Automakers shouldn't be singled out in US legislation aimed at reducing emissions blamed for global warming, said the head of a trade group that represents nine companies including General Motors Corp and Toyota Motor Corp.
"There is need for a comprehensive solution," Dave McCurdy, the former congressman who this month took over as president of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, said in an interview on Friday in Washington.
Congress and US President George W. Bush's administration shouldn't "pick on one industry that is already regulated on fuel efficiency," he said.
His remarks come after Bush last month proposed cutting US gasoline consumption by 20 percent in the next 10 years by boosting fuel efficiency and promoting alternatives such as ethanol.
The cost
McCurdy said oil companies and the entire transportation industry must share in the cost of reducing carbon-dioxide emissions linked to global warming.
The Washington-based group's members are GM, Toyota, BMW AG, DaimlerChrysler AG, Ford Motor Co, Mazda Motor Corp, Mitsubishi Motors Corp, Porsche AG and Volkswagen AG.
"The quickest way to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions is to raise fuel-economy standards in the transportation sector," said Kevin Curtis, senior vice president at National Environmental Trust, an advocacy group in Washington.
He added that all industries must share in the costs of lowering those emissions.
Prices of ethanol rose to a six-week high last week as refiners and fuel blenders expanded use of the grain-based additive in gasoline.
More ethanol
The US fuel industry is blending more ethanol to replace methyl tertiary butyl ether, or MTBE, a rival additive that was phased out last year.
Ethanol's value as a gasoline component has also risen with a rally in oil prices during the past month.
Ethanol demand is "strong," and prices may rise more, even with the opening of new distilleries boosting production from last year's record levels, said Jeff DeReamer, a Lexington, Kentucky-based consultant.
Refiners will use more ethanol in coming weeks as they increase gasoline production for peak summer demand.
Ethanol averaged US$2.2011 a gallon (US$0.58 per liter) as of Friday, up 2.4 percent from US$2.1493 on Feb. 16 and the highest price since Jan. 11, based on data from distributors in Des Moines, Iowa, and other Midwest locations.
US ethanol production capacity will more than double during the next few years as new plants open, according to data from the Washington-based Renewable Fuels Association, the US ethanol industry's primary trade group.
There are currently 113 operating US ethanol distilleries with capacity to make 5.58 billion gallons a year, according to the association.
An additional 78 new plants and seven expansions are under construction that will raise capacity to 11.8 billion gallons.
Meanwhile, Bush said last week that the technology that will let the US produce fuel from farm waste, woodchips and other sources to lessen the country's dependence on foreign oil is "around the corner."
"I know it sounds like a pipe dream to some," Bush said on Feb. 22 at a plant operated by Novozymes A/S unit Novozymes North America Inc in Franklinton, North Carolina.
Biofuels
Novozymes, based in Denmark, is the world's biggest producer of enzymes used in production of biofuels.
"We're on the verge of breakthroughs that will enable a pile of wood chips to become the raw materials for fuels that'll run your car," he said.
The US Department of Agriculture estimates ethanol will use 27 percent of the nation's corn crop in the coming year.
Achieving president Bush's goal would require more corn than the US can currently produce, so the president is emphasizing the kind of technology that can produce so-called cellulosic ethanol made from switchgrass, cornstalks and agricultural waste.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Xinyi A13 Department Store last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined at
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)