US auto giants safe under Bush energy plan: critics - AFP

[Eugene]

US auto giants safe under Bush energy plan: critics

by Mira Oberman

Wed Jan 24, 3:12 AM ET

CHICAGO (AFP) - President George W. Bush has trumpeted new proposals to cut US
gasoline consumption and so ease the country's dependence on foreign oil. But critics
saw little dramatic in the changes, and nothing to worry the Detroit auto industry.

The bulk of the reductions targeted by Bush in his State of the Union speech are
to come from increased use of alternative fuels, like corn-derived ethanol, by 2017.

That is something the "Big Three" US automakers have been lobbying for but which
critics say will be hard to meet, with corn prices at 10-year highs and alternatives
to corn ethanol years away.

-snip-

"This is a gift to Detroit," said Russell Long, vice president of the Bluewater Network,
which lobbies for better fuel economy standards.

"If the president were serious he would call for a doubling of the nation's fuel economy
standards," he said. "Instead he's squandering another tremendous opportunity to make
substantial cuts in the nation's oil dependence."

-snip-

Full article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070124/ts_alt_afp/uspoliticsbushenergyenvironmentauto_070124030451

[msongs]

1. auto companies are the ENEMIES of the nation

putting short term corporate and CEO profits ahead of the welfare of the people and the planet.

who killed the electric car, indeed.

Msongs
www.msongs.com

[YankeyMCC]

2. The man bungles everything he touches

and he's bungling the energy and environmental issues as well.

bio fuels certainly can have a role in the transition if not long term (although it seems to me there's a lot better choices than corn) but No Way should that be the focus of any strategy of dealing with energy security and climate crisis.

[Kolesar]

3. Modeling auto efficiency after his truck efficiency plan is bulls--t

It allows people to "buy one weight class up" and then get lower efficiency.