Hybrid Car Review

Nancy Pelosi acknowledged yesterday the Energy Bill would not be voted on by Thanksgiving, as she had hoped. Instead, the new target date is Christmas.

Pelosi said the new corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards would be "a nice little Christmas present" for Americans and the need for higher CAFE "is a pocketbook issue as well."

Which is good news for those who are hoping for tougher standards to be set on fuel economy. Although it may be a little ironic how Pelosi was talking about CAFE since the Senate version of the Energy Bill had new CAFE standards, but the House Bill did not have new CAFE standards.

But even as Pelosi was announcing the delay, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel in California had announced their ruling to overturn the new fuel economy standards for light trucks in the 2008-2011 model years. The new standard was to raise the light truck fuel economy from 22.2 to 24% mpg by 2011. The panel felt the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) failed to account for the threat of carbon dioxide emissions in doing cost-benefit analyses. The increased standards were being opposed by environmental groups and some states that want even tougher standards in place. The panel ordered the NHTSA to write new rules "expeditiously as possible and for the earliest model

The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers wasted no time in putting out their statement stating then new light truck standards had "become the basis for product planning through 2011. Any further changes to the program would only delay the progress that manufacturers have made towards increasing fleet wide fuel economy."