http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17842304/

The dirty secret about clean cars
Automakers push flex-fuel vehicles, get around efficiency standards

By Moira Herbst
Updated: 4:54 p.m. MT March 28, 2007

(snip)

But there's a dirty secret about clean cars. The policies for
flexible-fuel vehicles—those that can run on mixtures of gasoline and
more than 10 percent ethanol—are written in such a way that they result
in a number of unintended consequences. One result is that automakers
gain some leeway in meeting fuel-economy standards if they produce
flexible-fuel cars and trucks. So Detroit's automakers have been pumping
out hundreds of thousands of the vehicles, even though most consumers
have no access to alternative fuels because they're available at only a
fraction of U.S. gas stations.

Here's why that's an issue. Automakers need to meet certain government
standards for the fuel economy of their fleets. For flex-fuel cars, fuel
economy is calculated based on the assumption that their owners use 50
percent gasoline and 50 percent ethanol. But the reality is that just 1
percent of the nation's flexible-fuel vehicles actually use what's known
as E85—85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. The remaining 99
percent are using good old-fashioned gasoline.

The result is anything but green. The more flex-fuel cars and trucks
that are produced, the more gasoline is consumed—dramatically increasing
greenhouse gas emissions and deepening the country's dependence on
petroleum. The Union of Concerned Scientists estimates that without the
policy in place, the U.S. would have burned 4 billion fewer gallons of
gasoline since 1998. "Automakers have an [economic] incentive to sell
cars less efficient than the law requires," says Don MacKenzie, a
vehicles engineer for the Union's clean vehicles program.

Environmental advocates aren't shy about voicing their outrage. "It's a
total scam," says Dan Becker, director of the Sierra Club's global
warming program. "The automakers are trying to shield themselves from
having to make more efficient vehicles. They're avoiding the path to
cutting oil dependence, curbing global warming, saving consumers money,
and ultimately saving Detroit from competitors like Toyota."

The culprit is a 1988 law called the Alternative Motor Fuels Act, which
has been extended through 2008. It gives automakers extra credit toward
meeting fuel-economy standards for making cars that can run on
alternative fuels. It's cheap for automakers to make cars fuel-flexible;
it only costs them about $50 per vehicle, whereas actually meeting
fuel-economy standards (making cars travel more miles per gallon) can be
much more expensive. So in recent years auto companies have been pouring
out flexible-fuel, gas-guzzling sport-utility vehicles without worrying
too much about fuel economy.

(snip)