House Speaker Pelosi wants a vote on energy bill before Thanksgiving
Speaker of the House of the Representatives Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is tired of waiting for action on an energy bill including new fuel economy standards. Just as her home state of California filed suit against the EPA, she has called for a vote next week on the bill. Pelosi has met in recent days with both Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Rep. John Dingell (D-MI) about getting a vote soon. The bill Pelosi is pushing includes a 35 mpg standard by 2020 that would encompass both cars and trucks. The likelihood of passing this bill seems unlikely given the wide support for the alternative Hill-Terry bill which has 160 co-sponsors. That bill would continue measuring cars and trucks separately and lower the standard to 32-35 mpg by 2022. It would also provide leeway to manufacturers if the standards prove to be unachievable. One possibility is that the standard in the bill Pelosi is supporting would be modified. Both cars and trucks would have to meet a 35 mpg standard but they would get different timelines with trucks getting longer to reach the standard.
[Source: Detroit News]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Tim 9:55AM (11/09/2007)
I can't trust or believe anything this Oligarch says. Why? “It turns out she not only owns several multi-million dollar homes, but a vineyard in Napa as well. Add to that a commercial shopping center, ownership in several private partnerships and a good size chunk of tech stocks and we see that girl is doing just fine.”
http://impleader.com/2006/11/just-how-rich-is-nancy-pelosi/
Other than politics, she’s never worked a day in her life and has no idea what real life is like in America.
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Domenick 9:58AM (11/09/2007)
This picture adds further confirmation that Pelosi is a shape shifting reptoid from the under world.
Will her bill pass? Do republicans hate her as much as democrats hate her? These are the questions that plague men's minds.....
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ME 10:11AM (11/09/2007)
Another way to look at this is it just doesn't matter. By 2020/2022 gas could be $6/gallon, our economy will be collapsing, and only the rich, like her, will be driving anyway. Or...
Who knows
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Yggdrasilly 10:51AM (11/09/2007)
Seperate MPG standards for cars and trucks makes good sense.
Pickups will still need large payloads, good towing power and body-on-frame construction to do what they were designed to do: haul stuff around for farmers, ranchers and tradesmen. Given this, large increases in pickup MPG seems unattainable. I doubt it would be practical to streamline them much, and heavy batteries for full-hybrid operation would eat into the payload (not to mention boost the up-front cost for tradesmen and small businesses)
But trucks shouldn't be let off the hook entirely. Stop-start capability, cylinder deactivation and electric assist for acceleration can add a few MPG for very little added cost. Computer-operated standard transmissions could also be useful if they can be made cheap, reliable, and acceptable to the driver (i.e., to work apparently as smoothly as automatics)
Pickups used as commute vehicles and local runabouts by suburbanites will become rarer as gas prices increase. Rich people with more money than sense will still buy them for that purpose, of course. So whenever we're behind them at a light, those of us who drive high-MPG vehicles can still cultivate that sense of combined victimhood and smugness that adds so much to our lives .
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mike 11:24AM (11/09/2007)
Ygg,
I'd agree with you except, I just can't see how you need more then 200hp to hawl hay. Buying Horsepower you don't need is just another "stupid tax".
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mike 11:26AM (11/09/2007)
How long did it take to find that awful picture?
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Tim 11:47AM (11/09/2007)
Where are the flying monkeys?
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MikeW 12:58PM (11/09/2007)
Impeach Cheney and Bush (and others) first, then we'll talk.
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Tim 1:39PM (11/09/2007)
MikeW- Agreed, works for me. Go Dennis!!!
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Dennis+Kucinich+Presents+Articles+of+Impeach
The Neocons are as evil as the socialists.
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GoodCheer 1:55PM (11/09/2007)
What exactly is the definition of a truck? Is it just however the manufacturer whats to call it? (Chevy SSR).
How about we change it from whatever it is now to being anything registered as a business or farm work vehicle. That way people who need that hauling capacity can have it, but people who just want to compensate for living boring lives in the suburbs will not be able to do so through a loophole in even the current CAFE standards.
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Murc 1:10AM (11/10/2007)
MikeW - not happening. besides the fact that he only has a year left.
nancy pelosi is the one who should be impeached....thanks to her and her fellow democrats....our wonderful congress hasn't done shit, and the (lowest ever) congress approval rating is proving it.
Miss Pelosi.....I think its time for you to Resign.
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Chris M 2:07AM (11/10/2007)
Sigh.... Again, the silly ad-hominem attacks. Yes, Pelosi is wealthy, but so is every single member of congress, and also a substantial number of people the executive and judicial branches as well. It takes a lot of money and ambition and social connections to run for high office, the poor and unpopular need not apply. As for "never worked a day in her life", that is just totally rediculous. It takes a lot of work to run a successful busines, and no one gets to be speaker of the house by sitting around doing nothing.
Shape shifting reptoids? ROFLMAO! Somebody has been watching too many bad sci-fi monster movies!
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Chris M 2:11AM (11/10/2007)
It seems to me that "Trucks" should be classified by their cargo carrying capacity, not the vehicle weight. That would weed out a lot of SUVs now masquarading as "trucks" under the old CAFE rules.
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Lorna Li 2:55AM (11/16/2007)
That 35 mpg by 2020 is unlikely to be voted in makes me cringe in embarrassment to be a U.S. citizen, especially when real world gas mileage is about 10 mpg higher.
But the difference in greenhouse gas emissions, consumer dollars saved at the pump, and foreign oil imports is huge, when you compare 35 mpg by 202 vs 32 mpg by 2022: http://tinyurl.com/2d2wlj
In spite of all the noise in the public sphere in support of fuel efficiency and renewable energy, such as auto industry workers breaking from the industry in support of 35 mpg by 2020: http://smnr.us/35mpgby2020 it's a shame to see greed and industry interests outweigh social benefit.
We only have a few more days left. Please sign this petition calling an 2007 Energy Bill that makes fuel efficiency and renewable energy a priority:
http://www.energybill2007.org
Cheers,
Lorna Li
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