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Old 10-05-2012, 12:56 PM   #6 (permalink)
gone-ot
...beats walking...
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jamesqf View Post
I think there might be a couple of problems with the underlying logic of those maps. I don't see how they could be getting true usage data, only sales. I would bet that a lot of rural counties have their sales bumped up by urban people stopping for gas when travelling between cities. Take for instance the drive along I-80 between Reno and Salt Lake city. Almost anyone making that 500+ mile trip is going to stop for gas enroute, in a county where the population is only a few thousand.

Then there's the question of how much rural gas is actually used by farmers who are producing food for the urban areas...
...Q: don't the farmers get a tax-break on their fuel purchases, so their consumption could be broken out of the "total" fairly easily?
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