Fuel efficiency and car manufacturing
GM’s hybrid program focuses on the highest fuel consuming vehicles first, including buses, full-size trucks and SUVs. Late last year, GM delivered seven hybrid buses to the Roaring Fork Transportation Authority.
GM has nearly 2 million FlexFuel vehicles on the road that can run on either gasoline or ethanol-based E85 fuel.
While some hybrid cars are easily recognizable, other vehicles that may not be as obvious are making a big difference.
Mark Drennan, Zone Manager, General Motors Corporation’s West Region, Castle Rock
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Re: “Raising fuel efficiency for American drivers,” May 29 Open Forum.
The Post’s editorial was not “ludicrous” and was not “junk science” nor “baloney,” as letter-writers Chris Pollard and Anthony Cramer claimed. Pollard’s choice of a car with good fuel economy is commendable, but that is a separate issue from speed. And Cramer’s point of aerodynamics and gearing affecting gas mileage is true, but a half-dozen other factors affect fuel economy, and speed is a major one.
A nationwide speed limit isn’t likely to happen, because of the oil and automobile lobbies and the politics involved. But there is one other factor that is in the control of every individual driver: throttle this obsession for bigger, faster, more horsepower and fast acceleration and braking.
Rollin C. Ives, Parachute
Support for Marilyn Musgrave’s re-election
I am writing to voice my support for the re-election of Congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave. I experienced firsthand how she handles issues affecting her district. In September 2005, Johnson’s Corner needed the help of elected officials at the local, state and federal levels concerning the possible closure of Exit 254 along Interstate 25. The exit’s closure would have had a huge negative affect on that area. Musgrave was the first official to respond to a request for help.
The congresswoman and her office helped me to understand how to work correctly with Colorado Department of Transportation authorities in getting this issue resolved. With her help, Johnson’s Corner has successfully worked with CDOT to ensure that Exit 254 will remain open. Exit 254 will be improved and survive the upgrading of I-25.
I found Musgrave to be a caring, resourceful and hard-working representative for this district. She is the person I want to see represent Colorado.
Chauncey Taylor, President & General Manager, Johnson’s Corner, Johnstown
Remembering soldiers on all sides of wars
Re: “Soldiers’ stories prove humbling,” May 29 David Harsanyi column.
David Harsanyi gives deserved credit where it’s due: to those American soldiers who put their lives on the line defending a cause and the will of their governments.
It should be remembered that the 49,000 Japanese who perished in the Battle of Leyte were doing the same. As were untold Germans. Russians. Italians. All of these were, at one time, our enemies. Now they are allies. Is there not something we can learn from this? My sorrow for the fallen is not for their heroism, but for the futility of what they (and we) have been indoctrinated to believe what they must do. Every life that is lost is a life unfulfilled.
What do wars and these “acts of heroism” really solve? Why are they always accompanied by such atrocities as Abu Ghraib and Hadithah? How many families and lives must be shattered, countries destroyed, governments toppled, before we realize we’re on a course so dangerous that life on Earth itself could be eroded?
Let’s remember all of the fallen and most of all their loved ones, who have survived and must face the rest of their lives without them. They, too, are “fallen.”
Anne Culver, Denver
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