Iowa fuel retailers who want to offer the E-15 blend of ethanol can now get help through the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association’s infrastructure program.
Association executive director Monte Shaw says it’s a cost-share program where retailers put some money in and get state matching money in return.
In the past, Shaw says the program was associated with a higher ethanol blend. “It’s always been tied to E-85, whether in a blender pump or a stand-alone pump, you had to offer E-85 and it’s worked well,” Shaw says. “But now, with the increasing popularity of E-15, they’ve opened up the program so it can be a stand-alone E-15 pump. We think there’s going to be a lot of interest in that because many of the dispensers out there today, with a relatively inexpensive upgrade kit, can offer E-15.”
Shaw says interested retailers can contact the State Department of Agriculture. “Or go on our website, which is www.IowaRFA.org,” Shaw says. “We have a person that we contract with who knows this program in and out and will help walk the retailers through it, actually fill out the application form for them.” Shaw encourages retailers to take advantage of this program to start pumping E-15 because it’s worked very well in the past.
“If you talk to any of the retailers who put them in, from small stations to large companies, if you give consumers a chance to save 10-cents a gallon with E-15, they often like saving that money. It’s selling really well in the limited number of areas where it’s at.” He says E-15 is a good way to attract new customers. For more information, visit the websites of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association or Iowa Department of Agriculture.
(Reporting by Jerry Oster, WNAX, Yankton)