http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/14530/story.htm Planet Ark : US govt report sees no barriers to more ethanol use
USA: February 14, 2002 WASHINGTON - A new U.S. government study concluded there would be "no major infrastructure barriers" for doubling ethanol output to 5.1 billion gallons a year, but the cost to convert gasoline stations, add storage terminals and ship the product would equal about 9 cents for each gallon. The Energy Department report appears to support a pending Senate energy bill that would require more ethanol use over the next decade to increase fuel supplies. Ethanol is made from corn and blended into gasoline to make a cleaner-burning fuel that gives off fewer polluting emissions. The report also downplays California's concerns that gasoline prices would rise significantly and fuel supplies would be disrupted because ethanol would be too costly and difficult to transport. "This report leaves no reasonable doubt that a dramatic expansion of the domestic ethanol industry can be achieved without supply disruptions and distribution problems," said Bob Dinneen, president of the Renewable Fuels Association, the ethanol industry's trade group. The Senate is scheduled to begin debate later this week on a broad energy bill that includes language requiring annual production of ethanol to more than double to 5 billion gallons by 2012. The report said that to handle that much ethanol production, the cost would be almost $154 million to convert gasoline stations and add storage terminals. When amortized over the life of the equipment, the investment represents almost a penny for each gallon of ethanol that would be produced. Annual transportation costs for the 5.1 billion gallons of ethanol would be $391 million, or about 8 cents a gallon, the report said. The report found that nearly one billion gallons of ethanol produced in the Midwest could be shipped to the West Coast and northern portions of the East Coast by barge down the Mississippi River and then loaded onto Gulf Coast ships. Significant amounts of ethanol could also be transported through the country by rail tank cars, the report said. Among the report's other findings: * 495 terminals or 58.6 percent of terminals operating at the time, will be able to store ethanol, after 287 of them add blending equipment. * 181 terminals would need to add new ethanol tanks and an additional 63 existing storage tanks would need to be converted to ethanol use. * 35,214 retail outlets would have to make one-time modifications to handle ethanol. REUTERS NEWS SERVICE ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Get your FREE credit report with a FREE CreditCheck Monitoring Service trial http://us.click.yahoo.com/ACHqaB/bQ8CAA/ySSFAA/FGYolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Please do NOT send "unsubscribe" messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
