• White House Near a Deal on Vehicle Fuel Efficiency? The Los Angeles Times is reporting that the White House is close to getting automakers to agree to a 54.5 miles per gallon fuel efficiency mandate for 2025. "The slightly lower target signals that the White House and carmakers have come to terms on the most significant sticking point: fuel efficiency goals for light trucks, a category that also includes SUVs, minivans and full-size pickups, which remain the country's best-selling vehicles.... Nonetheless, the 2025 goal marks a sharp increase for the U.S. auto fleet, which now averages about 27.8 mpg. The fleet average is mandated to climb to about 34.1 mpg by 2016."

• Instant Driver Feedback Can Save Fleets 24% in Fuel Costs: SmartDrive, the makers of an "instant driver feedback system," are today announcing that giving drivers immediate insight into how their speed, idling and routing can help them cut fuel use by anywhere from 8 to 24 percent.

• Preparing for the First Rounds of Climate Change Impacts: A new study from the Natural Resources Defense Council looks at how climate change is already having an impact on cities around the globe, and how well those cities are preparing for increased impacts. "Scientific studies show nearly every community in the U.S. will be impacted by climate change during the 21st century. As a new report from NRDC highlights, the first, most profound and far-reaching impacts of climate change are water-related."

• A Two-Year Prison Sentence for BLM Lease Crasher: Tim DeChristopher, who in 2008 became a hero to environmentalists when he crashed a Bureau of Land Management auction of oil and gas leases, successfully bidding $1.7 million that he did not have for for parcels of Utah lands near national parks. Yesterday, he was sentenced to two years in prison and $10,000 in fines for his actions -- far from a slap on the wrist, but also far from a worst-case scenario, which could have seen him put away for 10 years and facing $1.5 million in fines.

• What Does an EV Sound Like? In no way tied to the quietest parade ever, Ford has begun polling people via Facebook about what kind of noise its Focus EV should make. In response to a law passed last January, mostly-silent vehicles like the Focus or the Prius are required to make artificial noise to warn pedestrians and others of their approach. Ford has four sounds posted on its Facebook page: One, Two, Three, and Four. But I've always felt the cars should make sounds like the Jetson's space-car. What do you think?