ENVIRONMENT-BRAZIL: Natural Gas Fuel Approved

By Mario Osava Reprint | | Print |

Mario Osava

RIO DE JANEIRO, Jan 15 1996 (IPS) - Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso authorised the use of natural gas as vehicle fuel Friday, a measure which will reduce pollution in the big Brazilian cities and broadening South American energy integration.

The decree will offer new opportunities for investment and for imports of natural gas from Bolivia, Argentina, Venezuela and maybe Peru, said Cardoso after the ceremony.

Natural gas fuel is known to be far less contaminating than petrol, but was previously only used in taxis, buses and transport companies. It can now be used in all motor vehicles.

According to authorities and fuel distributors, there are only some 14,000 gas-powered vehicles in the country, but they estimate this figure will swell to 150,000 by the year 2000.

The cost of the fuel will help persuade consumers, with prices at half those of petrol, and it also has benefits for society as a whole.

The gas fuel burns more efficiently than petrol, leaving less carbon monoxide and other pollutants in the air, and its cleanliness increases the useful lifetime of the motor.

Gabriel Murgel Branco, director of vehicle technology in the Environmental Cleansing Technology Company (CETESB), the environmental authority of Sao Paulo, said pollution would be reduced by 30 percent with the use of the new fuel.

However, if the conversion is poorly carried out, gas emissions can triple, warned the expert, stressing that the workshops converting engines to the new fuel would need to be subject to controls.

Until now, all the gas vehicles in Brazil were initially built for petrol, fuel-alcohol or diesel, and later converted.

Following the decree, the large Brazilian vehicle producers announced plans to equip all new units with natural gas burning mechanisms as well as the traditional fuel technology.

Sao Paulo is perhaps the city which most needs the change as air pollution there is a serious public health problem, especially in winter when the lack of winds means the gases and particles settle over the city.

The city has a permanent measurement system to prevent the life- threatening pollution levels of the seventies from recurring. When peak levels are reached vehicular transport and industrial production are suspended in certain neighbourhoods.

Obviously the economic and environmental benefits of the new fuel could make a big impact in this city, though there are a few teething problems to overcome.

Firstly, at the moment few fuel outlets sell the new gas – in fact there are only 41 nationally, half of which are in Sao Paulo.

And secondly, the conversion of a petrol station in order to supply gas costs around 500,000 dollars, too much for most of these businesses, said president of the National Federation of Fuel Retailers, Gil Siuffo.

Siuffo said this meant that in the short and medium term, the Cardoso declaration will have little effect as vehicles will have to be equipped for two types of fuel, something which creates technological problems.

A vehicle conversion costs around 3,000 dollars, making it economically viable only after 70,000 kilometres have been run up on the clock. This would make it more suitable is for taxi drivers and delivery drivers humanos mediante el uso de helicopteros altamente desarrollados que apuntaron sobre grandes zonas del inhospito sudeste de Turquia.

Tres ofensivas contra el PKK realizadas en octubre pasado en la region montanosa de Tunceli comprendieron el uso de helicopteros para el transporte de tropas y el abastecimiento de equipos de busqueda y destruccion en el area. Diecisiete poblados kurdos fueron arrasados por el fuego de unidades Black Hawk.

Aparatos Super Cobra bombardearon presuntos refugios, mientras los Black Hawks fueron empleados para transportar a los prisioneros fuera del campo de batalla con el fin de interrogarlos.

Entre los prisioneros, segun Amnistia, se contaba Ali Karaca, un molinero del poblado de Ibnimahmut, capturado en Tunceli. Fue encontrado mas tarde en un hospital, con heridas en la cabeza y en estado de coma. Nunca se recupero.

Los helicopteros bombardearon varios asentamientos de la provincia de Sirnak, lo que ocasiono la muerte de 36 civiles, entre ellos, por lo menos, 17 ninos, segun Amnistia.

Los mandos militares dijeron luego que el ataque fue accidental, pero los pobladores sostuvieron que el motivo fue su negativa a integrar las milicias paramilitares que combaten al PKK.

Varios investigadores de Amnistia fueron expulsados del sudeste de Turquia. Algunos activistas por los derechos humanos y periodistas en la zona de conflicto fueron elegidos como blanco de ejecuciones extrajudiciales y sufrieron tortura y asesinato.

Amnistia recomendo a Estados Unidos, Francia y Rusia, paises que proveen helicopteros a Turquia, que se cinan a sus obligaciones internacionales, en particular los Principios sobre Transferencia de Armas Convencionales de la Organizacion para la Seguridad y la Cooperacion en Europa (OSCE).

Estos principios establecen que los paises firmantes deberan “evitar ventas que puedan ser usadas para la violacion o supresion de los derechos humanos o libertades fundamentales”. Turquia y todas las naciones que le suministran helicopteros a su ejercito son miembros de la OSCE. (FIN/IPS/tra-eng/mom/rj/mj/ip- hd/96) ITEM CLOSED