Senate-approved energy bill calls for fuel-economy increase
First, the good news: the U.S. Senate has passed an energy bill containing the first significant fuel-economy increase in years. The bill requires cars and light trucks to get an average of 35 miles per gallon by 2020, up from the current 22.2 mpg for light trucks and 27.5 mpg for cars. It also calls for limits on gasoline price-gouging; new appliance and lighting efficiency standards; funding for research into newfangled vehicles like plug-in hybrids; and a sevenfold increase in ethanol production by 2022 (oops, file that under "Now the bad news"). "This bill starts America on a path toward reducing our reliance on oil," said Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). But it was a mixed bag for Democrats, who were forced to axe big ideas including $32 billion in renewable-energy tax breaks and a 4 percent annual increase in fuel economy from 2020 to 2030. Still, they did a jig over the vote: "I'm flabbergasted," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.). "I thought we'd be arguing this all night."
source: Houston Chronicle, David Ivanovich, 22 Jun 2007
source: The New York Times, Edmund L. Andrews, 22 Jun 2007
source: Hartford Courant, Associated Press, H. Josef Hebert, 22 Jun 2007
source: CBS News, Associated Press, 22 Jun 2007
see also, in Gristmill: Senate says yes to CAFE boost, no to oil taxes,
Mark Warner (D-Va.)
Can EPA regulations on CO2 be blocked?
Comments
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coot540 Posted 3:56 am
22 Jun 2007
How about DEPORTING 12 Million Illegals and saving 10-20 million gallons of fuel EVERY DAY???
That should help the fuel crunch!
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bobcajun Posted 1:22 am
25 Jun 2007
Where have these reporters who are praising the Senate action been hiding? In Washington? Preparing for a Mars mission in the Gobi Desert?
They are as far behind the times as the Senate, and probably less knowledgeable about the facts. (At least everyone knows to take what the Senate says and does with less than a grain of salt. Unfortunately, they are less cynical of inaccurate and abysmal journalism.)
Is this an example of Grist's "environmental reporting?"
If so, you've got to get some new material or change your prospective.
As usual, the Senate is megamillions of dollars short, and several decades late. And, if even environmental gadflies like Grist are praising the Senate actions, then something truly stinks in Denmark (and Washington).
Regardless of the spin put on the "action" by Washington Democrats (and wait, the Republicans are going to take some of the undue praise as well) it is little more than a placebo, a bone tossed to the people and the environment. Maybe, they think, this problem of dwindling non-renewable energy supplies will go away, that environmental problems will suddenly and miraculously be solved by some stroke of genius, that energy costs will not, by 2020, be priced out of reach of most of the people of the world,including the bulk of the U.S. population, and that all will be well, the sun will continue rotating around the earth, and no one will fall off the edge of the world.
Maybe for Washington, and the journalists who believe that ooze (do not pardon the pun), their praise of the Senate action does not smack of collusion and duplicity. Fortunately, there are people out here who would prefer that they either report the truth or keep their mouths shut, pens in their pockets and laptops offline.
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danielbarker123 Posted 2:25 am
25 Jun 2007
How many of us ship goods, and travel, by rail? How come Amtrak spending is down and nobody even knows?
We really don't care about the planet- but don't take my word for it, ask Michael Moore. Mr Moore certainly doesn't care about destroying the planet when he eats too much. (I wonder how many people have starved so that Micheal Moore could eat his meat.) Eating meat requirs forty times the fossil fuel as vegetarian - I know, I eat less than six pounds of meat a year.
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bobcajun Posted 9:08 am
25 Jun 2007
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ethanol Posted 5:06 pm
05 Jul 2007
//
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TheSSG Posted 1:11 am
31 Jul 2007
Buchenwald Style!!!
Give me a break...
Way to be blatantly Racist...
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