Energy Bill likely to face veto from President Bush

Welcome to the Federal Government of the United States, the place where good policy goes to die by the pen of one man, the President of the United States. Despite the House reaching a compromise on separating light truck vehicles from the overall fuel efficiency requirements for passenger vehicles, White House economic advisor Allan Hubbard stated earlier today "it appears Congress may intend to produce a bill the President cannot sign." According to Hubbard, the issue is with the House bill requiring utilities in each state to produce no less than 15% of their electricity from renewable sources such as wind, solar, and geothermal, by the year 2020.

Now, the states that have an issue with this requirement happen to be in the Southern United States, where, according to some Congressman from those states, there isn't "enough wind to allow us to meet the 15%." Hogwash! Did these yahoos ever hear of a thing called the sun, which happens to shine especially bright in the Southern US?? If a dark and dreary country like Germany can be the #1 producer of solar power, our sun belt states have zero excuse for not producing enough solar power to meet the requirement. The same goes for newer, less common renewable sources such as geothermal.

I'm going to keep my fingers crossed that the House and Senate can get enough votes to make the bill veto proof, however, I think in the end there will be compromise. Compromise on a bill as critical to our future as this energy legislation will mean one thing in the grand scheme of things - we lose, they win.