Michael Williams is a bold man. It's not because he wears a bow tie and cowboy boots; it's because he will publicly say he's a good friend of the President. Not many people around who will admit to being tight with George Bush these days. Williams, who is the chairman of the Railroad Commission of Texas, revealed this and many other things during his speech to the AFVI Expo crowd during fleet day last week about the power of propane as an alternative fuel. Now, why would the Railroad Commission care about propane? Well, in Texas, the Railroad Commission doesn't regulate railroads (anymore). Instead, it regulates the "state's oil and gas industry, gas utilities, pipeline safety, safety in the liquefied petroleum gas industry, and the surface mining of coal and uranium." Therefore, if you're involved in LPG or other gases in the state, then the Railroad Commission is your agency. But, if you don't want to hear about propane from Williams, then skip ahead to about minute 10:30 in the audio clip below and you'll hear a little joke about the AFVI and Moses.

Listen to Williams (15 min):



As part of the Fleet Day opening session, there were many keynote speakers who discussed alternative fuels for fleets. Read about and listen to them after the break.

There weren't a lot of astoundingly cool vehicles to drive at the AFVI Expo Ride and Drive earlier this week. Still, throw a handful of alternative-fueled cars, trucks and CUVs in a Las Vegas parking lot, and I'll check it out. As you can see in the video I made of the event, Bosch was heavily represented by a half-dozen or so clean diesel models. GEM and Miles EVs were easy to spot, and there was even a hybrid cherry-picker and a propane pickup or two. To kick off the event, Ed Begley, Jr. and Bobby Rahal cut a ribbon (see pictures below) and then took a short loop around the lot. Watch the video after the break, and thanks to Shotgun Musical Laboratories for the sounds.