Bush Calls for Lower Gasoline Consumption
In his State of the Union address, President Bush asked for a 20% reduction in gasoline consumption in the next 10 years.
Compiled by staff
Published: Jan 23, 2007
In his Jan. 24 State of the Union address, President George Bush proposed a plan to significantly reduce U.S. gasoline consumption and boost biofuels.
Bush proposed a "Twenty in Ten": a 20% reduction in gasoline consumption in 10 years. The plan would include the production of 35 billion gallons of ethanol and other renewable fuels by 2017 - which would replace an estimated 15% of projected gasoline use - and tighter fuel economy standards on new vehicles.
Bush will also call for a bolstered Strategic Petroleum Reserve in order to provide a reliable backup during a crisis.
The current renewable fuels standard requires blenders to use 7.5 million gallons of renewable fuels by 2012. The new standard would require close to five times that amount by 2017, but it would also contain "safety valves," allowing the EPA Administrator, the Secretary of Agriculture or the Secretary of Energy to "waive or modify the standard if they deem it necessary." The White House release also says that the plan would include automatic protection against spikes in the prices of alternative fuels or their feedstocks.
According to a White House release, the plan would deal with global warming by stopping the rising amount of carbon dioxide emissions from motor vehicles by 2017.
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Tagged: ethanol, EPA, biofuels
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