Harkin threatens to oppose electric vehicles bill if ethanol provisions aren’t added
Monday, November 15, 2010 at 6:05 pm
Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), in a floor speech today, called for expanding electric and natural gas vehicles legislation slated to come up for a procedural vote during the lame-duck session to encourage the use of ethanol. While he said he would vote for cloture on the bill, he warned that he would oppose the bill on a final vote if provisions to encourage biofuels are not added.
Harkin’s comments are certain to rankle environmentalists and many in the oil industry, who have criticized a recent decision by the Environmental Protection Agency to allow higher blends of ethanol in newer vehicles, citing greenhouse gas concerns and ethanol’s impact on engines.
“What’s missing from this bill is any mention of biofuels and what biofuels can contribute to our energy independence in this country,” Harkin, one of the most outspoken proponents of biofuels, said on the Senate floor today.
He continued:
So, while I most certainly will vote for a motion to proceed because I think we should proceed to it, I’ll say at the outset that major changes will need to be made to this bill before it can earn my support on final passage.
Harkin also argued that expanding ethanol use would be cheaper than encouraging natural gas vehicles because it would require fewer infrastructure investments.
But natural gas, every station would have to put in a big compressed tank under a lot of pressure. That would then have to be transferred to a compressed tank, a very strong tank in your car. There would have to be some sort of nozzle to do that. It wouldn’t just be having to put gasoline in an engine. So a whole new infrastructure would have to be built to accomplish this. No new infrastructure would have to be built to put biofuels in your car.
Harkin specifically called for provisions in the bill that would increase the number of flex-fuel vehicles and expand the number of biofuels fueling stations and pipelines.
Here’s the full audio of his remarks.
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21 Comments
Pingback posted November 15, 2010 @ 6:46 pm
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by David Roberts, Anne Freeman, Jamie Friedland, Andrew Restuccia, WashIndependent and others. WashIndependent said: Harkin threatening to oppose electric vehicles bill if ethanol provisions not added http://bit.ly/9Ddd2P [...]
Comment posted November 15, 2010 @ 11:49 pm
Just get it done Harkin. The dems have been missing the spirit of urgency for the last two years, trying to appease the enemy. It is time for the dems to look to Churchill for leadership, Chamberlain has failed to appease the monsters.
Comment posted November 15, 2010 @ 11:52 pm
Excuse me, the republicans and not the enemy, they just declared war on President Obama. Actually, they are US representatives who have failed to follow the principles of the founders and betrayed the trust of the american people and would rather see their constituents swim in muck than drain the swamp.
Pingback posted November 15, 2010 @ 7:08 pm
[...] Harkin threatens to oppose electric vehicles bill if ethanol … [...]
Pingback posted November 16, 2010 @ 1:10 am
[...] Harkin threatens to oppose electric vehicles bill if ethanol … [...]
Pingback posted November 16, 2010 @ 2:35 am
[...] Harkin threatens to oppose electric vehicles bill if ethanol … [...]
Comment posted November 16, 2010 @ 9:26 am
This is a great post and makes me think of where I can fit in. I do a little bit of everything mentioned here and I guess I have to find my competitive advantage.
Comment posted November 16, 2010 @ 12:24 pm
So the Senator from the state with the highest production of corn wants more corn based fuels in commuter vehicles.
http://www.agclassroom.org/kids/stats/iowa.pdf
Maybe this decision should be based on science instead of politics. Unfortunately, no one cares about science when it comes to climate change.
Whats amusing is to farm all that corn, you need very large diesel tractors. Not to mention transportation of the corn, and the corn based fuel. The infrastructure is already in place for electric cars, and producing the electricity at a large plant produces something like two orders of magnitude less CO2 per mile driven than an internal combustion engine running on gasoline. I’m sure any advantage to corn is outweighed by the fossil fuels burned in its production.
“Taking into account the energy required to grow the corn and convert it into ethanol, they determined that burning the biofuel as a gasoline additive actually results in a net energy loss of 65 percent.”
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/03/050329132436.htm
Pingback posted November 16, 2010 @ 11:57 am
[...] Harkin threatens to oppose electric vehicles bill if ethanol … [...]
Pingback posted November 16, 2010 @ 12:01 pm
[...] Harkin threatens to oppose electric vehicles bill if ethanol provisions aren’t added “Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), in a floor speech today, called for expanding electric and natural gas vehicles legislation slated to come up for a procedural vote during the lame-duck session to encourage the use of ethanol. While he said he would vote for cloture on the bill, he warned that he would oppose the bill on a final vote if provisions to encourage biofuels are not added.” [...]
Comment posted November 16, 2010 @ 5:19 pm
I wanted to make a quick comment regarding that last article you linked to (from ScienceDaily). The main researcher on that study is Dr. Tad Patzek. Dr. Patzek has done some consulting work for both Chevron and Shell. This is far from an independent study. I fully agree that this decision should be based on science, but I really believe it should be based on GOOD science.
Comment posted November 16, 2010 @ 5:19 pm
I wanted to make a quick comment regarding that last article you linked to (from ScienceDaily). The main researcher on that study is Dr. Tad Patzek. Dr. Patzek has done some consulting work for both Chevron and Shell. This is far from an independent study. I fully agree that this decision should be based on science, but I really believe it should be based on GOOD science.
Pingback posted November 16, 2010 @ 2:34 pm
[...] Harkin threatens to oppose electric vehicles bill if ethanol … [...]
Comment posted November 16, 2010 @ 8:30 pm
It is very important to research your sources. I agree. But you can’t say that just because he worked as a consultant for both Shell and Chevron that his science is bad. He goes on in that article to say that doubling the mileage of cars is a will cut petroleum consumption. He also advocates solar, though it’s relatively immaturity does not make it feasible yet on the large scale.
My overall point is that Senator Harkin does not have what’s best for humanity in his mind when he claims we need more ethanol, just whats best for Iowa, or, it could be said, what’s best for his re-election.
Comment posted November 16, 2010 @ 8:30 pm
It is very important to research your sources. I agree. But you can’t say that just because he worked as a consultant for both Shell and Chevron that his science is bad. He goes on in that article to say that doubling the mileage of cars is a will cut petroleum consumption. He also advocates solar, though it’s relatively immaturity does not make it feasible yet on the large scale.
My overall point is that Senator Harkin does not have what’s best for humanity in his mind when he claims we need more ethanol, just whats best for Iowa, or, it could be said, what’s best for his re-election.
Pingback posted November 16, 2010 @ 5:31 pm
[...] Harkin threatens to oppose electric vehicles bill if ethanol … [...]
Pingback posted November 17, 2010 @ 2:47 pm
[...] Senator Harkin (D-Iowa) threatened to oppose electric vehicles if his colleagues don’t support biofuel policies. Politics at its [...]
Pingback posted November 22, 2010 @ 11:28 am
[...] than encouraging natural gas vehicles because it would require fewer infrastructure investments. READ MORE (includes [...]
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