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Aug. 31, 2005 - Rush Limbaugh Program
36:36
August 31, 2005, Wednesday, Hour #3
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There we go.
Okay, as promised.
The uh the ditto cam is on.
It'll be on for the remainder of the program, the remainder of this hour.
And you've got the excellence at Broadcasting Network Program, the Rush Limbaugh program meeting and surpassing all audience expectations on a daily basis, saying more in five seconds than most shows say in an entire week.
The telephone number, if you want to be on the program, 800 282-2882.
The email address is rush at eIB net.com.
We were talking last hour about the energy problems that we're all going to face here.
And again, I don't want to sound like a broken record, but I'm going to make this point a number of times because that's what uh that's what drives it home.
We have an energy problem here, but it's not one of supply.
We've got plenty of supply.
We have plenty of oil.
The problem is not Saudi's.
The problem's not OPEC.
The problem is not dependence on foreign oil.
The problem is the environmental left in this country.
A bunch of bureaucrats and courts, judges and so forth that are making energy policy.
They're unelected.
A bunch of people that uh stand in the way of progress.
They're they're not oriented toward capitalism.
They blame fossil fuels for the hurricane.
They blame global warming and all this.
We're in the midst of a disaster, a human disaster, unlike most of us have seen in our lifetimes in this country.
And you can look at this and you can know the key to this, the key to recovery, the key to rebuilding is going to be energy.
Excellent opportunity for the president.
Take action here to make energy uh more easily distributed.
Do it with executive orders, canceling temporarily some of these restrictions and regulations that are onerous, getting rid of some taxes temporarily.
Uh if they're worried about uh high cost, uh doing whatever we can to get these oil rigs back up and running and the refineries back up and running.
We're talking about the refineries.
Just just uh and I was mentioning to you the domino effect of all this.
Listen, it hasn't hit everybody yet.
It's obviously they're doing a good job of containing it in the area of destruction, but it's gonna have domino effects.
Extensive damage caused by Hurricane Katrina Vandenhoovel to oil platforms and refineries in the Gulf of Mexico sent crude oil prices briefly surging above 70 bucks today.
But prices turned lower after a top U.S. energy official said the government would release oil from its reserves.
All right.
I think we don't need to do that.
But it's been done since too late.
But that's we don't have a supply problem.
Let me illustrate for you the depth of this.
It's not a supply problem.
Eight refineries were shut down due to Hurricane Katrina Vandenhoovel.
Half of these refineries, four of them produce gasoline.
Vienna's PVM oil associates additionally reported at least three others flooded and power failures sidelining others for an unknown length of time.
Uh the damage translated into an estimated 30 million barrel loss in gasoline output, a problem that cannot be solved by increasing crude production or siphoning oil from the U.S. petroleum reserve.
30 million barrel loss of gasoline.
Folks, this is gonna hit us all.
It's gonna manifest itself in two ways.
Higher prices and lower supply.
But not because we don't have any.
It's because the distribution process is upset.
These refineries, four of the eight that have been taken out, that are out of action right now, are strictly gasoline.
So we need more refined.
I mean, we're at refining capacity now.
Uh we can't refine any more than we were.
Our refineries run at 98%, and that's all that they can safely run.
We haven't built a refinery in 10 to 15 years.
If anything illustrates the need to have more refineries, is it not this?
And guess who will oppose it?
When the process gets started or when the suggestion is made, and in there we have an opportunity.
Here from the New York Times today.
Uh damage to economy is deep and wide is the headline.
But if you read the story, you'll see that it's exactly what I've been saying all week, that the damage is short-term, that rebuilding will have a positive effect on growth over the next few months.
Here's the uh here's the the nut paragraph.
The typical pattern with a natural disaster like this is that the regional economy gets clobbered, but you can barely see it in the national statistics.
Uh said the chief economist at Global Insight in Lexington, Massachusetts.
This time it's very different because of the impact on the energy infrastructure.
And then the start, I'm not going to read the whole story to you, but it does go on to say exactly what I've said, that there will be rebuilding, and it will have positive effects on growth.
How can it not?
Look at what's going to take place.
I don't look for you know optimistic things at the expense of reality, but uh we know that there is a cycle that's going to take place here, and there will be an economic blip that goes down.
And uh even even with all this uh economic uh confidence uh confidence according to the conference board remains high, and overall economic activity remains high.
Uh I mentioned yesterday, too, this is another one of the domino effects.
Uh, you know, people uh in certain parts of the country make fun of the South.
Let's just be honest about it.
And certain people will look at city like New Orleans and think it's nothing but a city of decadence and parties and football games and this sort of stuff, and that the Gulf Coast is nothing more than uh a resort area for uh people to go live in.
It's a working coast.
And one of the examples I gave yesterday was grain being shipped down the Mississippi River to the port of New Orleans.
Grain's just one example.
And the hurricane has interrupted farm shipments through New Orleans, where more than half of the nation's grain exports depart for overseas.
It's uh it's too early to know the damage to shipping terminals or other facilities, government officials said yesterday.
But it'll probably be a ripple effect, said Paul Rhode, the president of Mark 2000, a St. Louis-based shippers coalition.
As the port of New Orleans puts itself back together, that'll determine how quickly it's going to be able to uh process products.
In the worst-case scenario, snarled river traffic would force shippers to rely on rail or truck transportation.
They're more expensive options, particularly with fuel costs rising.
So uh just just uh just another illustration here of the domino effect that will eventually make itself uh known uh to people outside the uh the immediate region that suffered the hit, the uh New Orleans area and the Gulf Coast.
A lot of people uh have been, you know, writing to me email rush.
I've been seeing these graphics on television that were New Orleans is below sea level, sea level.
Why'd they build a city below sea level?
Well, they didn't.
See, you need some history.
Uh if you watch television, and I'm not blaming TV, but there's a limited context there.
You look at the graphics, and they'll show you on one side Lake Poncha Train, or the other side the Mississippi River, the ocean, rather, uh, uh or the river, and and they will, and they'll then show you New Orleans is below the levels of both.
And you say, Well, who was an idiot that built this?
When New Orleans was founded, it was above sea level.
The problem is that the land has subsided.
New Orleans is on a silt bed built up over thousands of years uh of annual Mississippi River floods.
It's in a delta.
You know, the all the all the sludge that's in the Mississippi River is just deposited there at the mouth, and that creates the Mississippi Delta.
So they they channelized the river.
They channeled the river, uh, and they built the levees uh because the floods could no longer deposit their silt in the city site, because the city was there and it blew um all the all the silt blue out to sea instead.
This this is also why New Orleans is so far inland now.
When it was originally founded, uh New Orleans was much closer to the ocean.
The other major region uh uh reason for subsidence uh is that people needed potable water, so they drilled wells and they started pumping out the water, and that caused the land to subside uh as uh as well.
So uh, you know, they they built the city there and the and the city displaced and the water had to go somewhere, and the city sunk gradually, like Venice is.
And uh so they had to build the levees after New Orleans was built.
They just didn't want to shut down the uh shut down the city.
And, you know, with with all that's gone on down there, the the natural process of creating the Delta uh they've they've diverted the flow of the river and the the natural delta creating process doesn't happen as it used to, and so they made these accommodations with the levees, but they built them to category three strength.
And for the last 40 years, they've been saying we've been telling you for years and years and years, these things are not big enough.
For 40 years, people have been complaining, we didn't do anything about it.
If uh if they're only good to cat three and you need to build them to cat five, the last 40 years nobody took action to build them to cat five.
So we rolled the dice.
And uh and this is what happened.
Now, uh one other point about this, because the militant environmentalist left seeking the occasion of this hurricane to blame Bush and advance their political agenda.
It's global warming, it's burning fossil fuels, it's all these other things.
When you look at the hurricane, which is not a man-made event, a hurricane is strictly a force of nature.
When you look at the destruction of this hurricane, a natural force, would would one of you militant environmentalists care to tell me where man has done this kind of destruction in a matter of twelve or fourteen hours?
I would like to know.
And also want to renew since nobody's taken me up on it, my request.
We know that the New Madrid Fault, uh near Missouri, where I grew up, big big fault.
There have been predictions for years of a major earthquake there.
Same thing with the San Andreas fault.
According to the left, we probably are responsible for these faults.
We're probably responsible.
What what do we do to stop this?
It hasn't happened.
We got plenty of time, apparently.
We've been predicting for decades these two earthquakes, but they haven't happened.
What do we do to stop the earthquakes?
If we're causing all these things, if man is responsible, certainly we can stop these upcoming earthquakes, and there will be more hurricanes.
What can we do today to stop them?
I patiently await your answers.
We'll be back.
We didn't uh carry any of it.
I'm gonna wait for sound bites of it.
But uh all of the secretaries of the affected federal cabinet levels here had a joint press conference uh to announce what they were doing and dealing with the problem.
And uh apparently uh Cookie tells me that Michael Chertoff, the Homeland Security Director, was just fabulous in this thing.
So we'll get some bites on this and uh and share them with you as time unfolds today.
Meanwhile, to Orlando, Stan's been waiting for a long time.
I appreciate your patience, Stan.
Thanks for calling.
Hi, thank you, Rush.
Super ditto, sir, from Hurricane Thrashed, but now rebuilt Central Florida.
Thank you, sir.
First time caller, longtime listener.
Um I just wanted to mention, sir, that uh I saw a CNN last night and I saw uh Governor Barber's neighbor, Louisiana Governor Blanco, and uh I I was pretty frustrated and and and disappointed.
Um I think what we're we're witnessing, if I if I may be so bold, is uh is a failure of uh of leadership.
Uh I listened closely to her words.
We're while we're trying to do this, uh we're thinking about doing that.
Uh and we might do this, we might go here, we might go there, and everybody needs to evacuate.
Uh well, how are people gonna evacuate now at this point?
Uh they they have no means.
Their cars are 12 feet underwater, uh, there's no gasoline.
Uh it's easy words to say, but it's like, no, you know, the that time is past.
Where's the leadership that's gonna take charge and get the issue moving?
Also, the the governor of New Orleans, when the storm was churning up in the Gulf, uh, he was saying, we have our plan, uh, we know what we're gonna do, we're ready for this to uh to hit wherever it may, and then and then now nothing.
Um, now you're talking the mayor of New Orleans.
I I remember this he was he was begging people to get out of town.
I I don't I don't know what more uh uh he could have done.
I I've I've seen mayor or Governor Blanco on television, and I you I think uh I I don't know whether she's doing a good job or not.
I I haven't come to that uh conclusion yet.
I just think everybody's sort of in their own level of shock.
This this is where these people live, and they're looking at it every day and they see the destruction of the death and everything, and they're frustrated.
Well, I I know it's hard to criticize it at the height of uh of a burgeoning crisis here, but uh but what what people look for is is someone that to to to come to the fore, uh a la uh uh Rudy Giuliani that uh that that knows what he's gonna do.
He's issuing issuing orders, he's issuing commands to to uh subordinates and and they're taking their charge and and going out and doing things.
And and I'm not so sure that that we see that happening.
Well, I think you will.
I I I think we the the uh the the federal people that had their joint press conference today uh had some pretty substantive ideas and they were pretty decisive about what they're gonna do.
And there is a there is now an evac plan uh for the people in New Orleans, they're gonna bust them all over to Texas uh to Houston and put them in the Astrodome, they're gonna go from the uh from the superdome to the Astrodome.
It's gonna be the mayor of New Orleans saying uh maybe thousands dead before this is all over with.
Same thing in Mississippi, by the way, uh that probably will be the case.
Um there won't be any electricity or power in New Orleans for two months or maybe three.
Uh the airport won't open for commercial traffic uh for two months.
I wouldn't be surprised if some of these deadlines are are are moved up a bit.
Uh I think I think some of this will happen a little quicker than they think right now, once you're in the midst of this, and I think it looks bleak and all is lost.
But they will uh they will find a way to get as many people out of New Orleans as they as they can.
But one thing that I agree with you about, Stan.
Uh and and this this is just I I say this with uh my intelligence guided by experience.
I am a I'm I'm sorry.
I I'm just a big believer in in the people who make this country work.
And as I said earlier, if you're watching any of the efforts on uh television now for rescues and the attempts to plug these breaches uh the seawalls and the levees.
You don't see the environmentalists, you know, you don't see the elite left down there.
You you you see people whose names you'll never know, and whose faces you won't see.
Um you see the military, you see uh representatives of uh corporate America, volunteers, various charities and so forth, and they're gonna all work hard and put this back together.
But somebody at some point is going to emerge here as the person that's getting it done.
At some point that will happen.
It hasn't happened yet.
Uh sort of along the lines of Giuliani in New York, uh but but uh not necessarily in an exact uh uh replicated fashion.
I I just think it at some point as this thing unfolds, there will be a single person who uh leaps to the forefront simply by virtue of their leadership and their ability to inspire confidence and their ability to motivate.
And I don't know who the person is, but these situations, these circumstances always seem uh to bring such a person forth.
Uh I don't know even from from where this person will come, but uh at some point that will happen, and I don't know at what stage.
I I think somebody's probably doing it now.
Somebody is uh, you know, all these efforts are very coordinated, all of these efforts to plug the breaches, all these rescue efforts, all of these, you know, the helicopter flights over these uh uh uh areas that are flooded.
There is a there's a system to this so that they don't duplicate and uh miss certain areas at the same time.
They have there's an exact pattern.
There are plans for things like this, and they're being executed.
And as time goes on, we will uh we'll we'll learn you know who who uh or what devised the plan, what agency or who did it, but at some point there will be uh uh a figure who will emerge in all of this that is uh considered the inspiration and the motivation for getting it all done.
The fact that it hasn't happened now, I think is probably Stan uh more uh your your conclusion here that the governors uh and the and the mayors are not doing much.
Uh but I think it's I think it's really premature to be uh criti I there's all the time in the world to uh find the reasons for this and and then fix them later.
Uh and and that will be done.
Here's Carolyn Zeeland, Michigan.
Welcome to the program.
It's great to have you with us.
Hello, Rush, and Diddle's Maximus.
Thank you.
Uh, my question is I'm watching all of this unfold on television is where is Hollywood and all of those?
Shouldn't they be organizing a relief effort?
They're usually quick to jump into this, and this is certainly a worthy occasion.
What do you mean Hollywood's quick to jump?
What do you mean?
Well, you know, all the aging rock bands try to get out there and get some publicity, but I I mean they could use their celebrity to organize some relief effort.
They're quick enough to run to Crawford, Texas.
You think Al Sharpton or Martin Sheen could at least send some bottled water over to the street.
That's my these people don't fix anything.
I know.
You know, let them do their rock.
I I was, you know, I was gonna come here and make a joke today that the UN ought to spearhead the relief effort, the collection of money around the world, and the dispersal of uh of aid and benefits.
But I I I hadn't got the point that I'm ready to joke about it.
I was gonna say, you know, no, we need a concert by Bono and Bob Geldoff, uh a concert for uh for relief, uh so far to illustrate that that's not uh how things get done.
But now I understand NBC's gonna do a concert.
No, I won't.
Uh as for Hollywood, Hollywood's planning right now, probably writing the script for the movie on global warming that caused this while Bush is on vacation.
That will be Hollywood's contribution.
The um uh cable networks is showing President Bush landing now at Andrews Air Force Base.
CNN says Bush landing.
Returning from vacation.
Fox says that President Bush will uh speak on hurricane relief at five o'clock uh this afternoon.
ABC News on their website to to show you that there is a template to and this is in direct contradiction with what the New York Times said this morning in their own story.
But to illustrate the template, ABC actually has a story on its website.
The poor are hardest hit in this hurricane.
You know, they old joke that I've told you about the media and uh, you know, God let me tell you the joke real quick.
This illustrates the template, in case you haven't heard it.
God is watching the uh Oprah Winfrey show one day and followed by Dr. Phil and figures that's it.
The human race has blown it, and it's time to end it all because they just can't handle it anymore.
It's it's it's it's been bad enough up to now, but watching the Oprah shows, that's it.
So God calls a reporter at the New York Times and says, I've had it, the human race has blown this experiment, and I'm ending the planet tomorrow.
And the New York Times reporter says, Ooh, wow, that can I have an exclusive on that?
And God says, No, I'm calling some other newspapers.
The Times guy tries to talk God out of it, but God refuses, so he's gonna call the other newspapers.
Times guy gives up and hangs up.
God calls Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and the Washington Post.
The next day, all the newspapers run their headlines.
And the New York Times, uh God says world to end tomorrow, details page A ten.
The uh USA Today headline, we're done.
Wall Street Journal headline, God says world to end tomorrow, markets to close early.
The Washington Post headline, God says world to end tomorrow, women and minorities hardest hit.
Lo and behold, here comes ABC News with a story headlining the hurricane, Katrina Van and Hoobel, the poor are hardest hit.
I ask you to look at the devastation in any of these affected areas and tell me that you can draw a distinction here between anybody being less hard hit or more hard hit than anybody else.
And in fact, the New York Times had a headline today that actually confirms what a joke that I make about liberals.
That liberals define equality as spreading misery equally.
I have the exact headline by a New York Times and a story by James Dow today.
The actual headline, the misery is spread equally.
Folks, do I know these people or do I know these people?
I know these people like every square inch of my glorious naked body, not just the back of my hand.
Here's Carol in Redmond, Washington.
Nice to have you uh on the program with us.
Hello.
Hello there, nice to be there.
Thank you.
Um I live in the great old Northwest, about as blue as you can get.
The uh environmental wackos here are trying to get you out of your cars, building HOV lanes, uh bus transportation, building light rail and everything.
Well, what happens to those without cars when it's time to evacuate?
Oh, it's you know let me tell you oops, hang on just a second.
Drop the one o'clock cigar, but I saved it.
Let me let me let me tell you something else.
The they're trying to get us out of our SUVs.
What is it that's able to traverse down there in all this?
Only the SUV.
Right.
And they're trying to get rid of the military.
They hate the military.
San Francisco will not let the USS Iowa come dock.
What do you see down there?
Spearheading the relief efforts.
You see military people in uniform, military vehicles, Navy ships.
I'm telling you, this whole episode has the potential, Carol, to illustrate the absolute folly and danger of the left.
Mm-hmm.
Did you want to hear how I found out about you?
Oh, I'd love to hear.
I always love to hear about things like that.
Well, and this is my husband is listening on the internet.
Um my husband now was my boyfriend then, and we got into the car to go out for dinner one night.
Well, when ho, ho, ho, when was then?
Uh 2001.
2001, so four years ago.
Yeah.
For those of you in Rio Linda, okay.
And we got in the car to go out for a dinner date, and he turned on the car radio.
And I said, Oh no, you're not gonna make me listen to Rush Limbaugh.
Well, I listened to you for a half an hour and I was hooked.
That's all it took.
Wow.
That's all it took.
Sometimes ten minutes.
Ten minutes.
Well, I appreciate it.
It takes some people six weeks to fully get it.
Yeah, well, we're 24-7 members, and we have club get mo gear, and we think you're number one.
And you're in Redmond, Washwell, you are in enemy territory.
Majorly.
Totally.
But see, you were once the enemy.
Um, actually, I was.
Yeah.
And my most of my family still is.
Well, I'm just curious, what was it uh in those ten minutes?
I mean, or thirty minutes, whatever it was, that uh that caused you to do your 180.
Everything you said was right.
Everything you said was true.
So you obviously had not listened before that, you had just heard what critics of mine had said and then thought that they were right.
Exactly.
And what were some of those things?
Do you remember?
Oh, uh, the usual what people say is the ad hominem, oh, he's an idiot, oh, he's stupid, oh, all he does is yell.
He hates women, uh, he's racist, sexist, those sorts of things.
Never anything specific.
Never anything specific.
And I just tell my friends, listen, just listen.
Well, thank you.
And uh thank your husband.
Oh, definitely.
Because that was, I mean, you how close do you all were getting married when he turned on the radio that night going for dinner?
Um we had just started dating.
Okay, so I mean it it was uh it wasn't as it wasn't that big a risk, turn on the radio at that point, but still a risk.
Because he obviously he obviously liked you very much, was going to fall in love with you someday, and that could have just turned you off.
You know, these these ideological differences to some couples can provide a problem.
Yep.
Well, we're right together on this, and and has been got married in 2003, and we're very happy.
Thank you, Carol, very much.
I'm I'm really appreciate all of that.
Thanks, uh, thanks very much for the call.
Uh she's exactly right.
All these things that the left wants us to do away with, how would we be dealing with what's going on in the Gulf Coast if they had ever succeeded?
Here's Jim, a trucker in Ames, Iowa.
Nice to have you on the program, sir.
Hi, you don't rush.
Good sir.
Fine caller.
Yeah, you were talking before about um how the we may have a problem with uh supplies and that.
Can I read you my Qualcomm that's our uh satellite thing that we have?
Uh wait a minute.
I'm I'm I'm having trouble folly.
Can I read your call?
My comes a satellite thing that we what have I what about qualcom?
What am I I'm I'm having trouble understanding what you're saying, Jim.
Could you start again?
We're having uh supply problems around the road.
All right.
Okay.
He's on a cell phone, obviously.
He's on a uh uh I think he's I think he's complaining about his qualcom cell phone.
Um because what it what it what the transcriber has him saying is can I read you my call come?
That's our satellite thing that we have.
Uh that's what it sounded like to Rachel in there.
Uh but apparently what did he want to say, Br uh, Brett?
Well.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Uh okay.
Okay, here's what he wanted to say.
Jim's a trucker.
And he uh he was told to top off the tanks in his truck as he heads toward the east coast with his load.
Uh and to expect shortages and rationing.
That's what now that's on a that's just what he's been told.
Um this is classic example of what I'm talking about that's gonna be out there, folks.
The domino effect on this.
There's gonna be all kinds of this once people re well, you can't shut down refinery capacity to the tune of 30 million barrels of gasoline and have it not affect every aspect of this country.
And that's I'm telling you, there is just a golden opportunity here.
We need more refineries.
We need more refining capacity.
And if there's ever an indication it needs to be built, this is it.
And I just hope somebody has the guts to propose it so that the left and the environmentalists stand up and say, no, global warming, environmental destruction, and let them be seen for the obstructionists and the anti-capitalists that they are.
Such a golden golden opportunity.
Sorry, Jim, that we had the uh the uh the uh communication problems, but uh hopefully you can call back.
A quick timeout here, folks, back in just seconds.
Stay with us.
Let's go to the audio sound bites.
I want to start with number 15 first.
Oh man, this is so cool.
This is so cool.
I want you to listen to the EPA administrator Steve Johnson.
Today, I'm exercising my authority under the Clean Air Act to temporarily waive specific standards for gasoline and diesel fuels to ensure that the Hurricane Katrina natural disaster does not result in serious fuel supply interruptions around the country.
As we're all well aware, we're seeing increasing serious impacts from the hurricane in a number of fuel markets around the United States.
Yesterday afternoon, I exercised this authority with respect to four states: Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida.
It has become clear that the consequences of the hurricane have become more widespread.
So today, I'm sending letters to the governors of the remaining 46 states and territories, providing temporary relief from volatility and sulfur standards.
This action will result in a needed increase in fuel supply.
These waivers are necessary to ensure that fuel is available throughout the country to address public health issues and emergency vehicle supply needs.
Under the Clean Air Act emergency authority, I am making the waivers effective through September the 15th, 2005.
These waivers only apply to the volatility standards, the rate at which fuel evaporates, and the amount of sulfur in diesel fuel.
EPA is committed to working with our state and federal partners to address this extraordinary national disaster.
So the uh upshot of this is is that the EPA administrator has taken the authority of the Clean Air Act and uh temporarily rescinded all these restrictions that uh retard distribution of gasoline.
Uh it's only through September 15th of this year.
Uh, but that's a start.
This is this is this you know, I I want to I want to predict there's gonna be caterwalling about this.
The environmentalists are gonna raise hell and are gonna start talking this is the kind of thing that'll create even more global warming that'll cause more hurricanes, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Uh, I wish it were for a little longer because I think this is gonna go on a little longer, this uh this domino effect, but we'll see.
Uh they they they may do this in the in stages.
Here's Michael Chertoff, who is the Homeland Security Director.
President Bush has declared a major disasters for affected areas in Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida, and Alabama.
Along with these declarations, the full range of federal resources and capabilities is being directed as we speak to assist and protect those citizens who have borne the brunt of this catastrophe.
The Department of Homeland Security has declared this an incident of national significance.
The first ever use of this designation under the new national response plan.
The national response plan, which was stood up earlier this year, gives the Department of Homeland Security the lead responsibility to coordinate federal response and recovery efforts.
The plan is designed to bring together all federal resources to increase our ability to quickly get relief to those who need it most.
And finally, the uh the Energy Secretary, uh Samuel Bodman, who actually followed the remarks by the EPA administrator Steve Johnson.
I would like to thank uh particularly uh administrator Johnson and his colleagues at uh EPA, the entire staff of the EPA has worked very hard to get this waiver through to increase the supply of gasoline throughout the nation.
And uh, as I just uh spoke to Secretary Chertoff, in my view, this is really a big deal.
This is a this is something that should materially change the supply of gasoline fuels in our country.
No question about it.
Absolutely no question about it.
We have 40 different formulations.
They can only lose a certain kind of formulation in Chicago.
In California, they have multiple formulations for different parts of the state.
So rescind these things temporarily to ease this distribution problem.
It is not a supply problem.
We have plenty of supply well, and the gasoline it may be a supply problem temporarily because of the uh refineries in the Gulf that were affected, but it is going to profoundly improve the situation uh with the temporary res rescinding of these uh of these restrictions that that uh and it's a great illustration who's put them there.
Um, you know, this has not happened legislatively, this has happened via courts and uh and activist uh bureaucrats and so forth uh with uh sympathies tied to militant leftist environmentalists.
So I mean, this is cool.
Uh one of the first things I said this morning ought to be done, and bamboo.
They had their press conference just earlier this hour.
Tina in Atlanta, nice to have you on the program.
Welcome.
Hey, Russ, I'm a longtime listener.
I love your show.
I um I work in a city outside of Atlanta called Peachtree City, and let me tell you, people are just going crazy here.
Gas has jumped from 249, 259 to 303.
Some places are up to 325.
People who are leaving where I'm working run into the gas station just to fill up their cars because they're afraid we're gonna run out of gas.
Yep, topping off the tanks.
This is what happened.
Well, next thing we're gonna hear, by the way, is what we can do to save gasoline, avoid jackrabbit starts.
Uh apply your brakes evenly, don't speed, blah, blah, and you're gonna listen to all these.
And at the end of you say, I'm gonna have to stop every 10 miles and siphon some fuel out of my tank.
I'm saving so much, or it'll overflow.
Uh but you know something, Tina.
I saw the uh the your your your local paper there, the urinal constipation had a story this morning about the interruption of pipelines.
You get not only you got gasoline problems coming into the city, but jet fuel.
Um it's uh it's all brought in by pipeline, and there's some interruptions in the pipeline, obviously, because of the uh the route that it takes through the Gulf Coast area.
Uh those refineries down there is where uh a lot of the Southeast gets its uh gasoline supply and jet fuel.
And that's why Florida's been incl included in this too.
Hopefully the the rescinding of these restrictions will allow gasoline from other parts of the country now to get into Atlanta rather than coming from the uh the Gulf Coast area pipeline.
So that's the purpose of rescinding the regulation.
So but I'm not surprised to hear you say it because the newspaper in your town alluded to it today.
Yeah, it's um it's crazy.
I'll be in my car and everything's topped off, but it it people just need to settle down.
You know, we're gonna we have gas and not to worry, but well, but you know, it people I know you easy to say people need to settle down, but th this all of this is gonna illustrate the importance of energy to this country's progress and stability.
You know, that this is I'm telling you, there's an opportunity here, folks, to finally just discard the environmental left and and have them categorized as the obstacles to progress that they are.
So, I mean, I'm not I'm not in favor of a lot of pain and suffering.
It's always it's already going on down in New Orleans and Gulfport Miloxi and uh place in Alabama, but you know, there there are um sometimes uh it takes things like this to actually show people to illustrate.
You can you I've been I've been saying these things for 15 years, and uh sometimes people have to confront it themselves personally uh before they finally believe it.
I'm glad you called Tina.
Thanks much.
I can just see the headlines in the paper tomorrow.
Limbaugh promotes suffering.
To make political points.
Back after this.
Stay with us.
Okay, that's uh unfortunately it.
Uh, there there just isn't enough time here to uh take another another phone call.
I had uh I'm getting all kinds of people with reports of gasoline at 349, 360 in Michigan, uh all over the place.
Uh that's for you, Tina, in Atlanta.
Uh that's it's as high as it is there in a lot of other places too.
Uh and it's probably gonna go higher, uh, folks.
But uh uh rescinding these restrictions is going to help some, uh, particularly with distribution, which will then help with uh with supply.
So we'll um we'll digest whatever happens between now and uh noon tomorrow, Eastern time, and we'll kick it back up at that time all over again and put in perspective all that's happened.
And if the left keeps attacking folks, I'm going to use this show to defend.
See you tomorrow.
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