More ethanol to be sold in NSW

A mandate that two per cent of wholesale NSW fuel supplies should be ethanol-based may not be ambitious, but it would protect Australian jobs, says NSW Premier Morris Iemma.
"We want to do it in a way that is a win for motorists with the fuel, and a win for jobs in NSW," Mr Iemma said as he announced the new standard at a service station in Cremorne, on Sydney's lower north shore.
Regional Development Minister Tony Kelly said the ethanol mandate meant primary petrol wholesalers would need to ensure that ethanol made up a minimum of two per cent of the total volume of their NSW sales.
He said while eight to 10 ethanol plants were planned, with the aim of increasing ethanol content further, existing facilities at Nowra on the south coast would only supply enough for two per cent ethanol.
"It takes at least two years to build another plant ... the last thing that we as a government want to do is import it from Brazil, we want jobs in Australia," Mr Kelly said.
Mr Iemma agreed, saying, "We would end up stimulating jobs and investment in Brazil. We want to do it in a way that creates jobs and investment in NSW."
Mr Iemma said NSW was leading Australia with the introduction of the ethanol fuel standard.
NRMA president Alan Evans, in his capacity as chairman of the NRMA-owned Thrifty car-rental company, announced the company was now taking steps to ensure that where ethanol-blended fuel was available Thrifty cars in NSW would use E10 as their fuel of choice.
For more information click here and read the article in The Age website