US legislation won't stop automobile emissions

The Herald Sun can barely conceal its glee at the fact the US Congress is introducing draft legislation to cut greenhouse emissions, thundering:

CLIMATE change sceptics would do well to choke on their own emissions now that a draft bill for a carbon trading scheme has emerged from the US House of Representatives.

The subsequent reduction of hot air will help American legislators get on with the job of framing a cap and trade program in the single most important economy capable of attempting to reverse global warming.

If the bill succeeds and the US shows leadership on climate change mitigation, China will follow.

Assuming that the bill is passed, and that is by no means certain given the US public's concern with the economy and the cautiousness of their representatives in Congress, it will do little to curb emissions from cars and trucks, one of the largest sources of emissions in the US. As the Wall Street Journal says:

For drivers who’ve already seen gasoline prices double in the last two years, a 25-cent increase is a drop in the bucket and probably wouldn’t lead to many additional changes in the way people drive, the CBO [Congressional Budget Office] concludes. Even with pump prices (and crude oil) slipping a bit now, 25 cents remains a pretty tiny slice.

When gasoline spiked from about $2 a gallon to around $4 a gallon, demand for gasoline fell—but it didn’t collapse. In any event, the CBO says, new fuel-economy standards passed in late 2007 will do more to spur more fuel-efficient vehicles in coming decades than any carbon pricetag that comes out of Congress.

From Climate Change Fraud.