Monday will the last day the Environmental Protection Agency will accept public comments concerning a potential switch that would result in all fuel containing 15 percent ethanol.

The EPA began accepting public comments April 21. Growth Energy submitted the request March 6, and the EPA has until December to decide.

According to a press release from Growth Energy, the change to E15 would create more than 3,000 jobs and about $590 million to boost the economy in Minnesota.  

This switch would be a step to reduce the amount of imported fuel, and it would help decrease the dependence on foreign oil, said Rick Mummert, general manager of Poet Biorefining in Glenville.

“Ethanol is just another expansion to the gasoline supply. Why wouldn’t people appreciate buying from someone that is their neighbor? Where again, the dollar stays here and buys additional products locally,” he said.

All fuel in Minnesota is currently E10, meaning it contains 10 percent ethanol, but more and more fuel pumps are being installed where people can choose the amount of ethanol in their fuel.

“Ethanol actually helps to lower the price of gasoline, and what we’d like to see out there is blender pumps where the consumer has the choice to put in E10. … They can push a button and elect to go with E20. Push a button, go with E30. Push a button, go with E40. And it all would be the consumer’s decision, and allow the economics, what does their car operate best on and what is the best price,” Mummert said.

Some of these pumps are located at the Freeborn County Co-op Oil in Albert Lea and in Alden.

Fifteen million bushels of corn are converted into fuel at Poet Biorefining each year, Mummert said. He said that corn is locally produced and keeps fuel money local, rather than sending it overseas.

From a legal standpoint, vehicles can legally only go to E10 fuel, but there have been tests using fuels with higher ethanol content than E10 in vehicles. Mummert also said ethanol is a cleaner burning fuel.

State law requires that all fuel in Minnesota will be E20 by 2012. Minnesota is a state pushing for more renewable energy, and Gov. Tim Pawlenty signed a bill in 2007 to have 25 percent of the state’s fuel be renewable by 2025. A greater use of ethanol fuels is part of that plan.

“We look for Minnesota to continue to lead the way,” Mummert said. “They’ve been very, very aggressive in leading the nation in the development of renewable fuels.”