Ethanol Industry to Ask for Iowa Mandate of 10% Blend
(DesMoines Register) The Iowa ethanol industry plans to ask the legislature to pass a bill requiring that all motor gasoline in the state carry at least 10 percent ethanol. Despite being the largest ethanol producer in the U.S., Iowa has never mandated ethanol use in gasoline sold within the state.
But Monte Shaw, executive vice president of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, noted that the percentage of fuel sold in Iowa with ethanol blended in has been stuck around 75 percent while the percentage of ethanol-blended gasoline now stands at 80 percent in the rest of the nation.
“Iowa is lagging behind the rest of the country in ethanol use,” Shaw said to the annual summit of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association. Shaw estimated that the approximately 100 million gallons of ethanol now sold in Iowa would be increased to about 140 million gallons were a state mandate passed.
…Gov. Chet Culver told the annual meeting that an E10 blend mandate is a “step in the right direction.” “This can make a statement about our commitment to biofuels and solidfy our position as a national leader in the green economy,” Culver said. READ MORE and MORE
