Graham, This is an interesting viewpoint. I'm curious whether you know of any situations with state legislatures where WVO/SVO did in fact drag down biodiesel legislation.
It seems to me that the concerns you raise are more likely to emerge when dealing with fleet managers and car owners. Why would it not be simple to craft "biofuels" legislation that addresses fuels to be burned in diesel engines? Why not just use language that supports any bio-based fuel for diesels? I don't know if, at least in Washington, legislators are all that concerned about OEM requirements and other technical details. The stuff is okayed by EPA; that's good enough. I'd bet a dime to a dollar that, given the budget crisis and the problems with school bus emissions, the real issues are going to be revenues and pollution. Facing a whopping revenue shortfall, legislators will be wary of granting tax breaks to industries. The easy counter-argument is that such breaks will not produce lower revenues, as no industry currently exists, but rather will promote the growth of new businesses around biodiesel that will provide jobs and revenues. Of course, I don't have any lobbying experience, so I could be off base. But I just don't see how the message of "biofuels" for diesels is less difficult to communicate than that of "biodiesel" for diesels. regards, thor ----------------------------------------------------- Message: 5 Date: Mon, 17 Feb 2003 13:17:43 -0500 From: "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: RE: WVO/SVO & Biodiesel in WA state Hi Ed, I have to disagree with your recommendation that biofuel advocates should try to get the WA legislature to consider SVO and WVO at the same time as biodiesel. I completely agree that the same priciples support the inclusion of both. BUT, we need to pursue goals that we can attain and appreciate that confusion is a major risk here and a tool that will be used against us. We need to have the crystal clear message that biodiesel(as B20) runs in diesel engines with no need for modification and with the (somewhat grudging) support of the OEM's. Putting SVO and WVO into the mix will confuse people and politicians regarding what biodiesel is and how it can be used and make passage substantially less likely. Biodiesel can lead the way for other biofuels but biodiesel will be less likely to get anywhere if it has to pull the weight of SVO and WVO. I hope that you will seriously consider whether this approach will yield the best long-term results. Best, Graham ===== Grants Manager Stillaguamish Tribe Of Indians 3439 Stoluckquamish Lane P.O. Box 277 Arlington, WA 98223-0277 (360) 652-7362 Ext 284 __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Shopping - Send Flowers for Valentine's Day http://shopping.yahoo.com Biofuels at Journey to Forever http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuel at WebConX http://webconx.green-trust.org/2000/biofuel/biofuel.htm List messages are archived at the Info-Archive at NNYTech: http://archive.nnytech.net/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/