Big surprise. The Bush team is playing games to kill the new mileage requirements. Hey, why try to bring the U.S. auto industry into the 1980s when we can got to war for oil:

The White House, echoing a position taken by auto manufacturers and a coalition of industry groups, is asking that the energy legislation be changed to specify the highway safety administration as the primary enforcer of fuel efficiency standards, with the E.P.A. in only an advisory role. Democratic leaders in Congress have rejected that position as a “nonstarter” and indicated their intent to move the bill with the current language intact.

Bush is determined to be a destroyer of the earth instead of a steward of the earth. Great legacy.