Fuel

Funny how the Bush administration passes the buck to the states on some things, but not others. When it costs money, somehow federalism dictates that the task belongs to the states. But when it comes to protecting a vested interest somewhere, the states are barred from meddling.So it is with encouraging people to buy fuel-efficient automobiles. The Maryland General Assembly passed a law as part of its desperate revenue-raising this year that would have imposed a penalty on purchasers of gas-guzzlers and offered an inducement to buy efficient cars.

Washington. -- A lot of people these days are asking, ''What will be the fuel of the future?'' Some are talking about electric cars and cars that run on natural gas. Others say the answer is ethanol fuel, which is made out of corn.But I am convinced that the fuel of the future -- the one that makes the most sense economically and environmentally, for the foreseeable future -- will be a lineal descendant of the fuels of the past and the present.It will be advanced forms of ''reformulated'' gasoline -- new, clean-burning gasoline that is already coming to the market and that will provide unprecedented environmental performance when used in today's modern automobiles.

With energy prices high and likely to go higher in the years ahead, it would make sense for the nation to embrace a transportation policy that puts a premium on energy efficiency. Transportation, along with electrical power generation, is the country's biggest consumer of fossil and renewable fuels. So what is the most fuel-efficient form of transportation available in the U.S. today? Believe it or not, it's Amtrak. According to a recent study published by the U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Amtrak uses less energy per passenger mile than cars, airlines or even subways and commuter rail systems.

Two men were seriously burned at a northeast Baltimore County party when someone sprayed a form of fuel on a bonfire, according to the Baltimore County Fire Department. Fire investigators said a group of people were standing around a fire pit in a driveway of a home in the 11500 block of Wallace Drive at about 3:15 a.m. Sunday when the flames started to die down. Witnesses later told police that Nicholas Hamel, 20, tried to reignite the fire with nitro fuel, which is used to power remote control cars.

A former Baltimore public works employee has pleaded guilty to stealing more than 100,000 gallons of diesel fuel from the city and re-selling it as part of a scheme that went unnoticed for a year and a half. Maurice Boone, a 45-year-old tractor-trailer operator, was discovered January 5, 2009 by a Baltimore County police officer investigating a car-theft ring. When caught, he was filling several 250-gallon storage tanks with city-purchased diesel at a warehouse on Sparrows Point Road.

A couple of mistakes by a truck driver brought a hazardous-materials crew to a Crofton Texaco station yesterday morning to clean up a fuel spill. The driver, whose name was not available, pumped gasoline into the tank of the diesel-engine truck, then siphoned out the mixed fuel and let it spill onto the ground, authorities said. About 20 gallons of gasoline and diesel fuel spilled. The incident occurred about 8 a.m. on Route 3 South at Waugh Chapel Road. The county Fire Department was notified by a motorist using a cellular phone to call 911. The motorist reported seeing a truck driver using a hose and an overflowing five-gallon bucket.

MOST PEOPLE don't have a clue about what it takes, or what it costs, to get fuel from its source to our homes and vehicles. Ignorance has not, and will not, however, deter politicians from attempting to "fix" the latest round of price increases to garner votes for themselves and demonize the fuel industry. Democratic politicians are blaming "President Bush's friends back in Texas" for the price hikes. According to this line, oil companies are gouging the public and reaping outrageous profits.

Peter Angelos got his winner yesterday. Or at least 30 percent of it.Prospector's Fuel -- the even-money favorite in a coupling with Georgia K. -- sprinted to the front immediately from the No. 10 post and went on to trounce 11 rivals by five lengths yesterday in the $100,000 Maryland Lassie at Laurel.It was an impressive showing by the speedy 2-year-old daughter Allen's Prospect in whom the Orioles owner has a 30 percent interest.The race was sponsored by the Orioles and Angelos said his share of the winning purse (approximately $15,000)

LOS ANGELES -- In a smoky parking lot in South-Central Los Angeles, Ruby Galude, 55, stared in disbelief at the wreckage of her local grocery store. "I'm a diabetic. This is where I get all my juices and foods," she said, peering at shards of glass and soaked debris. "What am I going to do now?"A few miles away, Paul C. Hudson arrived at his family-run savings and loan, a community fixture since 1947 in a neighborhood that has a grave shortage of banks. Wednesday night it burned down. "Just the exterior wall was left standing," he said.

Siphons in hand, Internal Revenue Service inspectors are cracking down on truckers driving on Maryland highways with untaxed fuel in their tanks.It's a far cry from Prohibition-era investigations, when IRS agents and Elliot Ness brought down Al Capone's mob. But tax evasion is tax evasion, and the government is going after violators with hefty fines.Two IRS "diesel fuel inspectors" -- a newly created title in the agency -- siphoned fuel from 30 trucks stopped yesterday along Interstates 83 and 70, and identified three that might have been using untaxed fuel.