Liberal Talk Radio

The Bush Administration has made a move on fuel standards. It’s something. The new system is designed to be as flexible as possible, splitting up the SUV market into six smaller segments, based on footprint:

Under the new attribute-based system, the standards would range from as high as 26.8 mpg in 2008 for smaller vehicles such as the Chrysler PT Cruiser and the Toyota RAV 4 to 20.4 mpg for large vehicles such as the Chevrolet Silverado and the Dodge Ram.

So not a huge change. My ‘01 RAV 4 gets 22-27mpg already, depending on the type of driving. But it’s a start. What’s also interesting is that the proposal is based on the idea of cap-and-trade (of which I’m a fan):

The system provides flexibility — automakers could earn credits for exceeding the minimum in certain categories and apply them to a category where they don’t meet the standard.

It goes on to say that the American car makers are at a disadvantage because they make their bones from really big SUVs. Boo-freakin’-hoo.

In the end though, this all amounts to re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. The ship’s goin’ down, folks. I’m guessing I’ll purchase one more traditionally-powered car in my lifetime, two at the most. After that the era of the internal combustion engine will be all but over.