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Immediate Release:
Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Nebraska Corn Board contacts:

Randy Klein: 402.471.2676

Nebraska Corn Board supporting national ethanol blender pump campaign

LINCOLN, NE (August 11, 2009) – The Nebraska Corn Board is one of several corn and ethanol organizations across the country that launched a national ethanol blender pump campaign today. The goal is to have 5,000 ethanol blender pumps installed nationwide over the next three years, which will expand fuel choices for motorists and give gas station owners more product flexibility.

“This campaign will help increase the use of clean burning, renewable ethanol by giving the drivers of flexible fuel vehicles more places to fill up with more ethanol,” said the Nebraska Corn Board’s Randy Klein. “It will make the 85 percent ethanol blend, e85, easier for station owners to sell, and allow them to offer ethanol blends beyond the current 10 percent, or e10, standard, should they choose to do so.”

The “Blend Your Own Ethanol” campaign – or BYOethanol (pronounced “bio”) – will offer a single source of ethanol information and technical expertise for petroleum marketers looking to upgrade equipment or begin offering more choices to their customers. By serving as a central clearinghouse for renewable fuels infrastructure incentives, the “BYOethanol” campaign will bring blender pumps to key areas of the country, and from there they will spread as neighboring gas stations see the benefit and want to remain competitive.

The campaign is a partnership between the leading corn-producing states, the American Coalition for Ethanol and the Renewable Fuels Association, and was announced today at the American Coalition for Ethanol annual conference and trade show in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

“This campaign will be successful because it works directly with the petroleum marketer, not paying him to put in a blender pump, but explaining to him why it’s a good business decision, how it will benefit his station, and helping him to access the state and federal incentives that exist,” said Ron Lamberty, vice president of market development for the American Coalition for Ethanol. “If we present petroleum marketers with the facts about why this is a good business decision – and it is a good business decision – they will consider adding blender pumps to their stations.”

Blender pumps are not new to the fuel industry, but are now finding new use with ethanol and e85. A blender pump features two underground tanks, typically one with unleaded and one with e85, and the dispenser blends the appropriate percentages of the two fuels to create any blend of ethanol from zero to 85 percent ethanol. Station owners benefit from product flexibility and by being ready for future renewable fuel blend levels, and consumers benefit by having new choices at the pump like e20 or e30 for their flexible fuel vehicles.

“Blender pumps are the best way to expand the reach of renewable fuels, and it’s time for a national campaign to get this infrastructure in the ground and get consumers the choices they deserve,” said Robert White, Director of Market Development for the Renewable Fuels Association.

Along with the Nebraska Corn Board, the National Corn Growers Association, the Kansas Corn Commission, the Kentucky Corn Promotion Council, the Missouri Corn Merchandising Council and the South Dakota Corn Utilization Council are involved in the campaign. Additional states are expected to join the effort.

“The Nebraska Corn Board was the first state to sign up and back this program, and we’re excited to see it go national,” Klein said. “As the production and use of ethanol expands, we need to make it easier for people to find and use higher blends. This program will help.”

The nearly 200 blender pump locations in the U.S. today can be seen on this map: www.tinyurl.com/ACEblenderpumpmap.

For a location of e85 and ethanol blender pumps in Nebraska, go to the Nebraska Corn Board’s website – www.NebraskaCorn.org – and click on the e85 station map link.

The Nebraska Corn Board is a self-help program, funded and managed by Nebraska corn farmers. Producers invest in the program at a rate of 1/4 of a cent per bushel of corn sold. Nebraska corn checkoff funds are invested in programs of market development, research and education.

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