Following the energy policy meeting between President Bush and the heads of the Big Three, the President reported that his "Twenty in Ten' policy is being supported by the three big US companies - GM, Ford and Chrysler. Bush expressed his interest on the way the Big Three reacted to the policy underlined in his State of the Union Address on January of this year.
He reported further that by the year 2012, 50 percent of vehicles on U.S. roads will be flex-fuel vehicles. This means that the amount of gasoline consumed by vehicles in the country will be reduced significantly. Twenty in ten is the Bush's administration's goal to reduce gasoline consumption by as much as twenty percent in the next ten years.
With 50 percent of vehicles in the U.S. being flex-fuel, President Bush has this to say: "That means that the American consumer will be able to either use gasoline or ethanol, depending upon, obviously, price and convenience. That's a major technological breakthrough for the country." The President also outlined his plan to reduce the country's dependence on other countries for fuel in his State of the Union Address and he reiterated it after the meeting with the Big Three's chief executive officers. "If you want to reduce gasoline usage, like I believe we need to do so for national security reasons, as well as for environmental concerns, the consumer has got to be in a position to make a rational choice," says the President.
He also expressed his gratitude towards the three biggest U.S. automobile maker saying, "I appreciate very much the fact that American automobile manufacturers recognize the reality of the world in which we live and are using new technologies to give the consumers different options."
President Bush also urged the Congress to support his initiative toward energy independence and environmental protection. "I would hope that Congress would move expeditiously on our plan to reduce gasoline usage by 20 percent over the next 10 years. It's in our national security interest that we do this, it's in economic security interest we do it, and all at the same time, it will help us be better stewards of the environment," says Bush.
This is in connection with the request for funding of research on the production of ethanol which is now pending approval from the U.S. Congress. The funding is necessary to explore more ways to efficiently and less costly produce ethanol from sources other than corn. According to the President, currently, most of the ethanol being produced in the United States comes from corn. The fuel produced by the alternative fuel industry in the U.S. allows vehicles to run without producing huge amount of greenhouse gases and this is, of course, better than a vehicle equipped with a system.
