| NJ-VORC vs. NJ politicians and bureaucrats. The current NJ legislative session is rapidly coming to an end. Bill A-1403 hasn't gone anywhere since the bill was withdrawn last year for lack of votes. Opponents of the bill were able to stall the vote by raising questions that seemed reasonable to the bill's supporters. Assemblyman Greenwald withdrew the bill and approached us with the opposition's concerns. Assemblyman Greenwald and his legislative assistant brought the two sides together to workout a compromise. Amendments that limited the scope of the bill were added. Then we waited and waited and waited. I finally decided that it was time to act. I contacted Assemblyman Greenwald's office to obtain the bill's status. No one knew what the status was or, for that matter, what form the bill was taking. In fact, the gentleman who we were working with left Assemblyman Greenwald's office and apparently took his files with him. The bill was in limbo or so I thought. I received e-mail from Bill Berenato dated 5/16/01. Bill is A-1403's author and man who got Assemblyman Greenwald to sponsor it. The subject of the e-mail caught my attention. A-1403 (The Ball is starting to roll). The e-mail contained the e-mail to Speaker Collins from Assemblyman George F. Geist, R, NJ Legislative District 4. This e-mail requested that A-1403 be posted for a vote in the current legislative session. I presumed that Assemblyman Geist's e-mail indicated that A-1403 was back on the fast track and also e-mailed the Speaker. I called Assemblyman Greenwald's office and his administrative assistant indicated that Assemblyman Greenwald received a copy of the e-mail to the Speaker. I requested a copy of the bill that would be voted upon. I finally received copies of a marked-up bill a couple weeks later and sent it to Bill for his review. The problem we found is that the mark-up didn't contain the language that we agreed to. Bottom line is that we may not see A-1403 voted upon this legislative session. That is unless we decide to and someone agrees to sponsor the posting of the original bill and demand a vote. This way we will know who to vote for in the fall election. We would need your support to accomplish this. As we go to press, it is our understanding that Mr. Greenwald is supportive of and will support A 1403. Just maybe, maybe, we'll get something worthwhile accomplished ! There are Assembly and Senate bills advocating the removal of MTBE from NJ's reformatted fuels. I, as much as I dislike using MTBE as an oxygenated gasoline, can't support any of these bills. Switching from MTBE to ethanol will only compound our problems. There is no reason to jump from the frying pan into the fire. Changing from MTBE to ethanol will cause at least two problems for NJ motorist. We will lose the cost advantage of the Texas MTBE laced fuel pipe line that now supplies the East Coast. Fuel prices will be significantly higher to offset the transportation cost associated with ethanol fuel blends. Vehicles will also be subject to tighter environmental regulations to offset the additional pollution inherent in summer ethanol blends. Ethanol producers must double production to meet California's oxygenate demand. Ethanol production would have to almost double again to meet NJ motorist fuel needs. The actual grade of fuel must change from winter to summer consumption to meet current reformatted fuel evaporative regulations. This will cause additional fuel shortages as well as further straining our refinery capacity. This is the problem that caused Midwest ethanol users to face fuel shortages and skyrocketing prices in the last two years. The second problem is ethanol fuels evaporate more than MTBE laced fuels. This will create more summer smog days. Any vehicle with bad, loose, or no fuel cap will more than negate the perceived advantage of the summer-oxygenated fuels. NJ hobbyists who own pre-1973 vehicles have an additional problem. Older vehicles will be subject to plugged and eventually ruptured fuel lines. The threat of fire will always be present. Replacement parts that withstand ethanol fuels are not available for these vehicles. Environmentalists will also howl. Additional ethanol plants, fuel blending facilities and possibly fuel refineries will have to be built. Fuel-blending facilities must be added because ethanol blends must be blended locally. NJ farmers and NJ politicians will insist upon building and operating local ethanol plants. Living next to an ethanol plant is like living down wind of a combination of a brewery and pig farm. We can't build a cement plant in Camden; who is going to allow ethanol production? Finally, ethanol is not a renewable fuel. It takes almost twice the energy to produce ethanol then ethanol produces in your engine. That means that we must obtain more natural gas to produce the fertilizers to grow the corn. More gasoline or diesel to run the tractors and trucks to grow and transport the corn and ethanol. It will require massive additions of electrical power generation and transmission lines, as well as their energy source; to ferment the corn or other substance used. We don't have enough available land to grow food and produce our national ethanol needs. If this is not enough to discourage you, I don't know what to say. One last NJ news item. I recently received the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) public meeting notice. They are proposing changes to the State mandated Vehicle Inspection System. The notice is contained within the "droppings". It doesn't substitute the OBD II diagnostic test for the dynamometer test. It does allow those of you who buy your new vehicles outside the state to obtain a vehicle inspection without being inspected. Now for the bad news. The DMV wants to establish a time frame of 45 days if it is to be inspected for only those items that failed the previous test. It also raises the minimum repair cost to $450.00 from its current $200.00 figure. I ran across a quote that I must share with you. Mr. Andrew Card, Mr. Bush's chief of staff, had this to say to reporters who were questioning him about President Bush's stand on the Kyoto treaty. " The emperor of Kyoto was running around the stage for a long time naked and it took President Bush to say, 'He doesn't have any clothes on'". I agree Mr. President. My problem is I am beginning to wonder what your clothes are made of now that You denied California the oxygenate waiver they requested. I never believed that I would be supporting California Sen. Feinstein's position on a national issue. George R. Reinis President; NJ-VORC. |