Automakers and ethanol producers fight Minnesota emissions rules
Filed under: Ethanol, Flex-Fuel, Legislation and Policy
Legislators in Minnesota have introduced bills in the State House and Senate that would have the state adopt California's emissions standards. These California rules, which also include limits on carbon dioxide emissions, have been adopted by at least a dozen other states. The limits on greenhouse gas emissions are currently the subject of a lawsuit by California and other states against the EPA, which denied California's waiver request for the regulations. The odd thing in Minnesota is that corn growers and ethanol producers have jumped into the fray against the proposals. There doesn't actually appear to be anything in the proposed legislation that would specifically harm the E85 market. However, the ethanol lobby is teaming up with the automakers who are obviously opposed to the California rules. It appears that the only way that this actually affects Team Ethanol is if the CO2 limits hurt sales of larger cars and full-size trucks which comprise the bulk of currently available flex-fuel vehicles. If truck sales are limited by de facto fuel economy requirements, than at least in the short term, E85-capable vehicle sales will suffer. Perhaps the ethanol side should be pushing the auto industry to make more of their vehicles E85 ready instead of fighting clean air rules.
[Source: MinnPost, via The Truth About Cars]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-26-2008 @ 2:02AM
Niralisherni said...
I agree that "the ethanol side should be pushing the auto industry to make more of their vehicles E85 ready instead of fighting clean air rules." No one should be fighting against clean air rules, but i suppose a fight from the auto biggies is inevitable.
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3-26-2008 @ 5:57AM
Scott said...
http://www.e85fuel.com/about/boardmembers.php
Lists the board of directors of the National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition. This is the group that represents the ethanol interests. Notice that reps from Ford, GM, Chrysler and Nissan are there.
That's why you have automakers AND ethanol folks united.
Reply
3-27-2008 @ 3:18PM
TheSUBWAY.com said...
We found an interesting article about the problems with Ethanol on ConsumerReports.org:
http://blogs.consumerreports.org/cars/2008/03/ethanol-e85.html
"But there are some problems with increasing ethanol blends. Ethanol contains less energy than gasoline, so increasing the amount of ethanol in gasoline will likely result in lower fuel economy. Increasing standard fuel blends from zero to 10 percent ethanol, as is happening today, has little or no impact on fuel economy. In tests, the differences occur within the margin of error, about 0.5 percent. Further increasing ethanol levels to 20 percent reduces fuel economy between 1 and 3 percent, according to testing by the DOE and General Motors. Evaluations are underway to determine if E20 will burn effectively in today's engines without impacting reliability and longevity, and also assessing potential impact on fuel economy."
TheSUBWAY.com would like to invite readers to post their own views and ideas in TheSUBWAY.com's Investor Forum:
http://www.thesubway.com/small-cap-forum
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