added fuel costs alone. So if we increase fuel costs by this percentage, that means that just about everything else that is trucked in will also share this increased cost. By the way, the total fuel cost for this particular vehicle is about 5616 USD per year, and this is figured at about 93 DP, which we all know is much more than that. So cleaner fuel....yeah, that's gonna fly!
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No, let's talk about the Dominican Republic, not California. Do you know anything about fuel quality in the DR? The ambiente NOx, SOx, CO and particulate levels in Santo Domingo? What is the average age and condition of the fleet in the DR?
And comparing fuel costs in California -- some of the highest in the US, with special conditions, special EPA blending rules, and CAL-EPA rules that no other state must match, etc. -- with
anything in the DR is simply specious. The costs don't translate. The two situations are like apples and oranges. If you wish to compare the compliance costs for fuel in Costa Rica with that of the DR, then maybe there's something worth discussing. But c'mon! There's a reason worldwide "California rules" means the toughest, most costly vehicle emissions norms!
The Environment Forum Moderator