Dear Friends:

As we inch closer to the conclusion of a century, never has there been more public attention directed to the preservation of our environment.  Key among these concerns is the deterioration of our air quality and the resulting health hazards of air pollution.  This is, however, an area where we can make significant improvements through readily available technologies and common sense practices.

The Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 and the Energy Policy Act of 1992 are causing sweeping changes in the motor fuel business in the United States as they attempt to address mobile source pollutants.  These changes will continue as concerns about carbon emissions and climate change become a higher priority around the world.  The very composition of motor fuels has been affected and there continues to be an increasing emphasis on putting cleaner fuels into the gasoline pool.  One of the most immediately available changes that can be made to gasoline is to increase the oxygen content by adding alcohols and their ether derivatives.  A higher oxygen content allows for a more complete combustion of the fuels and results in significant decreases in a variety of pollutants.  The oxygenated fuels and reformulated gasoline programs of the Clean Air Act will continue to improve emissions in nearly 60 percent of the nation's gasoline.

Ethanol from domestic renewable resources like corn is one immediate asset this country can call on to increase gasoline's oxygen level.  It can also be used in its pure, or "neat," form to displace gasoline and reduce our dangerous dependence on imported oil.  The Clean Fuels Development Coalition and its member companies, which participated in the production of this document,  believe ethanol offers a wealth of benefits to the United States and should be a cornerstone of our nation's energy and environmental policy.  President Bill Clinton echoed these sentiments when he said:

"My Administration is committed to encouraging the production and use of domestically produced renewable fuels.  If our nation is to have a secure, environmentally sound energy supply, we must sustain a diverse domestic energy industry.  Ethanol plays an important role in our nation's effort to build the domestic market for renewable fuels."

With so many alternative fuels being promoted by various groups, however, it is important for legislators, the public and other interested parties to understand the different fuels that are available, how they are made, how they are used and their impact on the environment.  We recognize that a variety of these alternative fuels are required to meet our transportation needs and hope that this edition of Clean Fuels: Paving the Way for America's Future will enable lawmakers at all levels of government to make informed decisions.  In addition, the media, with a responsibility of informing the public, can also be educated on these issues through this document.

Thousands of copies of this document have been distributed.  Cooperation and support for continuing to provide such information has been extended by the Governors' Ethanol Coalition and the U.S. Department of Energy who share the Clean Fuel Development Coalition's goals of developing ethanol and other alternative fuels to their full potential.

We are entering an exciting period in the evolution of motor fuels and all American agriculture can be a major contributor to improving our nation's air quality and energy security by providing the resources to produce clean, renewable ethanol.  These and other alternatives, as part of our energy and environmental mix, can lead the way to a new era of opportunities.