Here is what my friendly neighborhood environmental lawyers have to say about the Energy Bill. At least it doesn’t include this provision. As far as I know.
While I think liberal diagnoses of Bush as the “Worst. President Ever”* are exaggerated (or at least premature), my guess is he will have the worst environmental record ever. I’m not kidding about this. I’ve done some work in environmental law. Everyone has just about given up on getting anything good done by the federal government; they’re doing damage control and targetting their efforts at the state level in receptive parts of the country.
Nowhere is Matthew Yglesias’ description of “legislation a la Bush” more accurate:
“First you find a way to help out campaign contributors. Then you find a policy problem that you don’t want to solve. Then propose the first thing as the solution to the second thing. And then you move on.”
*This should be read in the tones of Comic Book Guy on the Simpson