WASHINGTON, Dec 28, 2005 -- UPI

 

U.S. drivers will be able to gas up their vehicles next year with nearly 3 percent of clean-burning, domestic renewable fuels such as ethanol.

Under new standards issued by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the standard is the first step in EPA's Renewable Fuels Standard Program -- which EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson says is designed to reduce vehicle emissions and strengthen U.S. energy security by doubling the use of fuels produced from U.S. crops by 2012.

"This investment in renewable fuels made from domestic crops will support American agriculture and replace fossil fuels with an increasing amount of cleaner-burning alternatives such as ethanol or biodiesel illustrating that environmental progress and economic development can, in fact, go hand-in-hand," said Johnson.

The regulation, announced Wednesday, explains how industry will comply with the 2005 Energy Policy Act's default provision requiring that 2.78 percent of the gasoline sold or dispensed to U.S. motorists in 2006 be renewable fuel such as ethanol and biodiesel.

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