Finally, it looks like a 35 miles per gallon fleet average will become law, raising fuel efficiency of American-made cars and light trucks by 40% by the year 2020. After months of back and forth, the two bull-headed players in this House debate, Speaker Pelosi and Michigan Representative Dingell, have reached a compromise that should enable the full House to vote on the energy bill next week (the Senate passed a 35 mpg CAFE Standard last June).

Of course, there are sure to be a few more twists and turns as other portions of the energy bill are discussed, but this is clearly a major breakthrough!

For more on this topic, here are links to New York Times and Washington Post stories as well as David Roberts' commentary on Grist.

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