New cars will soon go farther on a gallon of gas, thanks, at long last, to the energy bill Congress passed late last year raising fuel mileage standards for the first time in more than three decades. Better mileage is something to celebrate--who doesn't want to pay less at the pump?--but the resulting reduction in greenhouse gas emissions could be undercut by energy industry plans to increase the production of oil from dirty, unconventional fuel sources, namely tar sands, oil shale, and liquid coal. Fortunately the energy bill also contains a little-publicized section (526) that prohibits the federal government from buying any fuel that creates more global warming pollution over the course of its full life cycle than conventional oil would have generated. Tar sands, oil shale, and liquid coal all fall under that umbrella. NRDC is now working in communities across the country to make sure that the law is enforced. For example, in Great Falls, Montana, NRDC is helping residents fight the construction of a liquid coal plant on a nearby Air Force base, where the defense department plans to make jet fuel. Under section 526, that’s not legal. NRDC is also fighting government handouts for dirty fuels in all sorts of other bills--even in the Farm Bill.