A small western Iowa town now has the first “blender” gas pump in the state. The new pump is located at the Galva-Holstein Ag fuel station south of Galva near the Highway 20 interchange.
The company’s energy department manager, Gary Brosamle, says the pump blends ethanol and regular gasoline to give drivers a choice of regular unleaded, a 10-precent mix of ethanol and gas (E-10), a 30-percent mixture of ethanol and gas (E-30) or E-85.
Brosamle thinks motorists will like the alternative fuel choices. He says they’ve already moved 175,000 gallons of E-85 at the site since spring 2005. “And for being right outside of Galva, where the population is only 350 people, we’re excited about that,” Brosamle says. Brosamle says each type of blended fuel comes out of a different hose on the same pump, so there’s no worry of getting the wrong mix in your car.
Brosamle says he believes this is a practical way of offering a higher-blend level of gas, and says the installer has 41 other blend pumps yet to install in Iowa, Minnesota and South Dakota. He says his company plans to install two more blender pumps this fall.
The E-30 blend has become popular in the past year in South Dakota and Minnesota, and Brosamle says it’s a nice mid-range fuel he expects to catch on in Iowa. The pump price for E-85 is currently priced $2.80 cents, while E-30 is priced at $3.38 in Galva.
The Iowa D.N.R. says the average price for E-10 in the state on August 18th was $3.54 a gallon. For more information on the blended fuels, visit the Galva-Holstein website .
AUDIO: Radio Iowa’s Dar Danielson report on blender pump. :51 MP3