Producer Angling for Higher Ethanol Blends - Green Inc. Blog - NYTimes.com

The Renewable Fuels Association, an ethanol industry group, has suggested a 15 percent cap, as have others. But could the engines installed in the conventional car fleet handle the uptick?

“From an engine/vehicle performance point of view, there are no ‘show stoppers’ in going from 10 to 15 percent in a modern vehicle,” said Gregory Shaver, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue University, in an e-mail message. He noted, however, “Ethanol is less energy-dense than gasoline, so I would expect a very modest reduction in the miles per gallon.”

Brett Smith of the Center for Automotive Research was somewhat more circumspect. “Current vehicles could be capable of running E15,” he said in an e-mail message, referring to a 15 percent ethanol-gasoline blend. “According to my sources, E20 would be pushing it, and may require ethanol-capable equipment.”

Australia: "Green" State government puts crocodiles before people's lives

A CROCODILE that killed a man in far north Queensland three years ago was returned to the river by the State Government - which said it had been shot. [Via Greenie Watch]

Russell Cook: Global Warming and local politics

A fairly obscure local race in Arizona may have national implications. One of our Arizona Corporation Commission Republican candidates has apparently won his tight race against a hugely funded Democrat candidate. Of the more than 1.6+ million votes cast for the two, the margin of victory was 462. A conservative majority in the ACC, which regulates our electric utility companies, may single-handedly initiate the debate that never happened on AGW. Only one candidate was needed to accomplish that majority.

Arizona might be able to initiate the debate that Al Gore says is over

An interesting email from Russell Cook below

See my story in American Thinker [above] on how Arizona might be able to initiate the debate that Al Gore says is over.

It's a simple story - To make sure this debate doesn't happen, it appears an attempt was made to get a highly funded pro-Al Gore candidate (with ties to billionaire George Soros??) into our Arizona Corporation Commission, an agency with elected members who regulate our local electric utility companies - and who will decide if a huge cap-and-trade plan is credible or pointless.

Since the pro-Al Gore candidate lost his election, Arizona's Republican legislature leaders and Republican majority in the Corporation Commission can simply ask the WCI planners, Al Gore and the IPCC, "You say humans are causing global warming. Can you prove it beyond a shadow of a doubt?"

It's entertaining to think about: In the case of the eastern/mid-atlantic US states, they accepted the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative's plan with no question of the underlying science whatsoever. If Arizona rejects the Western Climate Initiative's plan, the next 'dominoes' to fall might be Utah and Idaho, rejecting the same plan. Wouldn't that undermine the RGGI to the point of collapse? And if it collapses, how angry would the people living in the eastern/mid-atlantic US states be about their own utility regulators' ability do things right, and their Governors' failure to understand all sides of the issue?