SEPTEMBER 2008: AROUND THE STATE
Walker attacks
ethanol law
SALEM Just weeks before Eastern Oregon gas stations will be
required to sell fuel blended with ethanol, one lawmaker is
already reconsidering the state’s year-old renewable fuel
mandate, provoking an industry that’s invested upward of
$300 million to produce ethanol in, and for, the Oregon
market.
Sen. Vicki Walker (D-Eugene) calls ethanol a
“boondoggle” and says one of her top priorities in
the next legislative session is to repeal or retool the
requirement that all unleaded fuel sold in the state be at
least 10% ethanol. Walker voted for the law, but now calls her
decision a mistake. She says most of her other Natural
Resources Committee members side with her.
As more states set biofuel standards and more drivers begin to
use it, ethanol as a viable alternative to conventional gas is
coming under fresh scrutiny at a time when gas prices are
soaring.
Walker says the gas mileage in her Toyota Camry hybrid has
dipped since she started using the blended fuel, an ethanol
side effect the industry acknowledges. She also blames the
increased use of corn for ethanol for rising food prices,
although experts continue to debate this. “We have
created a very expensive alternative to fuel,” she
says.
In June, the new Cascade Grain plant in Clatskanie began
producing its goal of 113 million gallons of ethanol per year.
President Charles Carlson says the $200 million plant was built
in Oregon because of the renewable fuel law, and vows to fight
any attempt to overturn it.
It’s a “knee-jerk reaction” Carlson says of
Walker’s plans. When locally produced and sold, ethanol
drives down prices at the pump and reduces dependence on
foreign oil, he says.
The Oregon Environmental Council recognizes corn ethanol
isn’t the most efficient alternative fuel, but supports
the law because it lays the infrastructure for future
investment and research in Oregon into other biofuels such as
cellulostic ethanol, says John Galloway, program director.
“Corn ethanol is the only market-ready crop right
now,” says Tim Raphael, director of government affairs
for Sacramento-based Pacific Ethanol. Last year the company
completed a $100 million ethanol plant in Boardman. In January
the federal Department of Energy awarded the company $25
million to research and produce cellulosic ethanol at its
Boardman facility.
Repealing the law would have a “chilling effect” on
similar research and investment, says
Raphael.
JASON SHUFFLER
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