Bush's tough talk forgets fine print

onJan 24, 2007 @ 10:02 PST

President Bush’s was talking tough on cutting the US gasoline consumption last night, but The Washington Post, is reporting the real story today. In last night’s annual State of the Union address, Bush committed to the “goal of reducing U.S. gasoline usage by 20 percent in the next 10 years.”

Like any good PR spin, it looks good on the surface, but once you scratch the refined messaging and nuanced language there’s a different story. According to US administration officials, the goal is 20 percent below projected annual gasoline usage, not off today’s levels. So a cut of 20% all of a sudden becomes a relative cut. According to the US Energy Information Administration 2007 Annual Energy Outlook, petroleum usage will continue to rise, with some slight levelling off due to an expected rise in ethanol usage over the next 23 years.

By Kevin Grandia

Kevin is a contributor and strategic adviser to DeSmog. He runs the digital marketing agency Spake Media House. Named a “Green Hero” by Rolling Stone Magazine and one of the “Top 50 Tweeters” on climate change and environment issues, Kevin has appeared in major news media outlets around the world for his work on digital campaigning. Kevin has been involved in the public policy arena in both the United States and Canada for more than a decade. For five years he was the managing editor of DeSmogBlog.com. In this role, Kevin’s research into the “climate denial industry” and the right-wing think tank networks was featured in news media articles around the world. He is most well known for his ground-breaking research into David and Charles Koch’s massive financial investments in the Republican and tea party networks. Kevin is the first person to be designated a “Certified Expert” on the political and community organizing platform NationBuilder. Prior to DeSmog, Kevin worked in various political and government roles. He was Senior Advisor to the Minister of State for Multiculturalism and a Special Assistant to the Minister of State for Asia Pacific, Foreign Affairs for the Government of Canada. Kevin also worked in various roles in the British Columbia provincial government in the Office of the Premier and the Ministry of Health. In 2008 Kevin co-founded a groundbreaking new online election tool called Vote for Environment which was later nominated for a World Summit Award in recognition of the world’s best e-Content and innovative ICT applications. Kevin moved to Washington, DC in 2010 where he worked for two years as the Director of Online Strategy for Greenpeace USA and has since returned to his hometown of Vancouver, Canada.