While we're all in a tizzy over Iraq and other Bush misadventures, this is the type of slippery-slope agenda item that his administration is trying to sneak in behind our backs:

A federal appeals court Tuesday overturned a Bush administration decision to weaken energy-efficiency standards for new air conditioners, a move which could save American consumers $20 billion and avoid the need for 200 new electricity plants by 2030.

In 2001, 10 states including New York, California, New Jersey and Massachusetts sued the U.S. Department of Energy to block it from scaling back an increase in minimum air conditioner energy-efficiency standards.

The Bush administration wanted to require air conditioners and heat pumps manufactured after January 2006 to become 20 percent more efficient, not the stricter 30 percent improvement required under a previous Clinton-era rule.

[...]

The Bush administration withdrew the final rule in May 2002 and weakened it under pressure from some appliance makers.

Thank goodness for checks and balances.