Don’t Let Foreign Energy Trump U.S. Jobs
I just read an article about a home medical business owner in Illinois who had to choose between hiring more employees or paying for his rising gasoline costs. His fuel costs had skyrocketed a staggering 95 percent in the last two years alone. What a ridiculous situation for our country when U.S. business owners are faced with creating more jobs — or paying for foreign energy.
Although this scenario is more common than we want to believe, we are seeing a positive trend toward American-made fuels that can help with this dilemma.
This month, DHL Express launched 100 alternative fuel vans for their pickup and delivery fleet in the U.S. The vehicles, fueled by domestically produced propane autogas, will reduce the company’s fuel costs by 42 percent per mile. That is substantial, decision-making savings. DHL runs 4,000 of their fleet vehicles on alternative fuels or modified for improved fuel-efficiency, including hybrid vans and American-made, battery-powered electric trucks.
If the Illinois business owner made the switch to a domestically produced alternative fuel, next time his decision wouldn’t be between creating jobs or paying for imported energy. Instead he’d be deciding how many more people to hire.
