Surprise, surprise. It turns out that Bush's promise to reduce gasoline consumption by 20% in the next 10 years was just another sleight of hand that is so typical of this president.
The Washington Post analyzed the fine print of Bush's SOTU proposals. Here is what they revealed about the promised reductions in gasoline consumption:
Twenty in 10: Bush said he has a "goal of reducing U.S. gasoline usage by 20 percent in the next 10 years."
The fine print: Administration officials said that the goal is 20 percent below projected annual gasoline usage, not off today's levels.
This means, of course, that gasoline usage in this country will continue to rise precipitously over the next 10 years and beyond, because Bush is only aiming to reduce the predicted consumption rate. (I wonder whether Bush plans to set the predicted use level as he pleases, and just subtract from there.)
The 20% reduction also does almost nothing to address the climate crisis, as greenhouse gas emissions from transportation will also continue to skyrocket:
But people worried about climate change were disappointed. Using projections means that carbon dioxide emissions from transportation fuels will drop only slightly from today's levels; other parts of the economy produce the other two-thirds of greenhouse gases.
"This is not nearly enough to really put us on the path of reducing emissions down to 60 percent or 80 percent of current levels, which is what we really need," said Eileen Claussen, president of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change.
This is all sounding very familiar. You might recall that the Bush Administration pledged in 2002 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions intensity by 18% in 10 years -- that was their plan to combat climate change. Emissions intensity is the ratio of greenhouse gas emissions to Gross Domestic Product. Since GDP increases every year, Bush's measley 18% reduction in emissions intensity had no relevance to total annual greenhouse gas pollution - which is what matters to the climate system.
Again, it sounded like he was pledging an emissions reduction, but his plan actually called for a huge increase in net emissions.
The Washington Post article also reveals Bush's other SOTU deceptions on fuel economy standards and renewable energy targets.