Business news for Fri, 21 Dec 2007 & with words economy+fuel. 4 news.

It's taken more than two decades of fighting, but the auto industry finally has a new fuel economy standard it can live with. The magic number is 35 mpg, and automakers have 13 years to get there. Now the question is: How?

The bill which passed on a bipartisan vote of 314 to 100, sets higher fuel economy standards for cars and light trucks for the first time in 22 years and requires the annual production of 36 billion gallons of renewable fuels by 2022.

LONDON–Oil held near $91 a barrel Friday as falling inventories in top fuel consumer the United States at the height of winter demand countered concern about its economy.

President George W. Bush has signed legislation that will bring more fuel-efficient vehicles into auto showrooms and require wider use of ethanol, calling it andquot;a major stepandquot; toward U.S. energy independence and easing global warming.