Senate Seeks Fuel Efficiency

The US Senate has approved a bill that would require vehicles sold in the US to burn 30% less fuel by the year 2020.

Fuel efficiency will have to be 35mpg. The measure is part of a wider draft law on conserving energy and promoting alternative fuels.

30% more efficiency by 2020? 35 mpg? I bought a Datsun 210 in 1981 that got 45 mpg on the highway, 35 in the city. If the technology existed 25 years ago to do this, I have to believe we can still do it today. It's just that lots of folks do not want to buy and drive cars that small because gas prices are not high enough to make them want to yet. And the time frame is 13 years from now, which is long after the current crop of elected officials will probably be gone from office.

This legislation might be meaningful in say, 3 or 4 years, but 13? At the rate fuel prices are increasing, the higher prices will have brought about more fuel efficiency long before the next 13 years passes.

Let the market price regulate this, not some pinheads in Washington.