Write your Senator and or Congressperson
Our elected officials have a responsibility to the public. Find your Senator/Congressperson at http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml and take the opportunity to communicate to them the urgency of implementing the following measures:

Tougher federal regulations and enforcement by the U.S. Federal government/Mineral Management Service: Mary Kendall, the acting Inspector General in the Department of Interior, told Congress recently that the Minerals Management Service (MMS) had approximately 60 inspectors to oversee the 4,000 or so offshore oil production and exploration facilities in the Gulf of Mexico. That is woefully inadequate. While we continue to depend on oil we must demand that greater protections be implemented to ensure the safety of the workers and the environment. As evidenced by the BP spill, cost cutting superseded safety and oil spill clean up planning. Oil companies must have effective technologies in place to deal with spills of any size and must be required to invest in the research and development of new technologies. Write your elected officials to demand:

• Increase in trained inspectors;
• Investment and deployment of the best safety technologies available;
• Oil spill contingency planning;
• Heightened accountability.

• Require cars and trucks to meet greater fuel economy standards and provide American carmakers with incentives to continuously invest in cleaner, more efficient technologies;
• Develop and invest in clean, sustainable fuels that are cheaper than oil, do not interfere with food production, and are made from sustainable, domestic resources;
• Provide more transportation choices by building communities where people can drive less (while walking and biking more) and invest in mass transit, telecommuting and other alternatives to the automobile.

It’s true you can make a difference just by incorporating simple changes to your life.

Below are tips to reduce your fuel consumption by 20 percent or more:

• Buy a more fuel-efficient model or a hybrid: Fuel economy comparisons can be found at this government website http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/sbs.htm.
• When renting a car: Avoid gas guzzlers and tell the company why you made that choice.
• Check your tire pressure: Properly inflating tires or buying low-rolling resistance tires could increase fuel economy by 3 percent or more. Under inflated tires are flatter and therefore present a greater surface area against the road. That creates more friction, which creates more drag, which requires more energy to overcome the drag.
• Tune it Up: Take your car in for regular maintenance (check your owner's manual to find out how often your car needs a tune-up). Following the recommended maintenance schedule keeps your car running better and longer. A poorly tuned or poorly maintained engine can increase gasoline consumption by as much as 4 percent.
• Jackrabbit starts: Racing to beat the other guy when the light turns green may cost another few percent, depending on how much city driving you do.
• Cooling it down: In hot weather, it’s tempting to keep your air conditioner running at its maximum much of the time, especially when you first get into the hot car. The higher settings on the air conditioner demand much more energy than the lower settings so to save another 2 to 3 percent of your fuel simply open the windows to get the bulk of the hot air out of the car before turning on the air conditioner.
• Use Good Motor Oil: Motor oils that have the “Energy Conserving II” label contain friction-reducing additives and can save another 1 to 2 percent of your fuel.
• Don't Top-Off: Fuel needs space at the top of the tank to expand as it warms during the day. If there’s no space, it will discharge through vents, so don’t “top-off” the gas tank and do make sure the gas cap is tight after refueling.
• Travel Light: Removing heavy items from your trunk and roof racks can improve fuel economy by 2 percent.
• Slow It Down: Ease up on the pedal. Slowing down from 75 to 65 miles per hour will drop your highway gasoline consumption by about 15 percent. In town, avoiding rapid acceleration and aggressive driving can improve fuel economy by up to 5 percent.
• Cut the idling: A lot of gas is wasted when your car is idling. Try parking instead of using the drive-through at the fast-food place, and shut off the engine when you’re waiting at the curb to pick someone up at the airport.
• Telecommute to work or take public transit: Using mass transit even one day each month will save 5% of the fuel you use for commuting. Of course we could do much more. The American Public Transportation Association tells us that if Americans used public transportation at the same rate Europeans do, for just 10 percent of their daily travel needs, we would save more energy every year than all of the energy used annually by the U.S. petrochemical industry and nearly equal to the energy used to produce food in the united states.
• Don’t waste your money buying high-octane gasolines: High Octane wastes the extra energy needed to make such fuels. Stick with regular octane unless your owner’ manual requires (not just “recommends”) the use of a higher-octane fuel.