A top Republican legislator says it’s time for new state incentives to promote corn-based ethanol fuel. The Governor’s idea of giving every licensed driver in Iowa a 10-dollar coupon to buy ethanol is going nowhere. House Republican Leader Christopher Rants of Sioux City is touting two ideas he says will do more to spur ethanol use. Rants says Iowans who buy vehicles which use ethanol in a higher concentration known as E-85 should get a five-hundred dollar tax credit from the state. E-85 is 85 percent ethanol compared to the 10 percent used in most ethanol-blended gas.And Rants suggests the state provide a 75-hundred dollar “per pump” incentive to gas stations that begin dispensing the E-85 blend. He says it would use more ethanol and more corn. Rants says the more ethanol used, the cheaper the cost of the gas mixed with it.Rants says there are several vehicles on the market which run on E-85.Rants drives a Dodge Caravan which burns the 85 percent ethanol blend, and he says it’s between five and ten cents cheaper, per gallon. Only a dozen gas stations in Iowa offer the special blend, though.
