Wow, The Congress Agrees That Car Makers Need to Have Vehicles with 35 MPG Average Mileage by 2020. What a Break Through.

I realize that Otto von Bismarck said that there are two things you don’t want to watch being made are “laws and sausage”. (The exact quote is, "Laws are like sausages. It's better not to see them being made.") But, give me a break, the new energy bill coming out of Congress requires that automakers have an average gas mileage rating of 35 mpg for everything they sell in 2020. If you drive a car in 2020 that gets less than 50 – 100 mpg you will not be able to eat. The law is nice, but I think the market will take care of this issue of gas mileage long before 2020 ever arrives. The interesting part of this bill is that 15% of electricity generation has to be from renewable energy by 2020. From CNNMoney:

Congressional Democrats reached a compromise late Friday to boost automobile fuel economy by 40 percent, clearing the way for a House vote probably next week on an energy bill that Democratic leaders would like to send to President Bush before Christmas. . . .

. . . . Automakers would be required to meet an industrywide average of 35 miles per gallon for cars and light trucks, including SUVs, by 2020, the first increase by Congress in car fuel efficiency in 32 years.

But Democratic leaders were stymied over disagreement on the auto fuel efficiency issues as Dingell, the longest-serving member of the House and chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, insisted on some provisions to ease the transition for automakers.

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., who strongly opposed the 35 mpg requirement when it passed the Senate in June, endorsed Friday's compromise. It "will require new fuel economy standards that will be challenging for auto manufacturers," he said in a statement. "(But) we got concessions on some of the most important issues."

Under the agreement, the ability of carmakers to use production of so-called flex-fuel vehicles that run on 85 percent ethanol to offset some of the fuel efficiency increases would be extended five years, to 2014. Also, the new standards would be set on the basis of vehicle weight, giving manufactures greater flexibility to meet the requirements for SUVs and pickup trucks.

Still, the industry overall must achieve 35 mpg average, counting all vehicles, by 2020, compared with the current requirement of 27.5 mpg fleet average for cars -- a level that has not increased since 1989 -- and 22 mpg for SUVs, passenger vans and pickups.

She said the bill also will include a ramp up in the use of ethanol and other biofuels and a requirement for nonpublic electric utilities to use a minimum amount of renewable energy such as wind and solar to produce their power.

While details of those provisions were still being worked out, aides said the ethanol provision was expected to mirror Senate requirements for use of 36 billion gallons of ethanol a year by 2022, a sevenfold increase over today's productions.

Power companies would have to produce 15 percent of their electricity from renewable energy, aides close to the discussions said.

Both the Senate and House approved separate energy bills last summer, but Democratic leaders have struggled for weeks to try to work out a compromise acceptable to both chambers -- and garner the 60 votes needed to survive a sure filibuster in the Senate.

House Republicans have called the legislation a "non-energy bill" because, they said, it ignores any measures to promote domestic production of oil, natural gas or increased use of coal.

But Pelosi has said its aim is to turn away from fossil fuels toward development of renewable fuels and place greater emphasis on spurring energy efficiency and conservation.

She said the auto fuel economy provisions represent a "landmark ... that will offer the automobile industry the certainty it needs, while offering flexibility to automakers and ensuring we keep American manufacturing jobs and continued domestic production of smaller vehicles."

The agreement on vehicle fuel economy came after days of tense discussions between Pelosi and Dingell, a staunch defender of the auto industry, who had pressed for concessions to help the industry. Pelosi agreed to a number of Dingell's demands but stood firm on the overall requirement of 35 mpg, phased in over the next 13 years.

"The agreement reached today prescribes standards that are both aggressive and attainable," said Dingell. "We have achieved consensus on several provisions that provide critical environmental safeguards without jeopardizing American jobs."

Meanwhile it became increasingly likely -- though not yet certain -- that Democratic leaders will abandon attempts to repeal nearly $16 billion in tax breaks to the oil industry as had been approved by the House earlier this year.