Washington – The Bush administration Tuesday unveiled the first-ever national goals for increasing the use of alternative fuels in cars and trucks, but several environmental groups and an influential member of Congress said the plan could do more harm than good to efforts to curb global warming because it includes the use of liquid coal.
Senior administration officials also asked Congress for the ability to change the fuel-economy standards for vehicles, even though many experts say the executive branch already has that power.
The administration’s alternative-fuel plan would require that at least 7.5 billion gallons of such fuels be blended into the nation’s fuel supply for cars and trucks by 2012, and at least 35 billion gallons of alternative fuels must be used annually by 2017. This year, the target is about 4.7 billion gallons, mostly ethanol produced from corn, and bio diesel, made largely with vegetable oil.
The goal is to reduce the country’s reliance on foreign oil by 20 percent in the next decade.
“This is an important first step of jumping off that treadmill of dependence on foreign oil,” said the Environmental Protection Agency’s administrator, Stephen L. Johnson. He called the proposal, which would need Congress’ approval, a “hat trick – it protects the environment, strengthens our energy security and supports America’s farmers.”
But on the administration’s most pressing issue related to global warming – last week’s Supreme Court decision that ruled against the Bush administration by saying the EPA has the power to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions from autos – Johnson said it was too early to talk about the government’s response.
Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said liquid coal “will not be a particularly important component” of the proposal. “It was included because of its enhancement of energy security in this country,” he said.
Rep Edward Markey, D-Mass., chairman of the newly formed House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, said liquid coal fuel “actually has the potential for increasing the greenhouse gas problem for the planet” because of its carbon dioxide emissions.
