The Bush administration was once again ticketed for driving too slowly on the energy reform highway. Playing the part of trooper this time was the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which slapped down a rule change last year that failed to close a loophole that allows lower fuel mileage standards for popular sport utility vehicles than passenger cars.

Last year, the National Highway and Safety Administration tweaked the average mileage standard for SUVs, pick-up trucks and minivans, raising it from 22.2 miles per gallon to 23.5 mpg by 2010. The standard for passenger vehicles is 5 mpg higher. That change was challenged as “trivial,” and the appeals court agreed. It also noted that the rule change did not sufficiently take into account greenhouse gas emissions. Plus, it kept in place outright exemptions for the largest of SUVS, such as Hummers.

This latest court action comes on the heels of two others. A Vermont court rejected a legal challenge to that state’s effort to impose tougher emissions standards than the federal government. Before that, the U.S. Supreme Court came to the unsurprising conclusion that carbon dioxide emissions could be regulated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

That’s three strikes in court, but the White House is still not out. It could still veto stronger rules that ought to come from Congress this year. The U.S. Senate, in particular, has a bill that the administration would like to sideline. It would raise average fuel mileage from 25 mpg to 35 mpg by 2020. It would also eliminate the loopholes for “light trucks” (SUVs, light trucks and minivans).

Closing the loophole is of paramount importance, because it has helped give rise to the popularity of SUVs, which make up 53 percent of new vehicle sales. The pernicious effect of this popularity can be found in the fact that though automobiles get better mileage overall than they did 20 years ago, there has been no gain in fuel economy, because buyers have shifted their preference from cars to SUVs.

Bringing SUVs under the same fuel and emissions standards as cars could have two positive outcomes: the sticker price rises and demand wanes; or manufacturers produce more efficient SUVs.

Despite the mounting pile-up in the form of rising fuel prices, dwindling crude supplies, national security concerns, climate change and public opinion, the administration continues to plod down a single-lane road with one foot on the brake.

It needs to check the mirror and get out of the way.