Is a two-year free ride enough to get you out of that gas-guzzler and into a clean, green machine?

Gov. Brian Schweitzer is betting that for many of us, it will be. His energy package, introduced in the Legislature last week, includes a waver of license fees for the first two years for new cars that get at least 35 miles per gallon.

The bulk of the package involves property tax breaks for new or renovated power plants that sequester greenhouse gases. Renewable energy sources and pipelines built to carry fuel from clean coal technologies, ethanol and bio-diesel also would get property tax reductions.

But, important as such things may be, they really don't have much to do with the average Montanan. Most of us, however, drive a car. And those who have splurged on a new one know the price at the dealership is only part of the pain. License fees on an expensive new vehicle are no fun, either.

The loss of revenue from the fees under this proposal -- an estimated $2 million a year -- is not a steep price to pay for an incentive that would give ordinary people another reason to reduce their consumption of gasoline.

These days, with the reality of global warming becoming more and more difficult to wish away and the price of fuel once again rising at the pump, there may be enough incentive already. Still, we think the added push of that free ride is good public policy for our time.