E.P.A. Holds Back Report on Car Fuel Efficiency
By DANNY HAKIM
Published: July 28, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/28/business/28fuel.html
Jist of the Argument: the Bush administration is hiding the bad news until their pet Energy bill gets passed, nothing new in Washington. What is the bad news? Fuel efficiency of Vehicles, both American and foreign, is going Down rather than the desired Up in terms of miles per gallon. Great hidden Secret? Americans have been switching to heavier vehicles for years, and Some could ask Why? This Author has a Brother-in-Law who is one of safer Drivers he has known, who recently contacted with a Semi-Tractor at only medium speed. The heavy SUV prevented this Author having to spend what remaining Vacation time he has left on attending funerals. Just because you are paranoid, doesn't mean that they won't get you!
The Energy Bill before Congress, though, stands as a totally different vehicle of Corporate lobbying effort. Utilities are allowed to use higher-priced Energy generation (and set their Costumer unit charges from this Cost), get tax credits to defray the added Cost, and allowed ability to ignore any potential increase in pollution (remember that Bush allowed the dirty Coal plants to reopen, after years of Closure). Car companies are allowed to ignore both current mileage per gallon requirements, and coincidently, current Pollution standards. The addition of ethanol, heavily financed by Tax credits in the Bill, will reduce mpgs much further, as alcohol is much less efficient as fuel than Gasoline. Renewable energy is also underwritten, but only in creation of artificially-high Cost massive generation facilities, not the more productive and less pollutive environmentally-integrated energy generation of local initiative. lgl
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