EPIC member, ICM, Inc. helped an independent gas station down the street from its headquarters in Colwich, KS install a blender pump. The station will sell unleaded gasoline as well as E10, E20, E30 and E85.
Consumers driving flex-fuel vehicles will have the opportunity to put the different blends in their vehicles while also saving money at the pump. According to The Wichita Eagle, “Prices will reflect the savings from ethanol blends. E10 will be a nickel cheaper than unleaded, E20 a dime cheaper, E30 will be 15 cents cheaper and E85 will be 50 cents less.”
Consumers won’t be the only people seeing a break at the pump. According to ICM President and CEO, Dave Vander Griend, moving the blender pump to the retail location gives the retailer, not the terminal, the benefit of the 51-cent-per-gallon federal blending subsidy. And it gives the retailer a change to save money on ethanol and pass that savings on to the consumer.
To find out more information about the new blender pump, click here to read the Wichita Eagle article.
Your July edition of ethanolnews is now ready.
It is saved as a pdf file which you can download from this link: ethanolnews
In this issue you can read about the flooding in the Midwest, the Energy Independence campaign, PR 2.0 and much more. It’s all in the latest issue of ethanolnews.
Brookings, S.D., July 22, 2008 –VeraSun Energy Corp. (NYSE: VSE), one of the nation’s largest ethanol producers, today announced the startup of its 110 million gallon per year ethanol biorefinery located near Hankinson, N.D. The Hankinson production facility marks the 12th VeraSun biorefinery in operation, increasing the company’s annual operating capacity to 1.2 billion gallons.
“We are pleased to be bringing our Hankinson facility into operation, adding production to our fleet and additional fuel to our domestic supply,” said VeraSun CEO Don Endres. “It is the result of the hard work and dedication of our employees, the community, and the state’s leadership, that we are able to nearly double the ethanol production capacity of North Dakota with its first 110-million-gallon biorefinery.”
Construction on the Hankinson facility began in August of 2006 and was completed in June. It will annually process approximately 39 million bushels of corn and produce about 350,000 tons of distillers grains for livestock feed. VeraSun took ownership of the facility through its merger with US BioEnergy, which became final on April 1. (more…)
The EPA Administrator, Stephen Johnson, will be making his decision in the coming days on the request for an RFS waiver from the Governor of Texas, Rick Perry. The decision must be made by July 26th. I don’t think anyone knows what decision will come from the EPA at this point, but there are really three options. The first is nothing. The EPA will hopefully determine that there is no validity to the Governor’s request, and deny it. This is the best outcome we can hope for in the ethanol industry. However, the other two options are to waive part or all of the current RFS. It is hard to anticipate what would happen if any form of a waiver was to be granted, but I think it is safe to say that lending institutions would run for the hills. Projects that do not have funding secured would be eliminated or severely minimized and the future would become very uncertain as this could set precedence for every year down the road. There would no longer be a security blanket.
Governor Perry’s request has been highly supported by the livestock industry, both in comments and financially. In case you missed it, the Governor received money (more than $100K) in the form of a hefty campaign contribution and also had flights for himself and staff to DC to talk about the waiver paid for by the livestock sector.
EPIC has the task to increase consumer demand for ethanol, with or without the above. We are focused on our mission and continue to work across the country educating consumers and driving demand, while also influencing availability. Rest assured, the staff at EPIC are focused on the ball.
Today, EPIC mascot, Edgar E Man made an appearance at a pump promotion in Grove City, Ohio. Edgar took the time to entertain consumers waiting in line, pump gas and hang out with both an IndyCar Series driver and an American Le Mans Series Driver.
Consumers lined up well before the promotion started to have the opportunity to fill up their cars with ethanol-enriched fuel, which was being sold for $2.99 a gallon for E10 and $1.85 for E85. A few lucky consumers also won tickets to the upcoming races this weekend at the Mid-Ohio Sport Course.
Edgar will make another appearance this weekend when he heads out to the Mid-Ohio Sport Course to mingle with consumers and cheer on Team Ethanol driver Ryan Hunter-Reay in the IndyCar Series and the Twin Corvettes in the American Le Mans Series.
Click here to view photos from today’s event.
Want to get to know Edgar better? Check out his profile on Facebook.
Photo taken by Shawn Payne
ICM, Inc CEO and EPIC board member, Dave Vander Griend appeared on “Countdown to the Closing Bell” on Fox Business on Tuesday, July 15. Dave was on the show to talk about ICM’s new technology for plants and answered general questions about the ethanol industry.
To watch Dave’s interview click here.
*In order to view make sure you click on the button that reads: Click for QuickView.
As part of the Energy Independence initiative that EPIC recently launched, EPIC encouraged members to submit materials to their local media to help spread the message. EPIC assisted Al Jentz with Amaizing Energy, LLC in Denison, IA with submitting an opinion editorial piece to his local paper, Denison Review. Great job Al and all those at Amaizing Energy, LLC for supporting the Energy Independence initiative!
Click here to view the article.
If you would like to submit materials to the local media in your area, EPIC can assist you. Please contact Elizabeth at ehilpipre@epicinfo.org or 402.932.0567 for more information.
It was the first win and an outstanding victory for both Team Ethanol and driver Ryan Hunter-Reay as they took the top spot in Sunday’s Camping World Grand Prix at Watkins Glen, NY.
Hunter-Reay ran in third place for the majority of the day all with the exception of a few laps. After an accident took out drivers Scott Dixon and Ryan Briscoe, he captured the lead from Darren Manning at the drop of the green flag on the first turn of a Lap 52 restart and finished 2.4 seconds ahead by the checkered flag.
“This is big for momentum, and this is only going to be better as we go forward. I’m just so happy to give a win to some of these guys. Like Bobby said, these guys work so hard,” Hunter-Reay said. “It’s unreal. These guys that are getting me spots on pit lane are the same guys that go back home and repair the cars. It’s amazing how hard they work. To give them a win is huge, and to do it with Ethanol on the side of the car is awesome.”
The victory is the first for Rahal-Letterman Racing, which is sponsored by the ethanol industry - including ICM, POET and Fagen, since Michigan in 2004.
The IndyCar Series has been fueled with 100 percent ethanol for two years now, making this victory a definite win for the home team.
Click here to view the full release.
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