Bush and The 20% Reduction

You heard it on the State of the Union address by President Bush:

Let us build on the work we've done and reduce gasoline usage in the United States by 20 percent in the next 10 years.

Well, turns out this is a little different from what you might think. MSNBC reports the following:

environmentalists noted the 20 percent goal applies to how much gas is forecast to be used in 2017, not how much is used now. Because of an expected increase in consumption over the next decade, such a cut would not reduce the amount of gas currently consumed.

That is a big difference! The reality is the Bush administration is still not serious enough about the risk of climate change, and much of the moves interpreted in that direction are merely related to energy security, with Iran's threats to disrupt oil markets. Officials in California have pointed out that the Bush plan could raise CO₂ levels by favoring alternate fuels that don't reduce the carbon footprint.

I didn't grade the SOTU on climate change, because I didn't consider Bush as having talked about it. But on the overall climate change issue, I give the administration an F grade!