Drivers who pull into the Freeborn County Cooperative Oil station on Clark Street for a fill up have a new fuel option that could be good for farmers, the environment, and their own pocketbook.

Thursday, February 01, 2001

Drivers who pull into the Freeborn County Cooperative Oil station on Clark Street for a fill up have a new fuel option that could be good for farmers, the environment, and their own pocketbook.

Ethanol producer Exol and Freeborn County Cooperative Oil Wednesday announced the station would sell E85, an 85-percent ethanol blend that can be used in many new vehicles.

&uot;We’re excited to have E85 in Freeborn County,&uot; said Tony Simpson, General Manager of Exol. &uot;We’ve wanted to do this for a long time. It’s taken a lot of people and a lot of work.&uot;

E85 can be used in all flexible-fuel vehicles. As an alternative to conventional gasoline, E85 has a lot of benefits, Simpson said.

&uot;It burns cleaner and hotter,&uot; he said. &uot;It’s a more clean fuel. It produces much better emissions.&uot;

E85 reduces tailpipe pollution by 25 percent over regular gasoline, and greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 40 percent, said Tim Gerlach, Director of outdoor pair programming for the American Lung Association of Minnesota.

The American Lung Association of Minnesota will help Exol and Freeborn County Cooperative Oil Services promote the use of E85 in the area, Gerlach said.

Not only does E85 reduce emissions, the ethanol doesn’t contain the toxic components of gasoline, reducing the release of benzene, toluene, and xylene into the environment by 85 percent, Gerlach said. It also degrades quickly in water, making gasoline spills and leaks less environmentally threatening.

&uot;We’re involved at the state level because of the air quality aspects of the fuel,&uot; Gerlach said. &uot;We also recognize the economic benefits to Minnesota.&uot;

Minnesota has 15 ethanol production plants, more than any other state, Gerlach said.

E85 tends to be cheaper than conventional gasoline, Gerlach said. When the pump opened Wednesday, E85 cost $1.52 per gallon, ten cents cheaper than the 10 percent ethanol blend.

&uot;We’ve supported ethanol since it just started,&uot; said Gary Newman, Petroleum Manager for Freeborn County Coop Oil. &uot;We feel this is just another step.&uot;

How much of the blend is sold will depend on how many flexible fuel vehicles are on the roads, he said.

&uot;How many vehicles are out there on the road, I have no idea,&uot; he said.

If the demand is great, Freeborn County Coop will look into adding E85 pumps to other stations as well.

&uot;We’re going to see how this goes,&uot; he said. &uot;We have other locations in Freeborn County. It depends on the vehicles, what the value is. We may have to change more over (to E85) in the future.&uot;

&uot;Minnesota is at the very forefront of E85 nationally,&uot; Simpson said. &uot;There are 52 stations in the state of Minnesota.&uot;

Nationally, between 100 and 110 stations offer E85, he said.

The E85 pump drew a lot of interest at the Clark Street station Wednesday, said Manager Nikki Steven.

&uot;They just ask questions and I just explain it as good as I can,&uot; she said.

Steven said she will keep a good eye on the pumps for a while, to make sure everyone knows about E85, and that they don’t try to put it in anything but a flexible fuel vehicle.

&uot;We’d love to work with any other fuel providers that would like to have E85,&uot; Simpson said.

More information on E85 can be found on the Web at www.exolmn.com, or www.cleanairchoice.org, or by calling the American Lung Association of Minnesota at 1 (800) 642-LUNG.