Oil Industry Enlists Former EPA Official in Methanol Fight

WASHINGTON —  The oil industry is intensifying its attack on a Bush Administration plan requiring the use of methanol, or wood alcohol, in some cars by 1995 to control a growing smog problem in the most polluted cities.

The American Petroleum Institute, which represents the major oil companies, has hired consultant Thomas Austin to speak around the country against replacing gasoline-burning engines with those capable of running on methanol.

Austin, a mechanical engineer and former Environmental Protection Agency official, told reporters Wednesday that his research showed that methanol is no less environmentally harmful than gasoline--plus it is more costly and less safe.

“Methanol is not an inherently clean fuel,” he said. “It is just as dirty as gasoline.”

The oil industry has voiced strong doubts about methanol since Bush in June proposed that 500,000 cars capable of burning methanol be sold by 1995 in cities with the most serious air pollution problems, and that 1 million be sold each year starting in 1997.

The Administration says methanol-burning cars will help reduce the formation of smog because they emit fewer hydrocarbons. It also says increased use of methanol will reduce the nation’s growing reliance on foreign oil used to make gasoline.