Does Obama need Congress for anything?

Mr. Obama plans to announce on Friday that he is ordering the creation of a new national policy that will result in less pollution from medium- and heavy-duty trucks for the first time and will further reduce exhaust from cars and light-duty trucks beyond the requirements he has already put in place.

Under rules that were eventually formalized last month, new cars have to meet a combined city and highway fuel economy average of 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016. The administration said the new rules would cut emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases by about 30 percent from 2012 to 2016.

The plan Mr. Obama will announce on Friday will order further improvements in fuel efficiency for cars and light trucks made in 2017 and beyond, and in medium and heavy trucks made in 2014 through 2018.

The initiative comes as the spill in the Gulf of Mexico has underscored the problem with dependence on oil, and officials said the president would cite the problem when he discusses his plan. The order allows Mr. Obama to advance his goals even as Senate Democrats have difficulty trying to pass a comprehensive energy bill that he supports.

Given that taxpayers are on the hook for continued financial problems at two of the three US auto companies (Chrysler, General Motors) is it an intelligent move at this time to mandate tough fuel efficiency standards that penalize American auto companies and benefit foreign-owned ones? No, of course not.

Spain recently took a bold move to drop all sorts of "green" initiatives because they were damaging the nation's finances; conversely, America -under Obama-is imposing them. But this administration is guided only by ideology, not practicality or empirical data.