There are already six E85 pumps dispersed around the Capital region, including two in Lansing and one in Haslett. A partnership between the Clean Energy Coalition (CEC) and the Corn Marketing Program of Michigan (CMPM), is using $165,000 to encourage more distribution.
The program offers $5,000 in incentives to cover the cost to install or upgrade an existing gas pump capable of dispensing E85.
E85 is a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. Upgrading the pumps also would qualify a station owner to take advantage of a federal 50 percent tax credit up to $50,000 and a state 30 percent tax credit up to $20,000.
The CEC is a consortium representing the City of Ann Arbor, the Michigan Energy Office, the University of Michigan (UM) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).
Ross Blodgett’s Mt. Pleaseant-based Blodgett Oil Company already owns five E85 pumps, including the one at 1700 S. Waverly Rd. in Lansing.
His pumps did well when the price of gasoline was $4 a gallon and E85 was closer to $3.50. But now that gasoline is closer to $2, his E85 sales have dropped by 25 percent over last year.
The price of gasoline will definitely go back up again, he says, and the future of E85 will look better.
“But without a well thought out long-term energy policy, the flip flopping prices will continue,” he says, making it very hard to make business decisions.
But there is another fuel. In addition to E85, Michigan consumers have another option that contains ethanol. E10 is a blend of 10 percent ethanol and 90 percent gasoline.
It is the most prominent fuel found in the United States and is in more than 70 percent of Michigan’s fuel, says the CMPM, based in DeWitt. Moves are afoot in Congress to push that 10 percent to 13 or even 15 percent of the fuel supply.
Source: Russ Blodgett, Blodgett Oil Company
Gretchen Cochran, Innovation & Jobs editor, may be reached here.
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