YEEESSSSSSSSSSSSS!

By which I mean, of course, "NOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooo!"

Aside from protecting makers of fuel additive MBTE from any responsibility for cleaning up the thousands of water sources that have been spoiled by it -- as they knew it would -- the energy bill coming out of the House this week also awards the same manufacturers $1.75 billion in "transition" costs when MBTE is phased out in 2014. That is simply un-freaking-believable.

And then there's this, describing the $8 billion in energy-related tax cuts:

Of the $8 billion in tax incentives, less than $500 million would go to promote renewable energy sources or foster efficiency and conservation programs.

Rep. Bill Thomas, R-California, the Ways and Means Committee chairman, said he expects programs to be added during negotiations with the Senate.

A proposal, offered by Rep. Ed Markey, D-Massachusetts, that would require the Transportation Department to boost fleet-wide auto fuel economy requirements beginning with 2015 model year cars was defeated.

Markey said cars are less fuel efficient than they were eight years ago. "We are now moving backwards," he said.

Not to mention, by the way, that the EPA still uses cartoonish mileage-per-gallon tests designed in the 1970s and which dramatically understate the real MPG of today's cars.

Ladies and gentlemen of the future -- say hello to boiling oceans!