Gas station owners who don’t want to invest in upgrading their facilities to pump E-85 might get an incentive from Uncle Sam. Iowa Senator Tom Harkin is proposing a bill that would provide a tax credit of up to 30-thousand dollars per gas station to outfit them to sell the 85-percent ethanol fuel, which is made from corn.
Harkin says “We need more E-85 pumps all over the United States. Right now we can produce the E-85 but the tax credits are not there to promote that. So my philosophy is to provide the tax credits to get more E-85 pumps, not just in Iowa, but all over the United States.” Harkin says the legislation, which is being co-sponsored by several senators, goes beyond E-85.
Harkin says the second part of the legislation would provide for more flexible fuel vehicles, “and to make sure that we begin to build a fleet of vehicles that can use everything from gasoline to pure ethanol and anything in between.” He calls this “the way of the future.” Iowa is the nation’s top producer of corn — and of ethanol.