The so-called "20 in 10" plan was first laid out in Bush's State of the Union speech in January, seeking to slash oil imports from the restive Middle East and make US energy supply less vulnerable to terrorism.

Since then, the administration has come under new pressure from a landmark Supreme Court ruling last month that said the federal government must take action under the Clean Air Act against greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles.

The president presented legislative proposals for Congress and ordered regulatory action from his cabinet members in charge of transportation, energy, agriculture and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

New regulations must be in force by the end of 2008, he said, when the Bush administration will be in its dying days.

But administrative steps "are not a substitute for effective legislation," the president said in an appeal to the Democratic-led Congress.

However, many Democrats have accused the former Texan oil industry executive of being in thrall to big energy companies, which are accused of gouging US consumers as prices at fuel pumps rocket.

And environmentalists say that new fuel economy standards urged by Bush would still leave America's cars and trucks lagging behind European, and even Chinese, standards of energy efficiency.

"President Bush has finally acted, but his plan is weak and lacks a road map to achieve energy independence while cutting global warming pollution," said Kit Batten, head of environmental policy at the Center for American Progress.

Some 78 percent of Americans think steps should be taken to counter the effects of global warming right away, according to a New York Times/CBS News poll in late April.

Republican Senator Dick Lugar, calling for "radically" higher mileage standards, said that Bush's attempts to combat US energy dependence were "barely registering."

"President Bush and whoever succeeds him as president must be willing to commit the prestige of their administrations to overcoming American energy deficiencies," he told a Washington energy conference.

Mayors and business leaders from more than 40 of the world's biggest cities gathered in New York Monday for a summit devoted to combating climate change and cleaning up the environment.

The meeting, which was due to be addressed by former US president Bill Clinton, was significant for US cities as "our national government hasn't made a commitment to do anything about it," event organizer Kathryn Wylde said.

The president has refused to adopt the Kyoto treaty on global warming, arguing against its economic burden and doubting some of the science. But he said the "harmful impact" on the environment underpinned his energy initiative.

Bush urged Congress to pass legislation setting fuel economy standards that would result in quintupling the current consumption of renewable and alternative fuels to 35 billion gallons (133 billion liters) by 2017.

The aim is to reduce the reliance on gasoline and slash US oil imports from the Middle East by three-quarters.

Bush said US dependence on oil creates economic risks because any supply disruption could drive up gasoline prices "to even more painful levels."

It also "leaves us more vulnerable to hostile regimes and to terrorists who could attack oil infrastructure."

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