Obama, just doing his part to save the earth...

Earth Day Ends Obama's 53,300 Gallon Trip

By Paul Bedard

President Obama declared today's 41st annual Earth Day proof of America's ecological and conservation spirit—then completed a three-day campaign-style trip logging 10,666 miles on Air Force One, eating up some 53,300 gallons at a cost of about $180,000. And that doesn't include the fuel consumption of his helicopter, limo, or the 29 other vehicles that travel with that car.

...it is pretty easy to ballpark the costs of most trips, like Obama's three-day tour. He started at the White House on Wednesday, flew out of Andrews Air Force Base and ended up in San Francisco. On Thursday, he flew to Reno and ended the day in Los Angeles. Today, he flew home, via Andrews Air Force Base.

According to the mileage calculator on webflyer.com, those trips total 10,666 air miles. Published reports say that Boeing 747s similar to Air Force One burn about 5 gallons per mile. With companies like Jet Blue now paying $3.37 a gallon, that’s a total fuel cost of $179,621.

During his trip, Obama's 30-car motorcade was used to carry him to events. His limo, and there are usually two in the motorcade, gets a high of 8-10 miles per gallon, according to industry estimates, ironic considering his recent criticism of low-mileage cars. In Pennsylvania earlier this month, he mocked low-mileage vehicles that get 8 miles per gallon, like heavy duty work trucks.

"If you're complaining about the price of gas and you're only getting 8 miles a gallon, you know," Obama said laughingly. "You might want to think about a trade-in."

During his trip newspapers and local authorities warned about traffic gridlock as the president's motorcade traveled through San Francisco and LA. A similar trip to Los Angeles caused such bad gridlock that a local councilman, Bill Rosendahl, asked for an probe into ways such traffic jams can be avoided in the future. According to wire reports, he said, "I told the White House they might have raised $1 million, but they lost one million votes."

Link:
http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/washington-whispers/2011/04/22/earth-day-ends-obamas-53300-gallon-trip