Forest Service chief: Use trees to power cars

Kimbell proposes using wood- and brush-based ethanol as gas alternative

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Forest Service chief is proposing replacing 15 percent of the nation’s gasoline with ethanol made from wood, while doubling the amount of carbon dioxide emissions absorbed by public and private forests.

“These are ambitious goals, and they would take a concerted national effort to reach,” Forest Service Chief Abigail Kimbell said in remarks prepared for a speech before the Society of Environmental Journalists Friday night in San Francisco.


They also appear contradictory. But such a plan is consistent with President Bush’s goal cutting gasoline use by 20 percent while expanding reliance on ethanol, which is a central part of his energy policy. He has sent Congress a proposal mandating the use of 35 billion gallons a year of “alternative” fuels, mostly ethanol, by 2017.

Kimbell said that “with the technologies now becoming available, we could replace as much as 15 percent of our current gasoline consumption with ethanol from wood — and not just any wood, but wood that is not now being used for other purposes.”

AP