Dreaming of energy independence

Debra Saunders:

I have a dream: President Bush pushes through a grand compromise — he bucks Big Oil and Detroit by raising automobile fuel-efficiency standards, while enviros grind their teeth and support oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

That dream was interrupted Thursday by U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman, who was in San Francisco to speak at the Commonwealth Club. He arrived here just as Congress passed a 1,745-page energy bill that doesn’t do much to improve fuel efficiency but has billions of dollars in tax breaks for energy companies.

I’ve clung to this dream because raising fuel efficiency would reduce American demand for oil, while opening up ANWR would increase oil supply. Both measures would make America, which imports 58 percent of its oil, more energy independent.

SFGate