Access to ethanol-blended fuels continues to increase in Indiana
July 20, 2016
BY Indiana Corn Marketing Council
Sixteen ethanol blender pumps will soon be available at gas stations in Allen County and LaPorte County thanks in part to funding from Indiana Corn Marketing Council.
ICMC and the Indiana Office of Energy Development recently announced more than $331,000 will be shared among two grantees—Lassus Brothers Oil Inc. and Family Express Corp.—for the third round of the Hoosier Homegrown Fuels Blender Pump Program.
“We continue to work toward our goal of making ethanol blended fuels a viable fuel option for Hoosiers throughout the state,” said David Gottbrath, ICMC president and farmer from Washington County. “We are excited to have Lassus Brothers Oil Inc. and Family Express Corp. partnering with us through HHF to meet that goal.”
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Lassus Brothers Oil of Fort Wayne, Indiana, and Family Express of Valparaiso, Indiana, plan to install a total of 16 blender pumps, allowing for the expansion of higher ethanol blends in areas of Indiana where blends of E15 and E85 are limited or unavailable.
HHF is part a national grant partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Services Agency that aims to expand the availability of higher ethanol blends in areas of the United States where blends of E15 to E85 are limited or not available. HHF is also in partnership with the Indiana State Department of Agriculture, Greater Indiana Clean Cities and South Shore Clean Cities who assisted in scoring the applications and provided outreach support.
ICMC—the state corn checkoff—has committed more than $440,000 in matching funds with the goal of adding 110 pumps offering E15 and E85 across the state. OED received $895,000 from the USDA’s Biofuel Infrastructure Partnership to put toward the HHF program. More than $1 million was distributed during the first two rounds of grant announcements.
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ICMC has been working with fuel retailers across the state to help increase the number of pumps offering ethanol-blended fuels for five years. With the HHF program, ICMC saw an opportunity through the USDA’s Biofuel Infrastructure Partnership to leverage state corn checkoff funds and partner with other organizations to expand ethanol’s availability to the roughly 450,000 Hoosiers throughout the state who drive Flex Fuel Vehicles.
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