Green Bean is rockin' the Alt Power Digest again today; several interesting energy stories:
Message: 1
Date: Wed, 6 Aug 2003 15:03:48 -0700 (PDT)
From: Green Bean
Subject: Energy bill nightmare for activists
Energy bill nightmare for activists
Republicans happy after approving Democratic
legislation
By Miguel Llanos
MSNBC
Aug. 1 — Not in their wildest nightmares did
environmentalists expect it to happen: Sen. Tom
Daschle, D-S.D., defied Republicans to approve the
Senate energy bill passed last year when Democrats
were in charge — and Republicans complied. Not only do
environmentalists have issues with the Democratic
bill, but they quickly realized that Republicans would
rewrite the bill more to their liking as it goes next
to a conference committee of House and Senate members.
“WITH THIS maneuver, the Senate has cut short needed
debate on America’s energy future and failed to
provide a responsible energy policy for the nation,”
the Sierra Club said shortly after the Senate late
Thursday passed the 2002 bill on an 84-14 vote.
“The Senate neglected to adequately debate and
vote on important issues such as reducing global
warming pollution; closing the light-truck fuel
economy loophole; requiring increased use of clean,
renewable energy sources; and providing consumer
protections against energy market manipulation,” the
Sierra Club added.
The U.S. Public Interest Research Group was
just as angry. “There is no way that any conference
between the House energy bill, written by the
polluters for the polluters, and this Senate energy
bill, which was plundered by the polluters, will
produce the clean, safe energy policy that Americans
deserve,” USPIRG attorney Katherine Morrison said in a
statement. “We are headed to a conference committee
that will be dominated by allies of the polluters.”
VOW TO REWRITE BILL
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Republicans reject the allegations, but
acknowledge they’ll be able to rework the Democratic
bill more to their liking.
“This is a day to smile and smile big,” Sen.
Pete Domenici, R-N.M., said Thursday night.
“The reason I’m smiling is because I’m going to
be rewriting that bill,” he said, referring to the
fact that, as chairman of the Senate energy committee,
he’ll preside over the House-Senate conference. “We’re
in the majority and we’ll write a completely different
bill.”
Among the changes promised by Domenici:
expanding nuclear power and opening more public lands
to oil and natural gas drilling.
It’s not clear if conferees would try to insert
language to allow drilling in the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. The previously approved
House energy bill would, but neither the Democratic
nor Republican bill in the Senate called for that.
View differing perspectives on the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge
President Bush, who wants Congress to pass an
energy bill that allows refuge drilling, welcomed
Thursday’s vote. “The president looks forward to
working with the conferees to ensure that we enact a
balanced and comprehensive energy policy this year,”
the White House said.
DEMOCRATS’ GAME FACE
Daschle was also quick to welcome the deal,
saying Republicans “made us an offer we couldn’t
refuse.”
For Daschle and other Democrats in farm states,
the deal does improve the chances that Congress will
pass a provision to mandate and double the use of
corn-based ethanol as a gasoline additive.
Republicans are likely to keep the provision in
a conference bill since it is in both Democratic and
GOP bills.
But any final conference bill is likely to
favor Republican views on other energy and
environmental issues — from car mileage standards to
drilling on public lands.
A Daschle spokesman said that should a final
conference bill be unacceptable, Democrats would use a
filibuster — a tactic whereby lawmakers indefinitely
delay a vote by speaking on the floor.
And the spokesman for Democrats on the Senate
energy committee said that if Daschle hadn’t made the
offer, Republicans would have eventually passed their
own bill.
Energy map of america
At least this way, Bill Wicker said, the
conference starts off with a bill that has more
provisions acceptable to Democrats.
“As for the complaints about what will happen
in conference,” Wicker told MSNBC.com, “those are as
predictable as the GOP boasts about how they’re going
to fix things in conference.
“This is precisely what you would expect people
disappointed on both sides to say,” he added. “We are
aware of these concerns, and these forewarnings, and
we will deal with them at the appropriate time. For
now, we’re thrilled.”
‘A LITTLE BIT UNUSUAL’
Thursday’s turn of events came as a surprise to
everyone, especially since the Senate had been mired
in debate over the Republican energy legislation.
That debate was going nowhere Thursday until
Daschle alluded to last year’s bill, saying in his
floor speech that it would have been a better way to
go.
Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., quickly
picked up on it and said that might just work for
Republicans. A closed-door meeting of GOP senators
followed as did the decision to take Daschle up on his
offer.
“It’s been a fascinating day,” Frist later told
reporters, adding that how the deal developed was “a
little bit unusual.”
Frist did have to negotiate with Democrats on
two issues: pledging time in the future to allow for
votes on climate change and electricity deregulation.
On climate change, a bipartisan amendment by
Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Joe Lieberman,
D-Conn., would set mandatory limits on emissions of
carbon dioxide and other gases that many scientists
fear are warming the Earth.
The Bush administration favors a voluntary, and
incentive-based approach.
LEAVE OUT REFUGE DRILLING?
One seasoned observer noted that while Daschle
benefits from the ethanol provision, his party will
lose the bigger energy battle as long as Republicans
don’t try for too much — particularly the
controversial idea of opening the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling.
"In essence, this effort will take any control the
Democrats had in crafting the bill and give it to a
conference run by Republicans,” said Frank Maisano, an
energy industry consultant with the lobbying firm
Bracewell & Patterson. “This could ignite a scenario
where Republicans craft a conference report that is
favorable, but not overtly partisan toward them, and
send it back to the Senate sometime next spring with
the ethanol mandate as its main ingredient.”
If that happens, Maisano added, Daschle and
other Democrats could have trouble with traditional
supporters if they support the bill. “This would place
Daschle and many of his ethanol-supporting Democrat
colleagues in a difficult spot,” he said, “just a few
months from the election” for president and Congress.
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Message: 2
Date: Wed, 6 Aug 2003 15:06:21 -0700 (PDT)
From: Green Bean
Subject: Fill it up with french-fry grease
August 06, 2003
Fill it up with french-fry grease
A San Diego gas station offers electricity, ethanol,
and biodiesel. Oh, yes, regular too.
By Randy Dotinga
You may catch a whiff of cooking grease at the most
environmentally friendly gas station in the world, but
don't blame the smell on the doughnut shop across the
street. The odor comes from pumps 9 and 10, which
dispense "biodiesel" fuel made from the sludge that
lurks in deep fryers everywhere.
Just a few feet away, you can fill 'er up with
electricity or ethanol fermented from the leftovers of
cheese production. Got a lactose- intolerant car?
Visit the adjoining showroom and check the selection
of alternatively fueled Ford vehicles. Or drop by the
nonprofit education center and learn why you should
bother worrying about the environment in the first
place.
In all, the 90,000-square-foot Regional Transportation
Center is a $15 million gamble on the eventual demise
of unleaded gasoline (still available from pumps 1 to
8.)
"There are huge market forces that inevitably make us
win the bet. Undoubtedly, we will run out of oil in
this world," says general manager Mike Lewis. "The
thing that's unknown is the timing. Whether this will
happen this year or in five decades is to be
determined."
For now, Mr. Lewis is just happy that the monster gas
station, the brainchild of a nearby Ford dealership,
is finally open after more than six years in the
works, more than three of them tied up in red tape.
"It's much easier from a regulatory, permitting, and
design-review perspective to build a good,
old-fashioned gas station that sells gasoline and
diesel," Lewis says.
The plan is to make money by resolving the dilemma of
which needs to come first - cars that can use
alternative fuels or gas stations that sell more than
gasoline. "We decided to build the chicken and the egg
in one place," says Lewis.
And which of the fuels on offer is best equipped to
promote clean skies, healthy trees, and fuller
pocketbooks? The diplomatic Lewis is mum on the
subject. "We're fuel-neutral," he says. "We want to be
the ethanol mecca, the natural-gas mecca, the
biodiesel mecca, and the electric-vehicle mecca."
He'll need plenty of patience to make his dream come
true. While California's aggressive antipollution laws
are inspiring other states, carmakers have bypassed
state laws that tried to force them to produce more
alternatively fueled cars.
The much ballyhooed electrical cars have turned out to
be a flop, and General Motors has stopped making them.
Natural gas and propane, meanwhile, haven't made much
of a dent outside of buses and fleet vehicles.
But there are signs of change. Ethanol - also known as
grain alcohol or just alcohol - is rapidly making its
way into ordinary gas tanks in the Golden State. To
comply with the federal Clean Air Act, refiners in
California are pulling an oxygenizing agent known as
MTBE out of gasoline in the state.
They're supposed to replace all the MTBE with ethanol
by the end of this year. "The market is here, and now
folks are waking up to the opportunity," says Neil
Koehler, director of the California Renewable Fuels
Partnership, a coalition of alternative-fuel
manufacturers and environmentalists.
Indeed, stand-alone ethanol (blended with a bit of
gasoline to keep people from drinking it) may soon
become the undisputed king of alternative fuels in
California. It's already popular in the Midwest, where
enthusiastic support from farmers have turned the fuel
- mostly fermented from corn, not cheese - into a
multibillion- dollar business.
An estimated 200,000 cars and trucks in the Golden
State are "hybrids" that can run on ethanol instead of
gasoline, although many of their owners probably don't
know that because there has been no place to buy
ethanol. In fact, the San Diego gas station's ethanol
dispenser is reportedly the only one west of Salt Lake
City.
"The problem has been that there's no fuel
distribution," Mr. Koehler says. "The oil companies
aren't terribly motivated to supply the fuel, and the
ethanol industry has been pretty infantile in
California."
The immediate goal is to build enough ethanol fuel
pumps so that a driver could travel from the Mexican
border to Oregon and never have to switch back to
regular unleaded gas, he says.
So far, however, the ethanol pump at the San Diego gas
station has received little attention from customers.
Most pull up to the unleaded gasoline pumps or turn to
the two types of environmentally friendly diesel fuel
- low-sulfur and biodiesel, the kind made from
recycled cooking grease.
David Kutnock, a water-quality tester filling up his
1985 Mercedes Benz with biodiesel, is one such
customer. "It would be nice to go off our dependence
on oil," he says, before considering a more pressing
matter - the appetizing smell that might start coming
out his exhaust pipe.
"Everybody will be pulling into McDonald's after me,
saying 'French fries sound good right about now.' "
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Message: 3
Date: Wed, 6 Aug 2003 15:09:19 -0700 (PDT)
From: Green Bean
Subject: Anaerobic bacteria and biogas
A small ally with large possibilities: Anaerobic
bacteria and biogas
By Mutaz Mango
The Jordan Biogas Company plant at Ruseifa, generating
1MW of power and designed to treat 60 tonnes of waste
per day; mostly from a slaughterhouse, vegetable
market and hotels' organic wastes. Receiving station
(furthest right) has waste manually separated and sent
to the 2,000 m3 anaerobic digester (largest tank)
where it is mixed with liquid waste and stays there
for about 28 days to be broken down by anaerobic
bacteria. The process produces biogas and high-grade
fertiliser (Photo by Mutaz Mango)
Two of the few certainties in nature are that humanity
produces waste and humanity requires energy. A
bacterial process that is part of our natural
environment can alleviate part of our heavy demands on
nature by treating waste and producing usable energy
at the same time.
Per day, a Jordanian produces an average of 800gms of
household waste and requires 120MJ of energy. The
waste usually finds its way into one of the nation's
25 landfills. Energy on the other hand is oil-import
reliant.
Apart from the new Ghabawi landfill 23km east of
Amman, waste management in Jordan is uncontrolled
dumping in landfills. Trucks bring in the waste to a
landfill, which is basically a hole in the ground, and
layers of rubbish are compressed by land-moving trucks
to a thickness of about 60cm, each layer separated by
about 15cm of soil. A final top layer a metre in depth
or greater covers it all, on which vegetation can be
grown.
Out of sight though does not mean out of harm. The
annual 1.5 million tonnes of landfill-wastes are like
underground biological reactors, whose outcome is
dictated by ingredients, temperature and humidity.
Over half of our annual household waste is made-up of
organic substances. The remainder is comprised of
glass, plastics, metals and other materials. Virtually
inert, these materials contain a various assortment of
chemicals that are toxic (such as detergent containers
and heavy metals present in disposable batteries).
Mixed with organic matter, the combination starts
forming a fluid substance called leachate that can
seep through the ground and permeate underground
waterways. Leachate is considered a great threat to
health as it also contains various types of bacteria
and viruses.
It is this threat that has led to lining the Ghabawi
landfill with high-density polyethylene, a tough inert
material. The landfill was selected for its low annual
precipitation, distance from populated areas, low land
porosity and depth of underground water. The JD16
million landfill currently has one 120-dunum cell in
operation, with 9 more cells planned to cover a total
area of 2,000 dunums. It is estimated that Ghabawi
will take all of Amman and Zarqa's waste for the next
two decades.
It has been said that one person's trash is another's
treasure. The landfill at Madaba rents out rights to
its waste for an annual JD100,000. The contractor
employs staff to manually separate the waste and sells
the various materials.
Apart from economic benefits, energy waste and
pollution is also costly to all. For example, the
amount of energy involved in making one `aluminium'
drinks can is equivalent to that needed to recycle 20.
Manufacture of one tonne of glass produces 384 tonnes
of mining waste, which can be reduced to a quarter if
recycled, according to Jordan Environment Society
(JES).
Recycling is the popular catch phrase, but a proper
infrastructure needs to exist for it to happen. This
infrastructure is built upon individual involvement.
In parts of Europe waste bins are divided into
categories. Over here, all municipal waste goes into
one container. JES now has some small-scale recycling
projects using separate bins, whose contents are sent
to appropriate plants. Paper waste, for example, is
sent to a paper plant in Zarqa for recycling.
This is part of a national initiative financed by
Global Environment Fund (GEF), Danish International
Development Agency (DANIDA) and the government, aiming
to increase awareness and create a master plan that
addresses the issue at a national scale.
Waste has no political borders. Gasses emitted from
landfills are poisonous and dangerous and if untreated
can play havoc with nature. According to the National
Energy Research Centre, a small-sized landfill emits
gasses equivalent to that from 60,000 cars, the
elimination of which is the same as planting 80,000
trees.
Then there is the famous greenhouse effect. Methane is
21 times more of a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide
and will unabashedly flow out of a landfill if not
dealt with. Minor modifications to existing landfills
can reduce the gas outflow by 85 per cent.
A small-sized landfill receiving 100,000 tonnes of
waste a year (equivalent to that generated by 130,000
people) would produce 80 million cubic metres of
methane in its 20-year lifetime. As a greenhouse gas,
this is equivalent to 1.1 million tonnes of carbon
dioxide.
A more immediate threat from methane is its
flammability and toxicity. The odourless gas is
explosive and can seep into nearby settlements,
poisoning those who breathe it. Perforated pipes can
be placed in the landfill at various points to extract
the gas under negative pressure, and after minor
treatment, can turn a foe into a friend.
Methane is an energy source: Under atmospheric
pressure and room temperature a cubic metre contains
about 34 million joules of energy, a quarter of the
energy in an equivalent volume of gasoline. This gas
can be used to generate electricity in a gas turbine
or can be combusted to provide heat. The
aforementioned small-sized landfill can generate about
457 cubic metres of the gas per hour, which translates
to almost 5 GWh of energy per year. Bearing in mind
that total national electricity consumption is 6,900
GWh/year and that waste generated is 40 times more
than the small-sized landfill, almost three per cent
of electricity consumption can be covered by present
landfills. The country is literally sitting on
treasure.
Making practical use of this fact is the Jordan Biogas
Company (JBC) at Ruseifa. Financed by GEF and DANIDA
under the supervision of the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP), it was established in
1997 by the Municipality of Greater Amman and the
National Electric Power Company. A leading German
company in the field of renewable energy, Farmatic,
constructed the plant at the Ruseifa landfill. Methane
gas has been generating 1MW of electricity that is fed
into the national grid since May 2000.
The Ruseifa landfill, an old phosphate mine, closed
earlier this year after complaints by residents in the
nearby town about unpleasant odours. The landfill had
been receiving 2,400 tonnes of waste daily from Amman,
Zarqa and Balqa' since the late 1980s. Ever since the
first batch of waste was placed in the landfill,
bacteria started working on it.
Aerobic bacteria consume landfill waste until the air
runs out. Warmth created by the aerobes and moisture
in the oxygen-free waste become ideal conditions for
anaerobic bacteria to flourish. Acid-forming anaerobes
break down the long molecular chains in fats, proteins
and carbohydrates to smaller molecules, hydrogen and
carbon dioxide. Methanogenic anaerobes then convert
those products into methane and more carbon dioxide.
The resulting gas is called biogas and is generally
made up of about 60 per cent methane, 40 per cent
carbon dioxide and traces of other gasses, such as
hydrogen sulphide (substance that gives a landfill its
bad smell).
Gas with over 45 per cent methane can sustain
combustion, thus biogas can be burnt in a gas electric
generator and produce electricity at an efficiency of
about 30 per cent. The whole gas-forming process in
landfills takes roughly two years, but it can be
speeded up hundreds of times by the use of anaerobic
digesters.
Anaerobic digesters create ideal conditions for
anaerobes. A 2,000 cubic-metre digester exists at JBC
and is currently producing 80 m3 of biogas per hour
from 25 tonnes of waste per day, according to Hatem
Ababneh, JBC plant manager.
This gas, combined with landfill gas is currently
generating 1MW of energy and is expected to increase
to over 15MW in the near future, when new wells are
tapped into. To put matters into perspective though,
an average fossil fuel power plant produces 1,000 MW
of energy. Thus many biogas plants of this size are
needed to produce a substantial amount of power.
Investment costs seem to be discouraging, amounting to
about JD500,000 to equip a landfill with gas
extractors and power generators and JD1.4 million for
an anaerobic digester like JBC's (designed to receive
60 tonnes of waste per day).
Cost is relative, as such a plant would provide power
for over 20 years at a constant price. Between
start-up in May 2000 and 2002, the JBC has sold
electricity to the grid at an average 32 fils/kWh for
a profit of nearly JD160,000. There is also the
digested sludge produced from the anaerobic digester
that is a high-grade fertiliser valued at JD125,000
annually.
Biogas from sewage treatment plants was used as far
back as the late 1800s to power street lighting in the
UK. Why are there no other biogas projects in Jordan?
Lack of awareness and interest it seems. A workshop
organised by the National Energy Research Centre took
place last week in Madaba as part of an awareness
campaign targeting all governorates. The master plan
to be produced by the end of the year aims to
transform the nation's waste management into a more
constructive and profitable effort, explained Project
Manager Munther Bseiso from the National Energy
Research Centre.
It thus seems that microscopic bacteria can have
macroscopic effects on the economy and the
environment, all they need is some consideration and
effort from individuals and the nation as a whole.
Wednesday, August 6, 2003
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Message: 4
Date: Wed, 6 Aug 2003 15:17:12 -0700 (PDT)
From: Green Bean
Subject: Big purchasers can spark sustainability shift
Big purchasers can spark sustainability shift, study
says
05 August 2003
By GreenBiz.com
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Spending billions of dollars
annually on goods and services — often more than the
gross domestic product of entire countries —
corporations, international organizations,
universities, and other large institutions are key in
fostering the shift towards an environmentally
sustainable world, reports a new study from the
Worldwatch Institute.
Through their daily purchases, these mega-consumers
hold considerable sway over the health and stability
of many of the world's most fragile ecological
systems, says Worldwatch research associate Lisa
Mastny, author of the study.
“While environmentalists have worked for decades to
win the hearts and minds of individuals, some of the
world's biggest consumers have remained out of the
spotlight,“ says Mastny. “Yet their enormous and often
environmentally devastating purchases of everything
from gas-guzzling vehicle fleets to cancer-causing
cleaning supplies can have far greater consequences
for the future of our planet than the buying habits of
most individual households.“
In some industrial countries, government purchasing
accounts for as much as 25 percent of GDP. Government
procurement in the European Union alone totaled more
than $1 trillion in 2001, or 14 percent of GDP. In
North America, it reached $2 trillion, or about 18
percent of GDP.
Universities, too, spend billions of dollars each year
on everything from campus buildings to cafeteria food.
In the United States, colleges bought some $25 billion
in goods and services in 1999 — equivalent to nearly 3
percent of U.S. GDP. And the United Nations spent
nearly $14 billion on goods and services in 2000.
Because of the large-scale, systematic approach that
most institutions take in their purchasing, a single
decision made by one professional buyer or purchasing
department can have a tremendous ripple effect,
influencing the products used by hundreds or even
thousands of individuals.
“By that same token,“ says Mastny, “just one
environmentally focused purchasing policy or guidance
— if properly implemented and enforced — can bring
widespread benefits to an institution. By investing in
everything from energy-efficient lighting to organic
food, growing numbers of businesses, government
agencies, hospitals, and other organizations are not
only creating safer and healthier workplaces, but are
also saving money.“
If enough demand for green products is generated,
entire markets can shift. A few notable successes
point to the tremendous power of green purchasing:
* When the world's single largest computer buyer,
the United States government, was directed by
President Clinton in 1993 to buy only computer
equipment that met energy-efficiency standards
described under the government's EnergyStar program,
it set into motion a massive overhaul of the consumer
market. Today, largely as a result of this increased
demand, 95 percent of all monitors, 80 percent of
computers, and 99 percent of printers sold in North
America meet Energy Star standards.
* A high-profile campaign by the Rainforest Action
Network, aimed at pressuring leading U.S. home
improvement retailer Home Depot to improve its wood
buying practices, provided the impetus for the
company's adoption of a green purchasing policy in
1999. Within a year of this shift, retailers
accounting for well over one-fifth of the wood sold
for the U.S. home remodeling market announced that
they too would phase out endangered wood products and
favor wood coming from certified sustainably managed
forests. Two of the nation's biggest homebuilders also
pledged not to buy endangered wood.
* Government purchasing is credited with spurring
the rise of recycled paper to the level of standard
office supply in many European countries. And analysts
link a jump in the environmental performance of
Japanese electronics to that country's preeminence in
the green purchasing of computers and other high tech
products.
But while green purchasing initiatives are blossoming
in the world's wealthier nations, the question remains
of how to jumpstart a similar movement in the
developing world. Although overall resource use in
these countries is still relatively low compared to
industrial countries, rising consumer demand will make
strengthening local markets for environmentally sound
technologies — from renewable energy to non-chorine
bleached recycled paper — increasingly important.
Mastny says that one way institutions can help spread
green purchasing in developing countries is by using
their own procurements to strengthen local green
markets. By seeking to buy a greater portion of their
goods and services from local green suppliers, leading
international players like the United Nations, the
World Bank, and multinational corporations can not
only stimulate green markets, but also combat mounting
criticism about the environmental impacts of their
activities.
“Green purchasing will never be a magic solution to
the world's rampant resource consumption, but it does
offer tremendous opportunities for lessening the
impacts,“ says Mastny. “And as more and more
institutions realize the benefits of buying green — in
terms of employee health, the environment, and their
own bottom lines — groups that disregard environmental
factors risk being left behind.“
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Message: 5
Date: Wed, 6 Aug 2003 15:18:32 -0700 (PDT)
From: Green Bean
Subject: Dean Criticizes Bush Environmental Policy
Presidential Candidate Criticizes Bush Environmental
Policy
By RAYMOND PASCUAL
Contributing Writer
Friday, August 1, 2003
SAN FRANCISCO—In a green-themed speech, presidential
candidate and former Vermont governor Howard Dean
deeply criticized the Bush administration's approach
to environmental policy at a San Francisco hotel
Thursday.
"Today, we have a Republican president who seeks to
destroy this consensus and reverse decades of
responsible environmental policy," Dean told a
standing-room-only crowd of press and supporters.
Dean, considered one of the leading Democratic
presidential candidates and the most-storied "no-name"
candidate, tops eight other prominent party candidates
in the most recent California Field Poll.
Throughout his campaign speech, Dean repeatedly
emphasized the Bush administration's ties to big
business as reasons for what he called a poor
"environmental record."
He attacked Interior Deputy Secretary J. Stephen
Griles, a top Bush administration official, for his
repeated meetings with clients from the oil and mining
industries—industries that have lobbied to reduce
environmental restrictions.
"This is a classic case of conflict of interest and
breach of trust and the deputy secretary should
resign," Dean said.
Dean also complained about the deletion of the global
warming phenomena from the Environmental Protection
Agency's Draft Report on the Environment.
"The president doesn't believe global warming exists.
Whether it's uranium from Niger or global warming, the
Bush-Cheney administration is not one to let mere
facts stand in the way of its agenda," he said.
Dean briefly described his environmental strategy as
one that would have environmentally sound energy
policies, preserve open and "livable community" spaces
and restore U.S. world leadership on environmental
issues.
He said the United States ought to sever its reliance
on foreign sources of energy in the interest of
national security.
"The president isn't taking a stand on people stealing
our oil money. It flows through governments in the
Middle East to terrorist organizations who teach their
children to hate the United States," he said.
One of his administrative proposals is to work toward
a fuel efficiency of 40 miles per gallon by the year
2015. Such a proposal is expected to upset auto makers
in states with strong auto industries like Michigan, a
key electoral state.
Another proposal was to fund research for hybrid
gas-electric, hydrogen-powered and fuel cell-powered
vehicles.
"We're the most advanced technological country on the
face of this planet, and yet Japanese vehicles have
surpassed us in fuel efficiency," he said.
Dean also emphasized the need for the United States to
lead the world in addressing global environmental
concerns. He urged the U.S. government to work toward
an acceptable version of the Kyoto Protocol, a set of
world emissions standards the Bush administration
rejected.
"I ordered that emissions in Vermont be reduced to
levels below those required by the Kyoto Protocol,"
Dean said.
Dean's supporters gathered outside of the Union
Square-area hotel nearly an hour before the governor
arrived, holding signs and yelling pro-Dean chants.
"He has a progressive vision of the environment," said
Quinn Casttello, 23, a San Francisco resident. "He is
a complete contrast to the Bush administration, which
is despicable and arrogant."
The first Democratic party primary election will be
held in February 2004. Dean has remained competitive
in key primary states like Iowa and New Hampshire.
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