92 percent of government fleet runs on gasoline; switch to flex-fuel meant bigger engines, more emissions, says Washington Post

The Washington Post ran an article detailing how the Federal Government’s investment in more than 112,000 alternative fuel vehicles, primarily flex-fuel vehicles, has increased rather than decreased emissions. The article says that, because the Federal Government purchased flex-fuel vehicles before E85 or other high-ethanol fuels were available, and  because E85 stations have not materialized on a national basis, 92 percent of flex-fuel vehicles purchased by the government still run on conventional gasoline.

The Post wrote that, because flex-fuel vehicles generally featured larger, less fuel-efficient engines than the vehicle engines they replaced, emissions actually increased marginally under the EPAct program that was designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

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