More Pumps Needed to Deliver Biofuels
by Jan Koninckx (Des Moines Register/DuPont) … With the vast majority of gas pumps only delivering gasoline that is a 10 percent ethanol blend (E10), consumers have been locked out of buying higher blends of renewable fuels. For blends like E15 and E85, there simply aren’t many pumps available. Why? Most gasoline stations are owned by independent operators under tight contracts with the fossil fuel industry. Gasoline station owners only make fractions of pennies on each gallon of gasoline. Their agreements with the fossil fuel industry limit what station owners can offer under the gas companies’ brand names.
While clean air regulation rewards the producers of the gasoline blends for bringing renewable fuels to market, little or none of this reward is shared with the gasoline retail station owners. Therefore the infrastructure to deliver fuels for the 21st century is not being created. And this seems to suit the gasoline producers: They’ve dragged their feet for the last eight years and now threaten the future of this new and innovative American industry. READ MORE