http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/21036/story.htm
Opposition slows ethanol in US Senate energy bill USA: June 4, 2003 WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate action on a plan to double ethanol production may be delayed, the Energy Committee chairman said this week, because opponents threatened to file dozens of amendments to water it down. Backed by Republican and Democratic leaders of the Senate, the current proposal would mandate use of at least 5 billion gallons (22.73 billion liters) of renewable fuels such as ethanol in 2012. Ethanol, distilled from corn and used as an additive for cleaner-burning motor fuels, is popular among farm state lawmakers and those looking for ways to stretch oil supplies. Nine senators from the East and West Coasts decry the plan as a way to enrich the corn-growing Midwest. Opponents say it is a costly, unnecessary additive and that there are other ways to make less-polluting fuels. Senate Energy Committee chairman Pete Domenici, a New Mexico Republican, said he hoped for an accord with foes to limit the amendments challenging the renewable fuels standard. Democrats Charles Schumer of New York and Dianne Feinstein of California were believed to have 100 amendments ready to block mandatory use of renewable fuels. Feinstein has suggested ethanol use should be optional. Majority Leader Bill Frist, Tennessee Republican, said on the Senate floor he expected "substantial progress" on a broad energy bill this week, which offers incentives and tax breaks for oil drilling, conservation and alternative energy. Ethanol, first introduced as a home-grown response to the oil embargoes of the 1970s, has boomed in recent years. Under the Senate's renewable fuels language, use of methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE), a rival to ethanol, would be phased out in four years. MTBE is banned in some states because it can pollute groundwater. The House has passed its own version of the energy bill. It also sets a 5 billion-gallon mandate for renewable fuels with a target of 2015 and would allow MTBE use to continue. Some 2.13 billion gallons (9.68 billion liters) of U.S. ethanol were distilled last year. Capacity will exceed 3 billion gallons (3.64 billion liters) by the end of 2003. Story by Charles Abbott REUTERS NEWS SERVICE ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Get A Free Psychic Reading! Your Online Answer To Life's Important Questions. http://us.click.yahoo.com/Lj3uPC/Me7FAA/ySSFAA/9bTolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Biofuels at Journey to Forever http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuel at WebConX http://webconx.green-trust.org/2000/biofuel/biofuel.htm List messages are archived at the Info-Archive at NNYTech: http://archive.nnytech.net/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
