Now, I always thought the Republican CAFE setting mechanism, was ask the auto industry, how high they could make CAFE, without ever actually forcing any restraint on the industry (i.e. if detroit thinks in 2025, that without CAFE they will meet 30mpg, then they will propose 29mpg). But, nobody expected peakoil to come so quickly, we will proceed towards more efficient vehicles far faster than any standards we would have passed.

 For example sales of motorcycles and mopeds are exploding.  The motorcycle fatality rate per mile is seven times higher than for cars.  The fatality rate for bicycles is another seven times higher than motorcycles.

Econobox cars are less survivable than large cars built with the same level of technology.

The cost in human suffering medical bills and lost productivity is not considered in these calculations.

Things Everybody Should Know About Energy

Personal motor vehicles have the negative of their positive - they are so convenient to use (for the majority of the population) that we use them to death - literally. The annual death toll in the US from collisions is 50,000 or so - that's a 9/11 every three weeks of every year of every decade of the last half century - with an even higher number from health problems due to diminished exercise. We are in total denial about the costs in human suffering and loss directly attributable to our transportation choices. If we look at populations in developed countries which have greater bike use and lower car use than our own we invariably see lower overall death rates. There's little doubt that overall we'd be healthier and live longer with fewer cars, lighter cars, slower cars, smaller cars, less powerful cars.

The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit.

That may well be.  It might be wise to consider the upsides of the EPA report and to suggest improvements.  Plans and solutions evolve, they do not spring full grown from the womb.  

It would be foolish to toss out a good idea simply because it could benefit from additional refinement.

" For example sales of motorcycles and mopeds are exploding.  The motorcycle fatality rate per mile is seven times higher than for cars."

Here I wonder if we need some better data.  Are there, perhaps, two classes of motorcycle riders?  The 'daredevils' and 'responsible' riders?  If so, might not fatality rates per mile drop as more responsible, conservative people begin to use motorcycles?

(The incidents of motorcycle death/major injury with which I am aware involve people driving way too fast for conditions.)

"Econobox cars are less survivable than large cars built with the same level of technology."

Even the most basic consideration of the physics of transportation tells us that vehicles need to become lighter (not necessarily smaller).  

Perhaps we need to give serious rethinking to how light cars can be made safer.  We certainly could learn something from the crash box design of Formula 1 race cars.

Perhaps we need to significantly reduce speed limits for large vehicles which would decrease the rate of impact with lighter vehicles and increase fuel savings.

The really valuable critic doesn't just find problems, they suggest solutions....