President's Alternate-Fuel Plan Would Require More Infrastructure

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resident Bush’s pitch to run more cars and trucks using alternative fuels like biodiesel and ethanol may be hampered by a scarcity of supply, USA Today reported Thursday.

Only about 500 U.S. filling stations in the U.S. sell a specially formulated “E85” ethanol fuel, a mix of 85% alcohol and 15% gasoline, and most of those are located in the Midwest, the newspaper said.

Another potential snag would be that most Americans would be forced to buy a car or light truck equipped with the corrosion-resistant fuel systems, special fuel injectors and coated engine parts capable of burning the fuel, USA Today reported.

Bush said in his state of the union speech Tuesday that the United States was “addicted to oil” and called for more alternative fuel development in an attempt to wean the country from foreign oil imports, particularly from the Midwest.

The president defended the big profits of oil companies such as ExxonMobil, saying they are the result of the market forces and that consumers should not expect price breaks, the Associated Press reported.

Ethanol has found its widest use in Brazil, which adopted programs to encourage its use after oil shocks in the 1970s, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported Thursday.

In that country, ethanol is produced from sugar cane, and the government has made huge investments in infrastructure and incentives to move that country, South America’s most populous, away from petroleum products, news reports said.

Canada is the No. 1 foreign supplier of U.S. oil imports, followed by Mexico and Saudi Arabia. According to the Energy Information Administration, imports are led by Canada at 16.3% and Mexico at 12.3%.

Other non-OPEC suppliers send 24.8% and total OPEC supplies are 43.8%, while Middle Eastern Gulf States, included in OPEC, make up 19% of U.S. imports, EIA figures show.