It isn’t the ethanol proponents that will sabotage diesel adoption. It is the California Air Resources Board, and the smirking chimps elected in four northeastern states who think they’re proving something by copying the CARB emissions standards.
The CARB diesel emission standards are in excess of even the EU’s emissions standards, especially on NOx. The Californians, you see, have this obsession with smog, and they blame diesel engines for their smog. What they can’t seem to understand is that there was smog when there were only a dozen white men in southern California (missionaries at that) and the only source of smog was the fires of Indians in the area. There was smog even then. The simple fact is that if they want to be rid of the smog, they’d better start knocking down the mountains east of the coast to let the inversion layer break down.
Yes, but widespread adoption of diesels would threaten the ethanol racket, so I would expect farm-state Congresscritters to vote against pro-diesel measures.
As far as the four east coast states, well screw em too if they don't want a diesel powered vehicle!
Seems to me that if really efficient cars were available in mass, with obvious advantages of fuel mileage, longivity, low emissions, the availability of such vehicles in 49 states would make the loss of sales in California unimportant to the manufacturers.