The U.S. Senate passed a new energy bill late last week. The bill called for an increase in automobile fuel economy, outlined penalties for energy price-gouging, and promised money for the production of fuel from corn. Here’s a clip from CNN:

…In an eleventh-hour compromise fashioned after two days of closed-door meetings, an agreement was reached to increase average fuel economy by 40 percent to 35 miles per gallon for cars, SUVs and pickup trucks by 2020.

But the fuel economy issue threatened to topple the legislation up to the last minute. Majority Leader Harry Reid held off the vote until late into the evening so several senators could be called back to Capitol Hill to provide the 60-vote margin needed to overcome a threatened filibuster from pro-auto industry senators.

Shortly before midnight, senators voted 62-32 to cut off debate, and followed by passing the bill 65-27. The measure now awaits action by the House, which is expected to take it up next week. But attempts to combine the two bills and send legislation to President Bush probably won’t be possible until later this year.

It would be the first increase in vehicle fuel efficiency since the current 22.7 mpg for cars was put in place in 1989 and the first time Congress has imposed a new auto efficiency mandate in 32 years….

While I’d like to celebrate the first significant piece of fuel economy legislation in 30 years, I’m not so sure we’ve got all that much to be happy about. Sure, it’s a good thing that the debate has shifted from drilling to conservation, but is it enough? According to several groups, it isn’t. I just received a note from Friends of the Earth a few minutes ago that summed it up nicely. Here’s a clip:

The much ballyhooed fuel standards are not only weak, they can be waived at the auto industry’s request! First off, the new standard requires automakers’ fleets to reach an average of 35 mpg 12 years from now, which isn’t much given that hybrids on the road today average around 50 mpg. Second, incremental improvements for each year after the 2020 target date were removed, so we could well stop at 35 mpg once we get there. Third, we might not even get the 35 mpg in the first place, thanks to a provision that allows the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to declare the regulations null and void should the auto industry persuade it that the standards cannot be reached without financial hardship. Finally, if this lame fuel standard gets signed into law, fuel economy legislation will likely be taken off the congressional agenda until 2020 (assuming NHTSA doesn’t buckle to the auto industry before then).

And then there are the things that didn’t make it into the bill at all, like the $32 billion that Democrats had been hoping to get for renewable energy. The idea was that increased taxes on oil companies, and the reversal of present tax giveaways to the petroleum industry, would pay for it over ten years, but that didn’t fly with Senate Republicans. Democrats were also unsuccessful in their bid to require that electric utilities produce at least 15% of their electricity from renewables by some point in the not too distant future.

Without a doubt the biggest winners in al of this were corn farmers and those in the business of producing ethanol. The bill calls for us to produce 36 billion gallons a year of the stuff by 2022. I’m not an expert on ethanol by any means, but it seems to be pretty widely suspected that, gallon for gallon, when the entire system is taken into account, ethanol produces just about as much pollution contributing to global warming as gasoline. And, on top if it, the growing of corn for the production of ethanol relies heavily on fertilizer, which is itself a petroleum product.

It could be worse though. Instead of liquid coal and ethanol, our Senators could have been pushing Vivoleum… Speaking of which, did you happen to see that our friends the Yes Men were in the news again? This time, they were posing as Exxon executives and suggesting that we begin burning people for fuel. Here’s a clip from the press release they issued after the action:

Imposters posing as ExxonMobil and National Petroleum Council (NPC) representatives delivered an outrageous keynote speech to 300 oilmen at GO-EXPO, Canada’s largest oil conference, held at Stampede Park in Calgary, Alberta, today.

The speech was billed beforehand by the GO-EXPO organizers as the major highlight of this year’s conference, which had 20,000 attendees. In it, the “NPC rep” was expected to deliver the long-awaited conclusions of a study commissioned by US Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman. The NPC is headed by former ExxonMobil CEO Lee Raymond, who is also the chair of the study.

In the actual speech, the “NPC rep” announced that current U.S. and Canadian energy policies (notably the massive, carbon-intensive exploitation of Alberta’s oil sands, and the development of liquid coal) are increasing the chances of huge global calamities. But he reassured the audience that in the worst case scenario, the oil industry could “keep fuel flowing” by transforming the billions of people who die into oil.

“We need something like whales, but infinitely more abundant,” said “NPC rep” “Shepard Wolff” (actually Andy Bichlbaum of the Yes Men), before describing the technology used to render human flesh into a new Exxon oil product called Vivoleum. 3-D animations of the process brought it to life.

“Vivoleum works in perfect synergy with the continued expansion of fossil fuel production,” noted “Exxon rep” “Florian Osenberg” (Yes Man Mike Bonanno). “With more fossil fuels comes a greater chance of disaster, but that means more feedstock for Vivoleum. Fuel will continue to flow for those of us left.”

The oilmen listened to the lecture with attention, and then lit “commemorative candles” supposedly made of Vivoleum obtained from the flesh of an “Exxon janitor” who died as a result of cleaning up a toxic spill…

As for the energy bill, it’s now in the hands of the House, where it could be strengthened or weakend… If you haven’t written to your Congressperson in a while, this might be a good occasion to do so.