Greater efficiency, not more oil

With gas prices hitting $4.50 a gallon some places in my area, I'm finding my family and friends are filling up less and driving farther to find a deal and save some money. A lot of us are having to make sacrifices in our daily lives and in our spending habits to afford this new cost, and I know I'm not the only one who would like to see action from their leaders in Congress on this issue.

The expanding global economy has driven the price of oil through the roof, while the auto and oil industries have successfully kept down efforts to make our cars more fuel efficient and save us money. It's time Congress stopped listening to Big Oil and instead worked to meaningfully increase fuel efficiency to help solve this crisis at the pump.

I was disappointed to see politicians, including candidate for Congress Steve Greenberg, call for offshore drilling as a solution to high gas prices. Drilling is not a short-term fix, and it would take at least a decade to bring new leases issued under this plan into production. Instead, achieving 35 mpg in 2020 will save 1 million barrels of oil per day - far more than we will get from new leases being proposed in the outer continental shelf by Steve Greenberg and President Bush.

We need our elected leaders to pass federal legislation to encourage more efficient vehicles, look toward new technologies, and listen to the families suffering at the pump, and not to the Big Oil companies.

Gina Micci

McHenry