THE IDEOLOGUES HAVE LITTLE INTEREST IN THE ACHIEVABLE:

Bush Seeks Vast, Mandatory Increase in Alternative Fuels and Greater Vehicle Efficiency (EDMUND L. ANDREWS and FELICITY BARRINGER, 1/24/07, NY Times)

The centerpiece of Mr. Bush's proposal, which he said would cut the projected use of gasoline by 20 percent over the next decade, was a nearly fivefold mandatory increase in the production of ethanol and other alternative fuels for cars and trucks. The most obvious beneficiaries would be makers of ethanol and other biofuels, but it could also promote the production of liquefied coal.

Mr. Bush called for a mandatory requirement that makers of fuel produce 35 billion gallons of alternative fuels a year by 2017, replacing about 15 percent of the projected gasoline use in that year.

A second major plank of Mr. Bush's energy proposal calls for increasing fuel-efficiency standards of cars and trucks by 4 percent a year -- about one mile per gallon -- starting in 2010 for cars and 2012 for trucks.

That was a significant change from Mr. Bush's approach last year, when he called for "reform" of the corporate average fuel economy, or CAFE, rules, but avoided suggesting specific mileage requirements.

In a third proposal, Mr. Bush called for doubling the amount of oil in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to about 1.5 billion barrels of oil. The doubling would take place at a snail's pace over the next 20 years. Even so, advance word of the idea helped push up oil prices by $2.46 a barrel on Tuesday to $55.04.

"It's a big change that the president has endorsed these new fuel-efficiency standards," said Frederick W. Smith, the chief executive of the FedEx Corporation and a co-chairman of the Energy Security Leadership Council, a group of executive and retired military officers. These standards, he said, match their recommendations, "which are achievable."