NYT editorial, "An Incomplete Energy Bill": Fuel economy is off the table

[DeepModem Mom]

An Incomplete Energy Bill
Published: August 2, 2007

The House will begin debating Friday on a generally useful energy bill that would increase energy efficiency, encourage more responsible oil and gas development on public lands and stimulate investment in cleaner fuels. Yet the bill is incomplete. If it truly hopes to address the problems of global warming and energy independence, three vital issues need to be addressed.

The first is fuel economy. The House bill does not now require stronger fuel economy standards — a critical part of any energy policy that seeks to reduce oil imports and greenhouse gases. An amendment floated earlier by Representative Ed Markey would raise fleetwide averages — untouched by Congress since the Ford administration — from 25 miles per gallon to 35 miles per gallon. The Senate has already approved a comparable provision.

Powerful members of the House are opposed, however, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi, unwilling to risk the bill’s delicate consensus, appears to have decided not to hold any votes on the fuel economy issue at all. We wish she had taken the risk, but now that she has decided otherwise her task is to ensure that a strong 35 mile-per-gallon standard emerges from a Senate-House conference and reaches the president’s desk.

Also missing is a national renewable electricity standard that would require utilities to generate a certain percentage of their electricity from wind power and other renewable sources. An amendment requiring such a standard has been endorsed by environmentalists, labor, venture capitalists, farmers and, in this case, Ms. Pelosi. Because the Senate bill has no comparable provision, House approval is vital to carry the idea to a conference.

Finally, somebody has to make sure that the rush to develop ethanol from corn and other sources is done in an environmentally responsible manner....

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/02/opinion/02thu1.html