Pump this: drilling here drilling now won't help in the short term. But there are a few things that you can do right now when buying gas.

So the darling of the green voters admits that he will consider offshore drilling. Obama also tells that drilling here drilling now will do little to help us. The USA is currently the biggest gas guzzler of all, and there simply is not enough estimated oil beneath our coasts to keep our entire country running.

Here are a few tips from a friend of a friend who works for Kinder Morgan Pipeline in San Jose, CA. There are some things that we can all do to help ourselves and our country at the pump.

TIPS ON BUYING GAS:

Only buy or fill up your car or truck in the early morning when the ground temperature is still cold. Remember that all service stations have their storage tanks buried below ground. The colder the ground the more dense the gasoline, when it gets warmer gasoline expands, so if you buy in the afternoon or in the evening, your gallon is not exactly a gallon. In the petroleum business, the specific gravity and the temperature of the gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, ethanol and other petroleum products plays an important role. A 1-degree rise in temperature is a big deal for this business. But the service stations do not have temperature compensation at the pumps.

When you're filling up, do not squeeze the nozzle's trigger to fast speed. If you look you will see that the trigger has three (3) stages: low, middle, and high. You should be pumping on low speed , thereby minimizing the vapors that are created while you are pumping. All hoses at the pump have a vapor return. If you are pumping on the fast rate, some other liquid on the way to your tank becomes vapor. Those vapors are being sucked back into the underground storage tank so you're really getting less worth for your money.

Important Tip: FILL UP when your gas tank is HALF FULL or HALF EMPTY!
Reason: the more gas you have in your tank, the less air occupying its empty space. Gasoline evaporates faster than you can imagine. Gasoline storage tanks have an internal floating roof. This roof serves as zero clearance between the gas and the atmosphere, so it minimizes the evaporation. Unlike service stations, here where I work, every truck we load is temperature compensated, so every gallon is actually the exactamount.

Another reminder, if there is a gasoline truck pumping into the storage tanks when you stop to buy gas, Do NOT Fill Up!!--most likely the gasoline is being stirred up as the gas is being delivered, and you might pick up some of the dirt that normally settles on the bottom. Hope this will help you get the most value for your money.

WHERE TO BUY USA GAS:

Every time you fill up the car, you can avoid putting more money into the coffers of Saudi Arabia. Just buy from gas companies that don't import their oil from the Saudis. You need to know from which oil companies are the best to buy gas and also, which major companies import Middle Eastern oil.

These companies import Middle Eastern oil:

Shell.......................... 205,742,000 barrels
Chevron/Texaco......... 144,332,000 barrels
Exxon /Mobil............... 130,082,000 barrels
Marathon/Speedway... 117,740,000 barrels
Amoco...........................62,231,000 barrels
Citgo gas is from South America

Here are some large companies which do NOT import Middle Eastern oil:

Sunoco..................0 barrels
Conoco..................0 barrels
Sinclair................0 barrels
B P/Phillips............0 barrels
Hess.......................0 barrels
ARC0....................0 barrels

All of this information is available from the Department of Energy. Each company is required to state from where it gets its oil and how much it is importing.