CEO Fritz Henderson said the swift trip through Chapter 11 showed that GM can move fast, and added that GM will work hard to repay trust, not to mention the money committed to the struggling company by the U.S. and Canadian governments.

“Today marks a new beginning for General Motors, one that will allow every employee, including me, to get back to the business of designing, building and selling great cars and trucks and serving the needs of our customers,” said Henderson.

This comes on the heels of Energy Secretary Chu throwing the Obama Administration support behind efforts to spur E-85 development:

U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said in Des Moines Monday that all cars built in the United States ought to be able to run on E85, the ethanol-blended fuel.

But Chu said the idea could face resistance from carmakers, despite the federal government’s financial stake in the beleaguered auto industry.

In fact, manufacturers said that they are already promoting ethanol-friendly vehicles and that the government has no place in design decisions.

Chu suggested that it would cost the industry little to enable all new cars to run on E85, the blend of 85 percent of ethanol and 15 percent gasoline.
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Iowa is the nation’s leading producer of ethanol. The secretary was in Iowa to award the state a share of its federal stimulus money.

As the auto industry restructures Iowa has much to gain from a vehicle fleet that is fueled by E-85.

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Monday morning, President Barack Obama signed two executive orders to spur an economic recovery plan founded upon clean energy and environmental protection. It is a move that is sure to please the many journalists who long ago realized that the success of sustainability goals would ultimately depend on strong financial incentives.

A poll released last week by the Pew Research Center found that addressing the nation’s energy problems ranks sixth among a list of twenty voter concerns, with sixty percent of those polled agreeing that it should be a “top priority” for government. On the other hand, concern for protecting the environment and dealing with global warming has declined precipitously in the last few years, with those issues ranking seventeenth and dead last, respectively. The takeaway message for journalists is that those “stewardship” frames will not be sufficient in terms of galvanizing support for clean energy. In the pursuit of public engagement, the press would be better advised to link sustainability issues to economic growth and “green” jobs.