Green for Thee… But, Uh, Not for Me: Obama’s Limo Exempt from His Own Enviro-Mandate for Government Vehicles
Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on April 3, 2011
The president's limo won't be following Obama's 'green' mandate for government vehicles - no 'going green' for this baby
No “going green” for the POTUS-mobile, which weighs 5 tons and is nicknamed “The Beast.”
And, drum roll, please… Pres. Obama’s speech in Maryland on the government’s “going green” Clean Fleet Partnership included his obligatory, tiresome “blame Bush” slam:
From Daily Mail, Obama: All federal vehicles MUST be environmentally friendly by 2015 – except my limo:
Barack Obama’s presidential limousine will be exempt from his drive to make all government vehicles environmentally friendly, the Secret Service has revealed.
The president last week insisted that he would use the government’s purchasing power to promote fuel efficient cars – insisting 100 per cent of new government vehicles would be ‘green’ by 2015.
But the Secret Service said that the directive would not apply to some vehicles used for law enforcement and security including the president’s Cadillac limousine, according to the Detroit News.
Obama last week announced the plan to make all government vehicles fuel efficient by 2015.
He said: ‘I’m directing our departments and our agencies to make sure 100 per cent of the vehicles they buy are fuel-efficient or clean energy cars and trucks by 2015. Not 50 per cent, not 75 per cent — 100 per cent of our vehicles.’
He argued the federal fleet of 600,000 vehicles is the largest in the U.S. and although the government has doubled the number of hybrids it uses, they still only account for five per cent of the fleet.
‘That means we’ve got a lot of purchasing power. So what we’re doing is we’re using it to boost clean energy technologies,’ Obama said.
The White House says the advanced technology vehicles that the government will buy in 2015 include hybrids, electric vehicles and alternative fueled vehicles.
Specifications of Pres. Obama's limo - click image to enlarge
From Detroit News, Presidential limousine, security vehicles exempt from fed ‘green’ vehicle policy:
Obama announced the plan this week to “green” the federal fleet.
“I’m directing our departments and our agencies to make sure 100 percent of the vehicles they buy are fuel-efficient or clean energy cars and trucks by 2015.Not 50 percent, not 75 percent — 100 percent of our vehicles,” Obama said today at an appearance in Landover, Md., at UPS facility to urge private companies to green their vehicle fleets.
Obama noted that the federal government has more than 600,000 vehicles — the largest fleet in the United States — and has doubled the number of hybrids in its fleet over the last year — though they still account for less than 5 percent of government vehicles.
Doug Powers @ Michelle Malkin’s place dares to address the elephant in the room… The Quickest Way to ‘Green’ Government? Cut its Size:
Of all the proposals to reduce emissions from the federal government, one that is never on the table is simply slashing the size of the federal government. Cutting the volume is an acceptable approach to other “problems.” For example, Obama recently said that the US had too much dependence on foreign oil, and that the solution to that would be to cut imports by one-third in about a decade. How would America make up the difference to power itself? Ingenuity. Somebody will think of **something (**as long as that “something” isn’t “drill baby drill”).
The bloated federal government has, by Obama’s admission, an unacceptably high level of greenhouse gas emissions. How about pledging to cut its size by one-third in the coming decade and relying on America’s “ingenuity” to find a way to live without it? (pause for laughter) Hey, you can’t blame me for at least trying.
By the way, Obama’s limo is exempt from the new clean fleet regs. Some theorize it’s because green vehicles don’t have ashtrays, but anybody who’s tried to unfold a portable practice putting green in a Volt knows the real story.
From LeftLane, Obama’s limo among exceptions to 2015 federal green vehicle mandate:
Just yesterday the Obama administration revealed the outline for a plan to move the federal government away from oil dependence by mandating that all government vehicles purchases by 2015 be gas-electric hybrids, plug-in hybrids, run on alternative fuel or electric vehicles.
[...]
For those not familiar, Fox points out that The Beast first debuted in 2009 during President Obama’s inauguration, and is based – loosely – on a Cadillac. The Beast features five-inch thick armor and doors that weigh the same as those found on a Boeing 757, but other details are classified.
From Newser, Obama’s 5-Ton Limo Exempt From Green Car Policy:
(Newser) – President Obama this week rolled out some ambitious goals toward making the federal government’s fleet of cars more fuel-efficient, but his critics are likely to have fun with one thing in particular: His big limo is exempt. (Drudge has been highlighting the exemption with an upside photo of the president.) It’s a matter of practicality, explains the Detroit News. Nicknamed the Beast, the thing weighs more than 5 tons and has armor thought to be 5 inches thick. No hybrid or plug-in need apply, at least in the near future.
And circling back to B. Obama’s speech in Maryland on Friday (which also happened to be April Fools’ Day), here’s a chilling snapshot of the current state of our federal deficit that Obama “inherited” when he took office in January 2009, compared to he and Democrats worsening it a thousand-fold — if only we could go back in time to the eight years of GW Bush:
Office of Management & Budget: The Obama-Pelosi national deficit is more than a trillion dollars for the third year in a row
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