Plants, gas stations want incentives

Flex-fuel vehicles multiply, but E85 still hard to find

Austin, Texas – The challenge facing the ethanol industry – and taxpayers – is evident in places such as Austin, 900 miles south of the heart of the nation’s ethanol production.

Only three stations in the fast-growing Austin area, with a population of 1.5 million, sell E85.

Mark Rowe, a manager at a Chevrolet dealership that sells SUVs and Impala sedans that can run on E85, says the flex-fuel vehicles are attracting interest in oil country. “People love burning corn,” he said.

But he isn’t sure how many Chevy buyers will actually fill up with E85 until a lot more places sell it.

The ethanol industry wants more subsidies to get service stations to install pumps and tanks for E85 across the country. E85 is a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline.

Congress is also considering requiring production of more flex-fuel vehicles, but automakers are resisting.

“What’s the purpose of having all these flexible-fuel vehicles on the market if there are no E85 pumps?” asked Coleman Jones, the biofuel implementation manager for General Motors.

Des Moines Regsister