Ethanol and other so-called "renewable" fuels could have a major
impact in the future, but it would be a huge mistake for Washington
to attempt to force the nation away from gasoline and diesel at this
point, a top oil industry official warned lawmakers on Nov 16.
Red Cavaney, president and CEO of the
American Petroleum Institute,
told members of the
Senate Environment and Public Works
Committee that such a forced transition "would involve
extremely high costs and a massive commitment of resources," with no
assurances that it would meet the nation's energy needs. "The
workings of the competitive market," not "interference" from
Washington, should determine which transportation fuels the nation
uses in the future, Cavaney said.
The US "cannot afford to leave the age of oil before realistic
alternatives are fully in place," said Cavaney, who estimated that
petroleum-based fuels will dominate the transportation sector "for
at least two or three [more] decades."
Committee Chairman James Inhofe (Republican-Oklahoma) agreed,
even while acknowledging that the country is facing "a serious
supply problem right now with oil and natural gas." Inhofe said
Washington should continue to encourage the development of
alternative fuels that are "price-competitive" with gasoline and
diesel, but warned that mandating their use could "wreck the
economy."
Bill Honnef of
VeraSun Energy Corp, a
Brookings, South Dakota-based ethanol producer, said the biofuel is
becoming "a ubiquitous component of the US motor fuels market."
Honnef said his industry is "well prepared and on track" to produce
the 7.5-bil gal of ethanol and other biofuels that, under a
provision of the Energy Policy Act, must be blended in to domestic
gasoline supplies by 2012.
Richard Goodstein of
Air Products and Chemicals,
which produces hydrogen, acknowledged that it will be decades before
hydrogen-fueled vehicles are the norm in the US, but he said the
fuel will someday free the country "from the stranglehold of the oil
cartel."
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