All Blog Posts from Political Hotsheet

President Obama plans to announce a new national fuel economy standard for cars tomorrow, Politico’s Mike Allen reports.

Top officials will reportedly convene in Washington for the White House announcement, including, potentially, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Governor Jennifer Granholm (D-MI), a potential Supreme Court nominee, is also rumored to be attending the announcement.

A person with knowledge of the negotiations, tells CBS News' Chief White House Correspondent Chip Reid that the new policy includes “harmonized standards."

The president and carmakers hope the plan will add stability to struggling auto companies.

The Wall Street Journal is also reporting that the the new standards will call for raising the overall fuel economy of cars to thirty five miles per gallon by 2016 -- four years faster than federal law requires.

This announcement also marks the first time greenhouse gasses are linked to vehicle emissions. California, thirteen other states and the District of Columbia have lobbied to be allowed to enact higher standards than the federal government requires.

"The administration will bill the tailpipe-emissions announcement as historic, because it avoids a patchwork of standards and harmonizes so many stakeholders, including automakers, state governments, the Department of Transportation and the Environmental Protection Agency," Allen reports.

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It happens every time a president leaves town to make an Earth Day speech. Reporters scramble to point out how much fuel was expended so the President could talk about conserving energy and using alternative fuels.

In flying to and from Iowa today, President Obama took two flights on Air Force One and four on Marine One.

The press office at Andrews AFB wouldn’t give me the fuel consumption numbers for the 747 that serves as Air Force One without the approval of the White House Press Office, which as I write this has yet to be given.

But Boeing says its 747 burns about 5 gallons of fuel per mile. It’s 895 miles from Washington to Des Moines, so a round trip brings the fuel consumption for the fixed-wing portion of the President’s trip to 8,950 gallons.

The trip also put President Obama on Marine One for round-trip flights between the White House and Andrews AFB and between Des Moines International Airport and Newton, Iowa, site of his Earth Day speech. It totaled about an hour of flight time. The VH-3D that serves as Marine One consumes about 1200 pounds of fuel per hour which comes out to about 166 gallons consumed flying the President today.

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