Bush Administration Undercuts Push for Better Fuel Economy

Much of Coastal U.S. May Follow California on Car Emissions

New regulations would require that auto companies begin the long, slow process of actually making more fuel-efficient vehicles. Of course, they'll will never do that until they're forced to, since it means investing money in new technologies. Thus, in good American capitalist fashion, the large auto companies - with the Bush administration firmly on their side - are suing to prevent any states from requiring greater fuel economy.

Bush's EPA has ruled that carbon monoxide isn't an air pollutant, so states' air regulatory power may be overturned. Since Bush doesn't think global warming is a real issue, and he obviously doesn't want us to be concerned with fuel economy (a Texas Oil Man? get real.) It's not that he's ignoring these issues, on the contrary, he's actively engaged in trying to shut down any states who ARE interested in doing something about them. Just like in the 2000 power rip-off, it's Texas vs. California. Big Industrialists vs. the Environmentalists.

But there are growing sides that the Bush Administration, as in most things, is push too far right for the American people. The governors of California and New York, two of the three largest states - and very prominent Republican politicians these days - have both sided with the environmentalists AGAINST the Bush administration on this one, and many other states are joining in.