For those of you who KNOW that your older vehicles (fuel pump diaphragms, etc) will suffer - this can only be bad news.
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Plan to secretly add ethanol
From:
By Steve Lewis and Katharine Murphy
September 23, 2005
MOTORISTS could unwittingly fill their cars with ethanol-blended petrol under Howard government plans to relax strict labelling conditions on biofuels.
The push to secretly mix up to five per cent of ethanol with normal petrol would be extended to all types of fuel, including the high-octane blends used by top-range vehicles.
The Government is on a mission to encourage a viable biofuels industry to help offset the commercial power of the big oil companies.
The push comes as the Government faces a consumer backlash over soaring fuel prices, with yesterday's special petrol summit in
Sydney urging
Canberra to take on the oil majors over claims of profiteering.
Nationals leader Mark Vaile has warned the big oil companies they might face a mandated blend of 10 per cent ethanol if they do not voluntarily
sign up to industry action plans to encourage the use of biofuels made from sugarcane waste and other agricultural by-products.
"We've not taken it off the table," the Deputy Prime Minister said.
Prime Minister John Howard and Mr Vaile will discuss the contentious ethanol issue - and the problems of soaring petrol prices - when they meet oil industry executives next week.
Releasing a report from a Government-appointed Biofuels Taskforce, the Prime Minister conceded a slump in consumer confidence had crippled the fledgling biofuels industry.
Motorists have resisted using petrol blended with ethanol after claims that biofuels damaged vehicle engines.
Despite new research showing potentially greater health benefits than previously believed, Mr Howard said the biofuels industry faced "considerable market barriers", including low consumer confidence and high commercial risk.
The Government has previously set an annual production target of 350 million litres of biofuels by 2010 - lifting biofuels' share of the total fuel market from 0.1 per cent to 0.7 per cent.
But Mr Howard said it would fall
well short of that target "in the absence of further policy initiatives".
The Nationals have been pushing to mandate the use of ethanol, claiming it would provide a sensible alternative to petroleum and assist many regional communities. But Liberal Party ministers have stridently resisted the push.
Mr Howard announced a range of measures yesterday to promote biofuels.
The Commonwealth's vehicle fleet will be encouraged to use an E10 blend - of 10 per cent ethanol - while present labelling for E10 will be simplified to deliver a more positive message about the use of biofuels.
The Government will test the usage of E5 in motor vehicles before allowing the oil industry to sell the product - without any specific labelling.
But motor vehicle manufacturers and the oil industry responded cautiously to the Government's announcement, questioning whether it would lead to any increase in ethanol use.
"It is difficult to see how some of these measures will address underlying consumer resistance to ethanol as an additive in petrol," Federated Chamber of Automotive Industries chief executive Peter Sturrock said.
However, Queensland Nationals senator Barnaby Joyce branded the package "disappointing".
"Promoting ethanol is a core part of why we won that extra Senate
seat," he said.
"If we can't fulfil this one, we really have to question the contract (with the Liberal Party). It gives credence to our argument that we shouldn't support the Liberals' core policies if they don't support ours."
Senior Nationals figure Ron Boswell said the package was "not as good as I would have liked".
The Nationals were waiting on the outcome of next week's showdown with the oil companies, he said.
"If the oil companies don't respond, there will be tremendous pressure on Mark Vaile to do something." Co
nservationists also expressed disappointment with the biofuels package, warning that the clean fuels industry had little chance of success without mandatory targets and long-term support.
World Wildlife Fund chief Greg Bourne welcomed the Government's undertaking to address the scare campaign against biofuels but said the Government had missed the point that the biofuels industry needed long-term support.
He called on the Government to phase out subsidies to greenhouse-gas-intensive fossil fuels in favour of longer-term excise concessions to biofuels producers beyond the current six-year time frame.
The Australian Medical Association backed calls for binding targets, calling for a mandated 10 per cent ethanol blend in petrol and 20 per cent bio-diesel in diesel.
AMA President Mukesh Haikerwal said that adding 10 per cent ethanol to petrol would "benefit our health without damaging our cars". Additional reporting: Amanda Hodge