Proposed legislation in the Michigan House of Representatives could require state agencies to start the statewide movement to use alternative fuel.
The proposal, which would amend the Management and Budget Act, would require all motor vehicles purchased or leased by state agencies to be capable of running on an alternative fuel by October.
Republican Rep. Tom Pearce, who introduced the legislation, was unavailable for comment and didn't return calls to The State News on Monday.
Rep. Dave Agema, R-Jenison, who's on the House Appropriations Committee, said he thinks Pearce's goal is to give Michigan an incentive to start manufacturing E85- and biodiesel-capable vehicles.
"He's trying to get Michigan rolling on alternative fuels," Agema said. "He wants the state to be energy-efficient and wants vehicles to have that (wide) coverage."
With the prices of conventional gasoline rising, the cheaper E85 ethanol gasoline has emerged as a popular alternative fuel.
Besides being cheaper, ethanol also burns cleaner, is completely renewable and is domestically produced, according to the National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition's Web site.
E85 is a mixture of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent conventional gasoline, the Web site said.
During her State of the State address, Gov. Jennifer Granholm announced the state would have 1,000 new ethanol and biodiesel pumps by 2008.
The state Department of Environmental Quality, or DEQ, supports legislation that promotes mainstreaming alternative fuel, said Robert McCann, a DEQ spokesman.
"We're certainly supportive of ideas that will increase the use of alternative fuel vehicles," he said. "We already have a number of ethanol-capable vehicles, as well as some hybrid vehicles, so we're certainly supportive of those kinds of efforts."
Alternative fuel is capable of being a cheaper alternative to conventional gasoline, while reducing the country's dependency on foreign oil, said Brian Ritchie, dean James Madison College.
"(Alternative fuel) certainly has the potential," Ritchie said. "So much of this depends on demand and moving past corn, and I certainly think it has the capacity to do that in the future. But it certainly depends on a lot of other variables."
The movement proposed by the legislation is a good way for the state to switch to alternative fuel, he said.
"I think that whether this will be successful in the long-term depends on whether we are able to look into new types of technologies," Ritchie said.
