The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, which includes Detroit’s Big Three, Toyota and seven other automakers, have written a letter to Congress urging more research before approving ethanol blends like E12 or E15. That idea “is premature, and since EPA has never allowed conventional vehicles to use higher ethanol blends, the research on their potential impacts on vehicles not designed, tested or warranted for their use is incomplete,” the letter said.

This past spring, a group representing ethanol producers filed an emergency request with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, asking EPA to waive its standard data-gathering process for transportation fuel changes and make E15—a 50% increase from E10 blends—a standard transportation fuel. Four Midwest congressmen followed up by introducing legislation requiring the EPA to accept the request. The original emergency waiver request to the EPA requires the agency to deliver a decision by December 1.

To respond to the ethanol industry initiatives, automakers have joined with the oil, ethanol, small engine, marine, outdoor power equipment and motorcycle industries to create a task force, along with the Energy Department and EPA, to assess different blends. Dubbed the “midlevel ethanol blends research coordination council,” the group says Congress needs to allocate money to fund testing. In its recent letter to Congress, automakers asked it to set aside $17 million “to complete the necessary vehicle testing.” Ethanol proponents have repeatedly referred to a small, unscientific study released last year, covered extensively here at powerETblog, in which newer cars performed OK on E15 blends, but left no doubt that millions and millions of older cars and small engine products are subject to major engine failures with higher ethanol blended fuel.

Consumers Digest has named eleven Husqvarna outdoor power products as Best Buys in the May/June 2009 and September/October 2009 issues.

A Consumers Digest Best Buy is defined as a product that offers the most value for a given amount of money. A Best Buy is also a nationally available product, identified as one that merits special attention from consumers based on its combination of performance, ease-of-use, features, durability, warranty, efficiency, styling, and maintenance and servicing requirements. On average, a Consumers Digest Best Buy rating is awarded to 3% of the competing models in any given product category, according to the publication.

Kwik Products Inc. (KPI), an Arizona based manufacturer and distributor of easy load trimmer heads and trimmer line, has been acquired by Echo Inc. of Lake Zurich, Ill.

KPI will continue to operate out of Phoenix, Ariz. as an independent company, led by current president, Fernando Iacona. The company has served the power equipment industry with trimmer heads and line for 12 years.

Echo Inc. is a leading manufacturer of professional-grade, high-performance hand-held power equipment for commercial and residential use.

The Outdoor Power Equipment Institute (OPEI) has announced a new educational outreach program, developed to teach third through fifth grade students the science behind their own yards.  The science-based program includes worksheets for science experiments on photosynthesis and seed starting, games, bookmarks and a poster contest to spur ideas and creativity on how kids and their families can create and save greenspaces in their community. The program also features a web site and blog by the program’s “spokesperson,” TurfMutt. TurfMutt’s real name is Lucky, a once-homeless canine who is “Out to Save the Planet – One Yard at a Time.”

Agriculture and road maintenance equipment maker Alamo Group Inc. has agreed to acquire attachment, mower and power sports manufacturer Bush Hog LLC in an all-stock transaction. CC Industries Inc., owner of Bush Hog, will receive 1.7 million shares of Alamo Group stock valued at $23.6 million. The deal is expected to close in 90 days.

The Alamo Group is based in Seguin, Tex., and produces a variety of road and street maintenance equipment and agricultural attachments under multiple product names. Once the deal is complete, Bush Hog, based in Selma, Ala., will become part of Alamo Group’s North American Agricultural Div. and continue manufacturing operations at Selma.

In its 2008 fiscal year, Bush Hog had $160 million in revenues.

Maruyama has announced an agreement with JET Equipment & Tools, Ltd. of Burnaby, BC. JET will distribute the complete line of Maruyama professional power equipment in Canada’s Western provinces including British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, the Yukon, and Northwest Territories. JET Equipment has been a supplier in the power equipment market since 1996.

Briggs & Stratton Corp. recently awarded “Distributor of the Year” to Central Power Systems, based out of Columbus, Oh. Bill Reitman, Senior Vice President of Sales & Service for Briggs & Stratton, presented the award to Mike Finn, President of Central Power Systems.

Doug Dougherty, Director of Distributor Support for Briggs & Stratton, stated, “This award recognizes the high levels of service provided in several metrics that we track throughout the year.  Some of the metrics we feel are critical to the success of our organization and are important to our service dealer organization are high fill rates, next day delivery, training and technical support, quality of Territory Sales & Service Managers, successful implementation of factory sales & service programs, and much more.  We mutually set minimum standards and track performance throughout the year with each of our distributors.  I am proud to say that we had several other distributors who excelled this year, and were also deserving of this award.  It is the goal of Briggs & Stratton and the IDN to continually strive to improve and offer world class service support.”

With operations in Columbus, Ohio and Tampa, Florida, Central Power Systems is a member of the Integrated Distributor Network (IDN).

Husqvarna is closing its Husqvarna Outdoor Products division offices in Augusta, Ga. as part of an ongoing global company reorganization that will consolidate operations into five business units:  Supply Chain, Products & Marketing, Sales and Service in Europe and Asia/Pacific, Sales and Service in North and Latin America, and Construction Products. The reorganization was announced in June. Husqvarna Outdoor Products has employed about 100 workers and includes an industrial design center. At the time of the announcement, there was no word on how many employees might be retained or offered to relocate to the new location in Charlotte, N.C.