Washington (Platts)--19Dec2007
President Bush on Wednesday signed into law a broad energy bill that
would, among other things, require the use of 36 billion gallons of renewable
fuel by 2022 and boost automotive fuel efficiency standards 40% by 2020.
In a signing ceremony at the US Department of Energy, the president said
the measure, particularly the renewable fuel mandate and the increase in
Corporate Automotive Fuel Economy standards to 35 miles per gallon from the
current 25 mpg, will help address US dependence on oil and help make the
country less "vulnerable" to high oil prices.
The bill also would increase energy efficiency across the US economy,
boost spending on so-called "smart" electricity grid technologies and would
phase out use of 100 watt incandescent light bulbs by 2012.
Bush used the signing ceremony to call on Congress to expand access to US
energy resources by, among other things, lifting exploration and production
moratoria in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve in Alaska and on parts of
the Outer Continental Shelf.
The House on Tuesday approved the bill after the Senate last week passed
a pared-down version of the legislation that stripped controversial titles
passed earlier by the House that would have required investor-owned electric
utilities to obtain 15% of their power from renewable resources by 2020 and
that would have eliminated more than $13 billion in oil and gas industry tax
incentives. Both provisions had drawn veto threats from the White House.
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