It’s not a ban

Forget about the really pressing issues facing the country. Instead, let’s repeal that law signed by Pres. Bush that will ban the incandescent light bulb.

There’s a segment of Congress that believes this really is a pressing issue and they want to prevent the law from taking effect in January.

The problem here is the misunderstanding that incandescent bulbs will be banned. Not true at all. The law phases out low-efficiency bulbs, and there are incandescent bulbs that will make the cut. This is part of the wacky world in which we live:

Conservative talk show hosts such as Rush Limbaugh have been taking up the cause of late. “Most Americans resent, deeply resent, their liberties and choices being infringed upon,” he said on air recently. “Let there be incandescent light and freedom — that’s the American way.”

But Jim Presswood, federal energy policy director for the Natural Resources Defense Council, says the energy behind efforts to repeal the light bulb standards is based on the “complete fallacy” that incandescent bulbs are banned.

He says people will still be able to buy incandescent bulbs after 2012. In fact, those bulbs that meet the standard are already on the shelves of many home improvement stores.

And Presswood notes that energy-efficiency standards are nothing new — they’ve been requirements for appliances since the Reagan administration.

“Washers, refrigerators, air conditioners all throughout the household — these standards have done a great service to our country,” he says.

The NRDC recently released a study showing that the light bulb mandates will translate into a $90-per-year savings in energy bills for the average household.