Gas Will Include More Ethanol

By Nancy Gaarder, Omaha World-Herald, Neb.

Oct. 31–U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said the federal government is working with the private sector to make it possible for consumers to use blends of gasoline with a higher percentage of ethanol.

Such blends are necessary if the nation is to replace significant amounts of imported oil with the plant-based renewable fuel.

Based on current blends, the market cannot meet President Bush’s goal of using about 35 billion gallons of biofuels annually. If all gasoline sold were a 10 percent blend of ethanol, the market could use only about 15 billion gallons of ethanol a year.

Bodman said it’s likely the country initially would move to a blend above 10 percent, as opposed to an extensive investment in the blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline known as E-85.

“It’s more likely we’ll see the former first,” he said.

Concentrations that have been discussed fall in the 12 percent to 20 percent range. Bodman said it’s not clear what the amount will be.

The Department of Energy is working with the Environmental Protection Agency, automotive companies and gas retailers to make higher-ethanol blends possible.

“We’re working on it,” Bodman said. “It’s a little early.”

Todd Sneller, administrator of the Nebraska Ethanol Board, said some boost in blend is necessary. Federal leadership, he said, is critical.

“That’s an essential issue,” Sneller said, “because the reality of the marketplace is that there must be some practical way to displace gasoline.”

Sneller said he believes the current fleet of vehicles in this country could run on higher blends without modification.

Bodman will be in Omaha todayto tour Union Pacific Corp.’s headquarters and give it an award for energy efficiencies.

—–

To see more of the Omaha World-Herald, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.omaha.com.

Copyright (c) 2007, Omaha World-Herald, Neb.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

NYSE:UNP,