10/20/Bo
Immediate Release

Santa Clara Countlr Supervisor,

Dom

Cortese, has presented a unique and innoyative

solution to two problems facing Santa Clara County: efficient agricu'ltural production
and growing energ:/ demands

of a large fleet of county buses

and

vehicles,

His

proposal, the Iocal production and use of gasahol.
The problem

of overproduction of cropso the search for crops less vulnerable to

Meditemanean

fruit fly,

proposa'1, according

A

to

There

howevero nany thi:ngs

be a good solution
conrnents Cortese,
The

necessary

be addressed before such

are,

first,

raw

to provide

answers

to the

many questions

the

that will

a plan can be put into action, states Cortese.

that are a'lready

known which

indicate this

to both these problems. In order to effectively

would

produce gasahol,

the four major q'lements of gasahol production must be considered.

ma;erial, is no prgblem rln the agricultural areas of South

The over-pr.oduction

production

of agricultural land, prompted

to Cortese.

feasibility study is

need

and the prpductive use

of

such crops as sugar beets and corn could be

of gasahol. [inancing,

government guaranceed loans and

County.

easily used for the

another major" e]ement, could be obtained through

local p!"ivate investors

Santa Clara Count,v and neighboring San Benito County would provide the solution

the third major element, the eliminati.sn of the by-product. The pulp could
hauied

the

tq nearby =eed lots,

The

final

his

pr"oposal comes

for

be

and used as feed fot^ livestock.

component nec.essary, according

to Cortese, is

where the second

into pldJ, d market for the gasahol. According to

part of

Cortese,

of the gasahoi p!'oduct couJd be consumed by the County bus and vehicle fieets.
It would save the taxpayers money i.n providing fuel for^ those vehicles while making
excellent use 6f;he county agricultural lands, and providing necessary jobs for
7A%

South County.

feasibility study would cost about $40,000, a fiEur.e Cor"tese feels is a good
investment to insure the futur"e of agricultural production in Santa Clara County

The

(None;

10/2A/80

and the production

of a renewable energy source.

in the .agrtcultural

of

is well
aware of their needs, and hopes to address them fr.om a state level. He is running
fbr. the 24tfr Att.nbly Di.strict seat whi.ch covers the southern end of Santa Clara
Cortese, who grew up

County and

all of San Benito County,

t'

corqmunity

Santa Clara County,