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The CARB started because of the smog problems on the West Coast due to weather and geography. CAFE is the fleet average so the target is to have most passenger cars get 60 mpg to offset the the trucks sold. Farmers and fleet operators are very attuned to the cost of operating vehicles and natural gas is increasingly attractive. Based on the results from many ecomodder projects, improved aerodynamics can gain up to a 50% increase in fuel economy and hypermilling can yield the same gain. The potential then is that a used car that got 30 mpg could be modified and driven at 55 mpg.
The fracking debate is yet another eco-bogey used to frighten people. Here on the NY-PA border in the Marcellus shale region, a great deal of testing and monitoring goes on as NY politicians decide when and how to regulate gas extraction. The hydrofracture process takes place thousands of feet below the water table. The real problems come from spills of drilling fluids into surface water. Tank trucks are used to haul fluids to processing sites. If you want really nasty well water, live next to a strip mine.
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