Or What?

All the news outlets are abuzz over the energy bill which will be signed today. Like any huge bill it was full of compromises and pork-barrel appropriations, allowing everyone in Congress (except the big oil lapdogs) to point to how it's a symbol of our government working for us.

There are lots of commendable things in the bill, but unsurprisingly given the cost of gasoline this is what's being written about the most:

The centerpiece of the bill remained the requirement for automakers to increase their industrywide vehicle fuel efficiency by 40 percent to an industry average of 35 mpg by 2020 compared to today's 25 mpg when including passenger cars as well as SUVs and small trucks.

Great idea. Unfortunately this "requirement" doesn't have any enforecement behind it -- what's going to happen if automakers don't meet this goal? Is the government going to fine the, or send their CEOs to jail? Of course not.


Did you know that the Model T got the same gas mileage as today's cars?

Plus, the bill has a big old loophole written right into it:

The bill allows for a waiver if producers are unable to meet the federal requirement for cellulosic ethanol, which rises dramatically after 2015. "We have every confidence that we can meet the target," said Matt Hartwig, a spokesman for the Renewable Fuels Association, which represents ethanol producers.

One needn't be a hardened cynic to think it's possible that, come 2015 or so, we're going to start hearing about all the problems that companies have run into trying to ramp up cellulosic ethanol production. I figure that waiver will be granted in about 2017.