Friday's news was full of coverage of the Senate's passing an energy bill that raises the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards by some 40% (from about 25 mpg today to 35 mpg by 2020). That's the first substantial improvement in fuel efficiency standards in the U.S. since 1975.

Sounds like pretty good news to me–at least it's a step in the right direction.

As an editorial in the New York Times yesterday concluded:

The action now shifts to the House, where Nancy Pelosi, the speaker, has promised a bill of equal value. This will not be easy. The coal, oil and automobile interests are not going away. Good ideas will be opposed and bad ones will resurface. Ms. Pelosi will need solidarity from the Democrats and an assist from Republican moderates. Let us hope she gets both.

Of course, improved CAFE standards aren't the only measure of progress in the fight against global warming. On two other fronts, unfortunately, the Senate energy bill fails to deliver the necessary incentives and/or regulations to encourage development of renewable energy sources:

• A threatened Republican filibuster killed an amendment requiring the nation’s utilities to produce 15 percent of their electricity from wind and other renewable energy sources.
• The Republicans also blocked a $32 billion package which would have raised taxes on oil and gas companies and poured the proceeds into alternative fuels.

With coal, oil and automotive lobbyists not likely to give up their fights in the House (and just as likely to stab each other in the back to preserve their own selfish interests), it will be fascinating (and depressing) to follow the upcoming debate in the House.

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