Washington, May 15, 2007 - President Bush announced on Monday that he had directed his administration to begin the long process of establishing higher fuel efficiency standards for new cars.

But officials said that it was unclear if at the end of that process Mr. Bush would take it upon himself to raise the gas mileage of the nation’s automobiles, which has not significantly increased in decades. And Mr. Bush, speaking in the Rose Garden on Monday afternoon, said nothing would be put into effect until the regulatory process was completed at the end of 2008, just weeks before the end of his term.

Environmental groups, which have long called for substantial increases in the government-mandated fuel standards, expressed skepticism that the administration would enact new standards without Congressional action, and dissatisfaction that Mr. Bush had not offered specifics. And Representative Edward J. Markey, Democrat of Massachusetts and the chairman of the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, called the announcement “a stall tactic.”

Mr. Bush’s announcement came during a period of new headlines about resurgent gasoline prices, as well as international and domestic political pressure to control American emissions of heat-trapping gases from burning petroleum and other fossil fuels. It comes six weeks after the Supreme Court, rebuffing the administration’s arguments, ruled in favor of states that were seeking new federal controls on these emissions from automobiles.

The court found on April 2 that carbon dioxide, the principal heat-trapping gas, is a pollutant under the Clean Air Act and must be regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency unless the agency scientifically determines that it does not contribute to climate change or that action is not necessary. A growing scientific consensus holds that carbon dioxide emissions are a serious problem that ought to be addressed urgently.

Full story: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/15/us/15bush.html?th&emc=th