Chanber of Deputies approves initiative to promote ethanol industry in Mexico

In late April, the Chamber of Deputies approved legislation to promote the creation of an ethanol industry in Mexico, but critics are concerned about repercussions on the country's corn and sugarcane production. The ethanol provision in the bioenergy law (Ley de Promocion y Desarrollo de los Bioenergeticos), approved primarily with the support of the governing conservative Partido Accion Nacional (PAN) and the opposition Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI), garnered 243 votes. All other parties, including the environmentally oriented Partido Verde Ecologista Mexicano (PVEM) and the center-left Partido de la Revolucion Democratica (PRD), opposed the initiative but obtained only 127 votes. The bioenergy law is scheduled to go into effect Jan. 1, 2008, but is still open to some revisions and modifications