The Energy Bill passed yesterday. Excuse me if I dont jump for joy.

The bill included 4 parts:

1. Repeal the tax cuts specifically for oil companies
2. Address emissions from coal power plants
3. Mandate the use of "bio-fuels"
4. Raise CAFE standards

#1 and #2 failed to pass. #3 and #4 did pass.

Seriously, there was not enough political will to stop the tax breaks for America's MOST PROFITABLE CORPORATIONS? That just boggle my mind. Oil companies should be the last in line for tax incentives. The fact that we pay taxes and they dont is a sign of their awesome power and influence.

It is also something to ponder when you talk about global warming. If we are unable to cut their taxes, how on earth will we ever be able to cut their business, ie burning fossil fuels?

Coal power plants. You can wrap your hot water pipes or turn your lights off but the only meaningful way to cut our CO2 emissions is to change the big sources, like power plants. Oh well. We have coal so I guess God wants us to burn it all.

So much for the big measures that failed. Lets talk about the little measures that did pass.

Bio-fuels. Any bill that includes ethanol from corn is a bad bill. Cut the farm subsidies (another bad bill) to corn farmers before we completely drain the fresh water aquifers in the mid-west.

CAFE. CAFE is a terrible law. It is ineffective. It is constantly being resisted/fought in court. It is a bad idea leading us down the wrong road. Supporters of CAFE want you to think they are making great progress; they probably have a few subprime loans to sell you as well.

But CAFE is the law. The best thing we could do for CAFE is, as Republicans say, enforce the law we already have. CAFE was intended to cover ALL PASSENGER vehicles with exceptions for farm vehicles and heavy industry. Your Yukon and the Governator's Hummer are neither. All cars and light trucks for passenger use should be covered by the existing 25MPG rules for CAFE. If you have ever looked at the actual MPG of new vehicles, you will clearly see that is not happening.

Raising CAFE from 25 to 35MPG and covering all passenger vehicles is nice. Especially the latter. But 2020? Seriously, 12 years to comply with this rule? 12 years from now the polar ice caps will be ice cubes in LA. 12 years from now you will be driving a boat not a car.

The real problem with CAFE though is the structure of the bill. It is a government mandate on car suppliers. As such, it will always be fought by people that dont like government mandates and by the folks with the money to fight the government, ie car manufacturers. Car companies argue that its not their fault; customers want 400HP, 5000lb behemoths with 3rd row seating. There is a suburban mom arms race out there!

The right way to address car emissions is to address the demand side. Instead of regulating the supply, tax the demand. Drive any car you want - if you can pay for it.

Create a federal tax on vehicles. Base the tax on vehicle weight and MPG. Make it stiff. Make it stick. Make it tomorrow, not 2020.

This kind of law would create incentives for the right behavior rather than punishments for the wrong behavior. It also picks on the people, who we already know have a much weaker lobby than corporations. If you want to see changes in vehicles, change the demand. Magically car companies will begin to do the impossible; start offering lighter, more fuel efficient vehicles.

The vehicle tax would do another thing CAFE does not- raise revenue. The tax would create money for government. Money that could be spent on green technology research. It could be spend on mass transit. It could go towards improving our power grid so that we lose less energy when we transport it (which would mean fewer power plans needed). It could do a lot of things.

So big whoop for the energy bill of 2007. Wake me up when Obama waves his magic-hands-of-change and creates a meaningful action to address global warming before too many millions of people die.