San;[ose Mercury, Tuesday morninS, Actobet 21,

Local

1980

Sec/ion

B

Editorials . Comment . Valley l.og . Obituaries

Board haclcs alcohol fuel proposal for South County
By Susan Yoachum
Staff Writer

Supervisor Dominic Cortese won
enthirsiastic supp0rt from his colleagues MondaY for an alcohol fuel
proiect he proposed as a Political
ilalve for angry South County farmers.
Bv a unanlmous vote, tlte suPervisors-toot the first step toward authotizing a study of Cortese's ambitious
proposal.

If his plan proves feasible, it could
create-a-new market for sugar beets
and coln, which would be converted
to alcohol fuel.
. Cortese, Democratic candidate for
the 24th Assembty District, made the

proposal on the same day that supervisors formally adopted a land-use
plan opposed'by South County farm-

ers. The farmers say t[e new, more
restrictive plan will make them less
able to sell land no longer profitable
to farm.
Cortese said his proposal could improv€ the profitability of thelr land by
living thein two new crops that would
trave a good tnarket. He said there is
now little sugiar beet and corn farming in the South County, and little incentive for it.
The key to creating a market for
the sueai beets and corn is the construction of Plants to eonvert the
crops to alcohol fuel' According to

Cortese, the county's role would be to

sponsor an alcohol fuel production
program to attract federal grants to
be used by the private sector for plant
construction
Dr. Carl Moyer, an alcohol fuel production specialist for Acurex Corp. of
Mountain View, told supervisors that
"the county stands in an unusual and
powerful position to absorb most or
all of the alcohol manufactured" because of its large vehicle fleet,
Although alcoho'l fuel is'more expensive than gasoline - about $1.80
per gallon - Moyer told the board
that it is cheaper in the long run beeause it gives better mibage per gal-

lon.

i

Moyer said another offshoot of the
project would be 'to use cannery

wastes to produce the alcohol fuel.

As the plan began to appeal to oth-

er supervisors, Cortese termed it
"something as important to. the county as Silicon Valley" because it could
crcate a "maJor ilew industry" here.

The board stopped short of autho-

rizing any money.for a feasibility
study. That action is expeeted next
month, when the staff returhs with a
request for study proposals approved
by the board.

Cortese said the initial one-month
study would cost 910,000. If "no major

obstaclbs" surfaced, he said, a sixmonth feasibility study would cost
$30,000.

Although the county would have to

provide the "up-front seed mone
Cortese said, the county could be .-imbursed with federal funds earmarkcd for thc altnrnativc fuel production program.

Supervisor Dan McCorquodale left

open the possibility of a greater coun-

ty role in the alcohol fuel production,
adding that the city of Sinta Clara
'runs its own utility plant.
"But we aren't in any position ydt
to make a determination on who is
going to do it," he said.