Tire Inflation vs. Drilling

FactCheck.org weighs in:

We find that proper tire inflation could save more than a billion gallons of fuel per year and do it several years sooner than expanded drilling could produce a single drop. McCain has exaggerated by representing Obama's suggestion as a silly notion or implying that it constitutes his entire energy policy.

But we also figure that expanded offshore drilling is projected to produce far more oil eventually than can be saved by proper tire inflation – nearly three times as much even by the conservative estimate of government experts, and more than 10 times as much if an industry-endorsed estimate is correct. And even taking into account additional fuel savings from tune-ups, which Obama also mentioned, he greatly exaggerated. . . .

So ending the ban on offshore drilling would result in 3.5 billion gallons of petroleum product per year under the government's estimate, and nearly 16 billion gallons if ARI's prediction turns out to be accurate. Both those figures are far beyond the 1.2 billion gallon savings to be expected from proper tire pressure.

Read the whole thing.