Dirty Green Cars

Oxymoron right? Well, not so much it turns out. The Schwarzenegger administration purchased 1,138 "flex-fuel" vehicles, touting them as a way for California to help kick our dependence on oil. Good idea right? Not, if there is no way to fuel them with ethanol. These cars and trucks spew more pollution in the air when running on regular gas than the fleet vehicles they replaced. The Senate has called hearing for August 15th in response to the Mercury News investigation which disclosed this oversight. Merc:

The fuel needed to transform the vehicles into clean-driving machines is a high-grade blend of ethanol. The problem: Not a single ethanol station is available to the fleet.

"This seems to be a pattern," said Sen. Dean Florez, D-Bakersfield, chairman of the Governmental Organization Committee. "The governor loves to take the time to pose and talk about the greening of California, but very little gets done in terms of doing the hard work."

The administration tried to defend their actions by saying the cars will be in circulation for a few more years and that they "hope the fuel will be available in the near future". Um, it should go without saying that hope won't get you anywhere. Action is needed. There should have been a plan in place prior to the purchase to ensure that ethanol was available for these vehicles. Otherwise, why do more harm to the environment than good? Oh right, news headlines. Duh!