September 19, 1979
Page 25220
Mr. PRESSLER. Mr. President, I am aware that the Senate Budget Committee in its markup of the second resolution adopted a motion by Senator METZENBAUM to add to the originally proposed outlays for the energy supply mission. As the official record for the markup indicates, the committee adopted the distinguished Ohio Senator's motion to add $300 million to 1981 outlays and $600 million to 1982 outlays for the energy supply mission within the energy function in order to permit additional energy conservation and gasohol efforts. I voted for the motion which incorporated the higher Metzenbaum motion figures.
So, Mr. President, the purpose of my offering this amendment is to further bolster the Senate's commitment to the gasohol energy alternative. With substantial additional funds soon to be made available for more expensive and exotic synfuels technologies we must insure that incentives for gasohol production are not lost in the shuffle.
My amendment would go a step beyond the Budget Committee's endorsement of gasohol in the committee's adoption of higher energy supply outlay numbers by providing specific outlays increase for that function so that more gasohol research and production could go forward.
It would help the gasohol effort immensely if today on the Senate floor we could get some indication that the Senate-House conference on the budget resolution would include express recognition of the gasohol synfuel alternative.
I am afraid much of the money in the intended various energy programs for synthetic fuels and elsewhere will not sufficiently be turned toward research and development of fuel alcohol and gasohol.
That was the purpose of my amendment. That is the intention.
EXHIBIT 1
[From the Washington Post, Sept. 18, 1979]
BRAZIL PROMOTES PURE ALCOHOL ALTERNATIVE FUEL
Rio DE JANEIRO.— Brazilian President Figueiredo now rides to all official functions in a Ford LTD limousine that runs on pure alcohol. The other day he was photographed driving an alcohol-powered Beetle on the streets of Brasilia.
Within months, the first chief of state to use an official car running on pure alcohol will be joined by thousands of his fellow citizens. Gen. Figueiredo and the head of the Brazilian Association of Automobile Manufacturers are scheduled to sign an agreement Wednesday aimed at putting 1.7 million alcohol-powered cars on the highways over the next five years.
The accord is the latest step in the government's ambitious, long term plan to end dependence on costly imported oil. Brazilian cars already run on gasohol, a mixture of 20 percent alcohol with gasoline and the ultimate aim is for pure ethyl alcohol to be the basic auto fuel.
Under the agreement, auto manufacturers in Brazil are to produce at least 230,000 alcohol powered vehicles a year for the domestic market, beginning in 1980. (Another 500,000 existing cars are to be converted.) Signatories to the accord include the local subsidiaries of General Motors, Ford, Volkswagen and Fiat.
"What Brazil has come up with here is a way of saving the automobile," says Prof. Jose Goldenberg of the University of San Paulo, former president of the Brazilian Society of Physicists. "When the world's oil supplies run out, the car will be obsolete unless an alternative fuel supply is ready."
The Brazilian government is to guarantee that production of sugar cane, which when refined yields the alcohol, will be sufficient to supply the cars. It is to replace its entire official fleet of conventional cars with alcohol-powered autos.
The alcohol program has been a top energy priority here since the 1973 oil crisis. Rising prices and the oil supply crunch triggered by the Iranian crisis have accelerated the Brazilian drive for energy independence.
Brazil currently has six million cars and a growing industry that produces more than a million vehicles annually. Government statistics have predicted that the 1979 oil import bill will reach $7.5 billion.
As a result of the government drive, ethyl alcohol output here already has jumped from163 million gallons in 1975 to an estimated 910 million gallons this year — more than total alcohol consumption in the rest of the world.
The Brazilian goal is to produce at least 2.75 billion gallons a year by 1985. To achieve that target, the government program calls for investments of $11 billion in distilleries: and other alcohol-related projects through 1984.
"Brazil is the only country in the world that has already made official an alternative energy program based on alcohol,"said General Motors to Brazil President Joseph Sanchez. "The government has reacted in a realistic and rational manner," to the energy crisis.
At General Motors' plant in Sao Paulo state, the first 252 alcohol-powered vehicles rolled off the assembly line last week destined for a government agency. Early next year, GM will begin mass producing its alcohol-powered vehicles for the public.
GM says its new motor, developed in Brazil by an international technical team and capable of running on gas, alcohol or a combination of the two, is the first "multi-fuel" engine. To restructure its Brazilian operation and expand production, GM plans to invest $500 million here during the next four years.
By 1982, GM expects to be manufacturing 330,000 of its multifuel engines at the revamped Brazilian plant. Of that total, all but 80,000 will be earmarked for export to Britain, Japan, West Germany and Australia.
A General Motors spokesman here said, however, that the company has "no plans at present" to export the four-cylinder multi-fuel engine to the United States or to manufacture it at the company's parent plant in Michigan.
"Theoretically, there are no barriers that would prevent us from selling or making our line of alcohol fueled vehicles and engines inthe U.S.," said Jairo Lottle of GM. "It's just not in our plans at the moment."
Ford in Brazil, which later this month will begin mass producing an alcohol-powered version of the LTD and two other models in its 1980 line, also says that it does not envision exports to the United States in the near future. Production is aimed at meeting local demand first.
"At this point, it doesn't depend as much on us as the Brazilian government,"said engineering and technical chief Mauro Borghetti. "If they provide the infrastructure that assures there will be enough alcohol to go around, we'll make the cars."
To encourage consumers to switch to alcohol-powered autos, the government has already instituted a series of incentives. Credit restrictions and taxes have been eased for purchasers of alcohol-fueled vehicles and as of Jan. 1 drivers of cars running on pure alcohol will be exempted from the current prohibition on weekend fuel sales.
The biggest boom to users of alcohol comes in filling the car's tank. Government decrees have established a pump price of 87 cents a gallon for alcohol — as opposed to $1.86 a gallon for regular gasoline and $2.98 for high-test. The government says the cost of producing the alcohol is 70 cents per gallon.
Inventive public relations exercises also have been undertaken in an effort to win public confidence. On Sept. 7, Brazil's independence day, 170 race drivers participated in an alcohol only auto race, held at the same Rio autodrome where the annual international Grand Prix takes place.
"I see nothing but advantages to be gained from using alcohol as a fuel," said the winning driver, Arthur Bragantini, after the race. "The engines perform better, and since the motor temperature is lower, last longer."
Similar conclusions were reached by participants in a road test sponsored earlier this month by the automotive magazine Quatro Rodas. Results of the four day trial indicated that "the performance of alcohol-powered cars is as good as, if not better, than that of conventional automobiles."
Involved in the 62,000 mile road test were the Volkswagen "Passat" (Dasher) and Fiat's147 model. Average mileage for, the participating cars was 27.3 miles per gallon.
Such figures lead some Brazilians to think they have found, if not an answer to the energy crisis, at least a partial solution. Already, delegations from the Philippines, Africa and Central and South America have sent delegations to investigate possibilities of adapting their auto fleets to run on alcohol with Brazilian-designed technology.
Mr. PRESSLER. I ask to withdraw that amendment at this time.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator has the right to withdraw the amendment, and the amendment is hereby withdrawn.
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, I yield myself time to respond to Senator PRESSLER.
I would like to thank the Senator for withdrawing his amendment and for his assistance and continued support as a member of the Senate Budget Committee.
As he has indicated, the role of gasohol as a commercially viable synthetic fuel has been recognized and greatly expanded during the most recent energy crisis. Also, as stated in his remarks, the Senate Budget Committee during markup of its second budget resolution recognized the role of gasohol, along with other programs, in the supply and conservation of energy. I would like to indicate that I am in agreement with his statement and to also add that the addition of $22.5 billion in budget authority and $0.4 billion in outlays to Mission I in fiscal year 1980 was intended to accommodate whatever mix of programs the House and Senate agree upon be that synfuels, conservation, solar, and/or gasohol.
Mr. PRESSLER. Mr. President, I greatly appreciate the courtesy of both our distinguished chairman of the Budget Committee, the Senator from Maine, the ranking Republican member, the Senator from Oklahoma, and Senator PACKWOOD, for their outstanding leadership in this area.
They are to be commended for the masterful job of guiding this enormous and important piece of legislation through the committee and for his stewardship on the floor. His remarks on this subject go far in advancing the development of an alcohol fuels program.
Mr. President, so long as the record is clear that the Budget Committee has made provisions for gasohol in the 1981 and 1982 budget outlays, I have withdrawn my printed amendment. I appreciate these assurances that fiscal year 1980 synthetic fuels and energy conservation funds will also be available for gasohol purposes. Gasohol must be given its fair share of funds in fiscal 1980.
Mr. MUSKIE. I thank the Senator.