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103 comments on DrumBeat: January 17, 2008

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jrwakefield on January 17, 2008 - 10:32am

Tories' fuel plan would cut vehicle emissions

The federal government will announce this morning a set of draft regulations for fuel efficiency in cars that are expected to mirror standards made law last month in the United States.

The regulations are slated to come into force for the 2011 model year, after the expiration of the current agreement between Ottawa and auto manufacturers, which calls for a reduction of 5.3 megatonnes of greenhouse gas emissions reductions from light-duty vehicles (cars, minivans, SUVs and pickup trucks) by 2010.

After today's announcement, the regulatory scheme is to be further refined through a consultation process under the new Motor Vehicle Fuel Consumption Standards Act, proclaimed into law late last year.

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tstreet on January 17, 2008 - 2:16pm

While just everyone believes that a stimulus package is needed, some have pointed out that any package will unfortunately just contribute to an even more ridiculous deficit than we already have. I think most politicians, especially the conservative ones, are leaning towards a quick fix rebate. While this should stimulate the economy,much of this will bleed off to China as people use their rebates for more Chinese made trinkets.

We don't need more trinkets; as long as we think we need to stimulate the economy anyway, let's put those dollars into green energy. We need to ramp it up anyway so let's make this stimulus package into something that will help us in the long run,not simply fuel our debt ridden over consuming society. Besides, as I mentioned in paragraph one, how much "leakage" would there be from any tax cut. The vast majority of consumer goods are imported, especially from China. Maybe we should have China help us with the package; I notice there stock market isn't doing so well lately, either.

On CNBC this morning, one analyst said that most of the rebates would go to paying off credit card debt. Another analyst countered that as soon as some of the debt was paid off, the consumer would just drive their debt up again with consumption. This is kind of like providing more credit to a gambler in Vegas.

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WNC Observer on January 17, 2008 - 3:14pm

A better bet would be a voucher that could only be spent on an approved list of energy conservation items.

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tstreet on January 17, 2008 - 5:10pm

Yes, vouchers would be good as an addition, but not the sole method of investment. There are many large scale investments that should be made that would not be amenable to small scale things the individual consumer would be doing.

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AlanfromBigEasy on January 17, 2008 - 6:00pm

Roughly $135 to $175 billion, start construction within 12 to 36 months (we could put a 24 month deadline to start). Almost every $ stays here and they last a L-O-N-G time !

http://www.lightrailnow.org/features/f_lrt_2007-04a.htm

Best Hopes,

Alan.

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