A senior agency official with the U.S. EPA says they may need another year to determine how blending ethanol in gasoline over the current 10 percent limit would affect vehicles and nonroad equipment.
EPA is working with the Energy Department to try to determine whether “mid-level” blends at 13 or 15 percent will affect emissions controls and engine durability. EPA is under ethanol-industry pressure to allow blends up to 15 percent, especially as the “blendwall” — the point at which the market is saturated at the current 10 percent limit — looms.
Margo Oge, head of EPA’s Office of Transportation and Air Quality, said her agency has been analyzing the issue for years but that more work remains. “We have been working especially closely with the Department of Energy (DOE) to evaluate the impacts of the use of higher blends on the in-use fleet of highway vehicles and nonroad equipment, and hope to complete the testing over the course of the next year,” she said in a statement for a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee panel, which held a hearing on biofuels today. She also noted that DOE is conducting tests on a sampling of newer vehicles to gauge the emissions effects of higher blends.
The 10 percent blend, or E10, is the highest amount that can be blended into most vehicles and equipment, but auto companies are also making flex-fuel vehicles that can run on a much higher blend, up to 85 percent ethanol.
According to 
Virginia Governor Tim Kaine, along with his Cabinet and members of his staff will be visiting a biodiesel plant Thursday as part of the first “Cabinet Community Day” of 2009. The Governor holds four such events each year, visiting eight regions of the state twice over the course of the administration.
The governor will visit 
This summer, General Motors (GM) will begin testing prototypes of their electric flexible fuel Chevrolet Volt. The company is in discussions on its outreach efforts for the 2011 vehicle on how it will be attractive to buyers.
A new certification for commercial labs will help ensure the most reputable biodiesel quality program will be verifying the green fuel. 
It’s named for the Greek phrase for wingless flight and practically slips through air nearly as effortlessly as Lance Armstrong bicycling through France (half the drag of a Toyota Prius). The beauty you see on the left is the battery-powered Aptera 2E… a three-wheeled, two-seater due out this fall.
Wilbur didn’t let me drive the car—it was New York, I guess—but I rode shotgun for enough miles to form an opinion. Like most EVs, it was fairly quiet, though noisier than most, and the potholes and cobblestones set off some rattles. The car was comfortable and felt stable on its three wheels, but a few minutes behind the wheel would have allowed more of a diagnosis.
Growing biodiesel oilseed feedstocks along the nation’s highways… capturing the power of the sun by growing algae for biodiesel production… finding multiple uses for the by-products of biodiesel refining… the U.S. is just scratching the surface of the potential biodiesel holds for this country. Those are just some of the findings of a new report.
Margo Oge, the director of the Environmental Protection Agency’s office of transportation and air quality, submitted written testimony to the committee that said the agency is working with the Department of Energy (DOE) “to evaluate the impacts of the use of higher blends on the in-use fleet of highway vehicles and non-road equipment, and hope to complete the testing over the course of the next year.”
ICM
saying, “Our objective in retaining ICM is to maintain a positive environment ensuring all the plants are kept in top condition.”
Changes are afoot at the