Car News Articles

“Across government, the vast majority of E85 purchases made with government-issued credit cards don’t register as E85,” FederalTimes.com reports. “One recent study suggests as much as two-thirds of E85 purchases are incorrectly recorded; another puts the figure at 82 percent.” In other words, no one knows how much U.S. tax money is being spent on corn juice. In other other words, the feds are spending hundreds of millions of dollars propping-up the ethanol industry without a clue whether it’s a waste of money or not (hint: it is). Yes, it’s a major SNAFU. “To adjust for discrepancies in alternative fuel reporting, GSA [General Services Administration] in fiscal 2006 began reporting all fuel purchases for E85 vehicles governmentwide as E85 transactions when the cars went to stations that sell E85. But according to the November study… 45 percent of fuel purchases for E85 vehicles actually are gasoline rather than E85, meaning that GSA may be overestimating the amount of E85 purchased. “Our reports to Congress on alt fuels are suspect,” says Marc McConahy of Vista Consultants, who studied the problem for two years for the Energy Department. “and I’m being kind when I say ‘suspect.’” 

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