...back to chemistry class...hopefully, this time sober.
http://www.startribune.com/local/377486 ... DCinchO7DU
Stalled Minnesota school buses fuel biodiesel mandate debate
...yet...as Bush heads out the door, the interior department finally releases their long awaited proposal for drilling realignment and expansion... http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/uswo ... ovider=rss ...just in time for incoming Sec. of Interior Salazar to announce, he intends on reinstating some of the drilling bans... http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/a ... rcID=42016 ...or delaying lease development pending long term studies on water usage for oil-shale extraction...http://www.postindependent.com/article/ ... o%20expireExtreme cold and biodiesel fuel don't mix, as school districts and truckers found during the recent cold snap.
Bloomington Public Schools closed Friday after biodiesel fuel required to be used under state law gelled in about a dozen school buses due to subzero temperatures. The problem left some students at bus stops on Thursday morning for as long as 30 minutes or sitting on stalled buses.
In the south metro area, the Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan School District started school two hours late Friday after a similar problem with biodiesel fuel in about a dozen buses the day before.
...Much of the diesel fuel sold in Minnesota contains 2 percent biodiesel fuel, under legislation enacted in 2002 but that didn't essentially take effect until 2005 because of a production lag.
The requirement was adopted after a tough fight at the Legislature, with soybean farmers pushing for the mandate and trucking and other transportation industry groups in opposition, citing concerns about costs and performance of biodiesel.
The state has mandated the biodiesel blend increase to 5 percent starting this spring. Minnesota is one of three states, besides Oregon and Washington, that have biodiesel mandates.
Yay!!!!! Eight more years of liberal obstructionist politics!!!!!Ken Salazar, who had slipped the oil shale ban into a spending bill passed last year, said on Wednesday that he might propose a requirement that before any leases may be issued there needs to be “quantification” of the water that is going to be used for oil shale development.
“That ought to be made a precondition of any Department of Interior action with respect to the issuance of those leases,” Salazar said. “I have lots of ideas with the aim in mind that I will protect Western Colorado against the potential ravages from commercial oil shale development.”
...Colo. Gov. Bill Ritter reacted strongly to what he called the White House’s “latest efforts to prematurely move forward with commercial oil-shale development in Colorado.”
In a letter to President Bush and U.S. Interior Department Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, Ritter wrote for them to “work with us, not against us, and together we can meet this nation’s energy needs and craft a responsible energy future for America.”
While America collapses.
...yet more wretched fiscal mismanagement.
