ChimpCo Touting Success Of Measures It Opposed - Tougher CAFE, Higher Renewable, Appliance Standards

Seeking to counter international pressure to adopt binding limits on greenhouse gas emissions, the Bush administration has been touting the success of three mandatory programs to curb U.S. energy consumption: gas mileage standards for vehicles, efficiency standards for home appliances and state laws requiring utilities to increase their use of renewable energy sources.

But for most of the Bush presidency, the White House has either done little to promote these measures or, in some cases, has actively fought against them. Moreover, the fuel economy and appliance initiatives were first taken years ago to slash energy consumption, long before climate change became a pressing issue.

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Although the administration imposed modest boosts in the gas mileage standards for light trucks starting in 2003, Bush did not endorse any substantial increase in the mandates for cars until this year's State of the Union address, a proposal that has yet to materialize as regulation. And while the administration says it supports states that set renewable portfolio standards, which force utilities to use certain levels of renewable energy, it opposes adopting nationwide standards. "These are just simply words," said Roland Hwang, the NRDC's vehicle policy director. Hwang added that Bush's new goal of increasing overall vehicle fuel efficiency is admirable, but there's "a big question mark" as to whether it will come to fruition before he leaves office.

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But Ned Helme, president of the Center for Clean Air Policy, said if the United States had ratified the Kyoto Protocol, which Bush repudiated when he took office, the nation would have had to cut 2.8 billion tons of carbon emissions in 2010, and that these voluntary programs are "not even in the ballpark." "There's no way the appliance standards and standards would achieve the Kyoto targets for the U.S. in 2010," Helme said.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/26/AR2007092602345.html