More positive news from the "Big Three Auto Makers" meeting with Congress this past Friday. I like encouraging news! IMO this is definately encouraging!
Nez
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Big 3 to Congress: Get ethanol at pumps
Detroit's automakers say they'll add more vehicles that run on E85, a corn-based fuel, to their fleets.
David Shepardson / Detroit News Washington Bureau
May 19, 2006
WASHINGTON -- The top executives of Detroit's Big Three automakers called on congressional leaders Thursday to help increase the availability of ethanol fuels.
After a series of meetings with key members of Congress, Ford Motor Co.'s Bill Ford Jr., General Motors Corp.'s Rick Wagoner and the Chrysler Group's Tom LaSorda urged Congress to consider incentives to boost the number of stations that carry E85, a corn-based ethanol fuel blend.
The executives also promised to add more vehicles that run on E85 to their fleets -- endorsing a plan to have renewable fuels meet 25 percent of the nation's transportation energy needs by 2025.
The meeting came as President Bush for the second time canceled a planned White House summit with the heads of the Big Three for June 2; now the meeting is expected by June 13. "It is not a big deal," Ford said.
On Capitol Hill, Wagoner said the automakers wanted to be leaders "in this historic shift from energy consumption."
The auto leaders said government-mandated fuel economy measures wouldn't take place until at least 2009, while they argued ethanol could immediately take the pressure off mounting gas prices.
The mantra was flexible fuels -- a topic that has been nearly universally endorsed -- from farm state representatives to President Bush to the domestic automakers. They also sought to again stamp out talk of a bailout.
"We weren't interested in coming, asking for help for the domestic auto industry. We were interested in talking about things that would improve the competitiveness of the national economy," Wagoner said. He said members of Congress "asked some pretty tough questions along the way."
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said both sides would work to "bring back the American automobile industry where we think it should be."
Sen. Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said the auto companies were partners and agreed on "the importance of (reducing) energy independence being a long-term goal of this country."
Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Lansing, said the meeting underscored important issues for the industry, especially on currency and health care.
"We don't have a level playing field," Stabenow said.
The meeting was heavily covered, with dozens of TV cameras from Japan to Detroit stations. One environmental activist even posed as a reporter and fired off a few questions.
It clearly wasn't the domestic auto industry of old -- the unchallenged titans of American industry.
"There was considerable understanding on each side and substantial sympathy for the views and the concerns of the industry," said U.S. Rep. John Dingell, D-Dearborn, who sat in on the meeting with the House Democratic leadership.
The CEOs made a choreographed entrance to the Capitol parking lot in vehicles powered by ethanol and decorated with images of corn stalks.
More than 5 million vehicles built by the Big Three that can run on primarily ethanol are on the roads, but hardly any do so -- because ethanol is available at 600 pumps out of more than 170,000 gas stations nationwide.
The companies didn't take any direct shots at oil companies that have resisted embracing ethanol. "We need infrastructure. So it's about getting ethanol to the gas pumps," said Chrysler CEO LaSorda. "Twenty to 30 percent of the gas stations today need to be equipped with ethanol."
In the Washington, D.C., area, there's only one gas station that carries E85. There are six stations in Michigan, though a few dozen more are planned.
"The bottleneck is distribution. … The push to ethanol makes a great deal of sense regardless of the temporary price of gasoline," Bill Ford said. "Even if it comes down dramatically, there still is the issue of where the oil is produced and the fact that we import virtually all of it."
Earlier this week, the Big Three endorsed a bill to promote bipartisan legislation that would offer a reimbursement of up to $30,000 to gas station owners who convert their pumps to renewable fuels -- that would be funded by using interest from a fund to pay for leaking fuel storage tanks.
"If we want a game changer very quickly in big numbers, then ethanol is a very good play for this country," Ford said.
But Wagoner acknowledged: "It's not going to solve the whole problem. … No one sees a vision right now where we won't rely to some extent on oil."
You can reach David Shepardson at (202) 662 8735 or dshepardson@detnews.com.
Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.
Benjamin Franklin
