Bill Nelson: “First of all, alternative fuels and ethanol are the subject of the instant amendment, but I think we have to use our…”

“First of all, alternative fuels and ethanol are the subject of the instant amendment, but I think we have to use our creativity and our technology in order to approach the overall energy crisis. If a terrorist sinks a supertanker in the Straits of Hormuz, which are only 19 miles wide, we are going to see a major disruption in the flow of oil to the industrialized world, and we will have wished we had used our technology and our creativity to reduce our dependence on that foreign oil by doing things that have worked to save our oil consumption in the past, like increasing the miles per gallon of the automobiles we drive. We have the know how to do that. It just amazes me that we have the technology to, for example, produce a car which will go 80 miles per gallon and yet we are still so balled up in our politics that we may not pass an initiative that calls for moderate increases in the fuel efficiency of our nation's automobiles. The modest increases called for by the Kerry-McCain initiative would achieve three goals of particular importance to our nation in this time of war: lessen our dependence on foreign oil, reduce gasoline costs for consumers and protect the environment by reducing toxic air emissions and carbon dioxide emissions, which contribute to global warming. Increasing CAFE can achieve these goals- which are particularly important to our nation's security now that we are in a battle against terrorists around this globe.”