EDT Plus

ONE VERY TINY (but very talked about) provision in the energy bill would extend daylight saving time by three weeks in the spring and one week in the fall starting in 2007, conserving energy and perhaps preventing some crimes and traffic accidents.

Some critics charge that commercial interests are driving the idea -- but if more daylight means more consumer activity, that's good for the economy. Airlines claim that the move will sting, but they survived a similar shift 20 years ago and there's plenty of time to adjust schedules. Children at school bus stops would be in no more danger than they would be on the dark mornings of December and January. And Orthodox Jews who've protested that a sunrise past 8 a.m. would mean choosing between saying prayers and getting to work on time need fret only if they live in Alaska, western Montana, some parts of Idaho or that detached bit of Michigan.

Here in Washington, our mid-March sunrise would be no later than 7:30 -- and we'd have that extra hour after work to enjoy the outdoors before the sweltering days of summer send us scurrying for the air conditioning.