Push for ethanol in fuels resumes
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By TOM SHEEHAN -- LEE NEWSPAPERS
Thursday, January 20, 2005 10:50 AM CST
MADISON -- Gasoline sold to motorists throughout Wisconsin would have to consist of between 9.2 percent and 10 percent ethanol under a proposal announced by a bipartisan group of lawmakers Wednesday.
Supporters said Assembly Bill 15 would boost the state's ethanol industry, the farm economy and help clean the air. An opponent, however, said gasoline retailers and consumers would be strapped with an unnecessary mandate without proven environmental benefits.
Should the state be able to dictate the ingredients of gasoline?
The bill is patterned after a Minnesota law that has helped the Twin Cities area gain compliance with federal clean air standards, said Sen. Sheila Harsdorf, R-River Falls, who is a chief co-sponsor of the bill with Rep. Stephen Freese, R-Dodgeville. A similar proposal was rejected in Wisconsin 1996, but the environment for such legislation to succeed is rapidly improving, Harsdorf said.
n Several Democrats have signed on to the bill, and Gov. Jim Doyle announced support for the use of alternative fuels in his state of the state speech last week.
n The federal government has lifted restrictions that previously could have resulted in declining federal highway aid for the state, Harsdorf said.
n Wisconsin now has three plants producing ethanol, meaning the state would benefit directly as the demand for ethanol increases.
"We need jobs, and we have corn. It just makes sense that we do this in Wisconsin," said Sen. John Erpenbach, D-Madison, a co-sponsor of the bill.
A spokeswoman for Doyle wouldn't say if the governor supports the bill as proposed. Doyle in the past has used his veto power to trim Republican-backed subsidies to ethanol producers. The governor will reveal more details of his bio-fuels initiative when he presents his 2005-07 state budget next month, however, said Melanie Fonder.
Six southeastern Wisconsin counties currently are required under federal law to sell only re-formulated gasoline, which most often includes a 10 percent blend of ethanol, said Bob Bartlett, president of the Petroleum Marketers Association of Wisconsin. Many other retailers voluntarily sell ethanol-blended fuel elsewhere in the state, Bartlett said.
The association has not taken an official position on the bill, but has reservations in general about fuel mandates, Bartlett said. If there's going to be a mandate, the state must be able to assure a sufficient supply of high-quality ethanol-blended fuel is available to retailers, said Bartlett, whose group represents independent wholesalers and retailers in the state.
Consumers should have a choice about what type of gasoline they can purchase, said Dan Gunderson, a consultant who said he is doing public relations work on behalf of an undisclosed group of concerned citizens and retailers opposed to the bill.
Some boats, snowmobiles and other vehicles aren't designed to run on gasoline with ethanol, Gunderson said. Gunderson also questioned the environmental benefits touted by supporters of the bill.
About 30 percent of gasoline currently sold in Wisconsin is blended with ethanol, said Alex Samardzich, CEO of Ace Ethanol in Stanley. The bill would help create jobs, boost production and possibly lower the price of gasoline by between five cents and seven cents a gallon, Samardzich said. Ace Ethanol has 36 full-time employees and produces about 40 million gallons of ethanol a year, Samardzich said.
Farmers not only would benefit from an increased demand for corn and higher corn prices, they'd also be able to take advantage of distillers grain -- an affordable byproduct of the ethanol-making process that can be used as animal feed, said Bill Bruins, president of the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation.
Wisconsin has ethanol plants in Monroe, Stanley and Oshkosh. Another is set to open in April in Friesland.
Contact Tom Sheehan at tsheehan@madison.com or (608) 252-6198.
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