Mayor Bloomberg is railing against America’s energy policy, saying an energy bill that President Bush signed into law last year is “arguably the single-most damaging piece of legislation passed in modern times.”

“People are starving to death around this world because of that bill. It’s a disgrace. And Congress should try to fix it right away,” the mayor said yesterday, speaking at an Earth Day press conference on an effort to plant 1 million new trees in the city. “We are willing to pander and say that we want to end this dependency and clean up the environment, and then we set targets for the year 2050. We’ve got to get real in this country and understand that this dependency on petroleum is damaging our ability to keep peace in the world. The attempted short-term easy fix is not working and in fact has some very bad unintended consequences.”

Mr. Bloomberg’s comments come as soaring food prices have sparked riots in countries around the world. The energy bill raised fuel efficiency standards for automobiles and mandated an increase in the use of biofuels, which some food policy experts say is contributing to higher food prices.