Hot Fuel: An Issue We Can ALL Get Steamed About

Unless you are either an oil company executive, or you are sleeping with an oil company executive - and most Americans can’t check either box - you need you make an effort to learn about this issue and let the powers-that-be know just what level of “pissed off” you can achieve.

First, let me give credit where credit is due. Kansas City Star reporter Steve Everly has pulled back the curtain on a gigantic rip-off perpetrated against every American who buys fuel. He deserves a Pulitzer (to go with all those state and regional awards) for the series he has written on this issue. Go to the series for real in-depth reporting. I am just going to hit the high notes in < 500 words.

The basic rules that govern chemistry and physics apply to everyday life, and if you don’t understand the basics, learn them.

One of the basics is: The higher the temperature, the farther apart molecules move from one another. Therefore a gallon by volume at 80 degrees F will weigh less than a gallon at 60 degrees F. The way our pumps are set up, when you purchase a gallon of gasoline, or diesel, you purchase 231 cubic inches of fuel. The standard is set using 60 degrees F. The problem is, a gallon by volume at higher temperatures hold less energy per cubic inch than cooler fuel. For example, a gallon at 80 degrees F should dispense 234 c.i. of fuel.. This rule of physics, that molecules move away from one another at higher temperatures, is why your mileage goes down in the summer whether you run AC in your car or not.

In Canada, where cold fuel was costing the oil companies money, they were quick to voluntarily retrofit the pumps at every retailer to dispense the appropriate cubic inches of fuel to weight.

In the United States, where hot fuel makes them an extra 2.3 Billion dollars per year, by selling us gas and diesel that we pay for but do not get; they say that selling us temperature adjusted gallons of fuel would just confuse us. The oil companies convinced the federal Weights and Measures folks just two months ago that we are too stupid to understand the concept of temperature adjusted gallons. They convinced them that we are so simple-minded that we would rather be ripped off by big oil than be confused by a temperature-adjusted pump.

What a steaming pile of horseshit.

Contact your state and federal representatives and senators and demand that legislation be forthcoming that will force the oil industry to give us what we pay for. OR, they can make it legal to bounce checks at Exxon, Conoco and the BP, and if you default on your gas cards there is no penalty. Whichever. Personally, I think I would enjoy feeling like I was the one screwing them for a change, after all these years of taking it.