Really? We’ll do anything to save the planet?

My op-ed column asks the question: Is any government intrusion tolerable to environmentalists as long as the cause is laudable? If not, where is the line?

Crisis — or the “endless series of hobgoblins,” as H.L. Mencken put it — is typically the justification to expand power by any means necessary. It’s similar to the rhetoric liberals accuse George Bush of abusing. If you don’t know what I mean, try substituting the word “terrorism” for “global warming” when you make the case for CAFE standards that will put you behind the wheel of a fiberglass orb with a lawnmower engine.

Tangentially, there was this piece in the Washington Post by Robert Bryce, examining the 5 myths of “energy independence.”

The new energy bill requires that the country produce 36 billion gallons of biofuels per year by 2022. That sounds like a lot of fuel, but put it in perspective: The United States uses more than 320 billion gallons of oil per year, of which nearly 200 billion gallons are imported.