BY SUSAN ERLER, Times of Northwest
Indiana
serler@nwitimes.com
A string of new E85 fuel pumps will
dot Interstate 65 all the way from the Great Lakes to the Gulf Coast in an
initiative announced Friday by Indiana Lt. Gov. Becky
Skillman.
"The goal is to make it possible to
drive the length of I-65 using E85," Skillman said.
Gas stations at highway exits in
Gary, Hobart, Merrillville, DeMotte, Porter and Michigan City were among 17
named by Skillman as recipients of some of the funding made available for
dispensing the mix of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent
petroleum.
Indiana will partner with Kentucky,
Tennessee and Alabama -- states sharing I-65 -- to get biofuel pumps installed
all along the highway, Skillman said.
A $1.3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to Indiana's Office of Energy and Defense Development will
pay for installing new pumps or converting existing pumps at stations in
Indiana.
The money, made available through the
Clean Cities Program, will cover the cost of one biofuel pump at each fuel
station along the route.
Some of the grant money also will be
used to educate retailers and consumers about E85, said Brandon Seitz, energy
division manager with the Indiana Office of Energy and Defense
Development.
A survey earlier this year by the
Chicago-based Web site Cars.com found that 46 percent of car buyers didn't know
enough about alternative fuels like ethanol to consider buying flex-fuel
vehicles.
Sites proposed as locations for the
E85 pumps in Indiana were chosen by fuel retailers Gas America, Family Express,
Speedway and Gas City Inc., which are working with the state on the initiative,
Skillman spokeswoman Christy Denault said.
Skillman made the announcement during
the grand opening Friday of the new BioIsland in Reynolds, Ind., where both E85
ethanol and B20 biodiesel are available.
Biodiesel is a blend of soybean-based
biofuel and petroleum-based diesel. E85 is made from corn-based ethanol and
petroleum-based gasoline.
BioIsland's new E85 pump is the 41st
in Indiana, which in January 2005 had no public E85 pumps, Skillman
said.
E85 debuted in Northwest Indiana just
over a year ago at a Gas City station in Hobart. Gas City has been the only
chain so far to offer the fuel locally, at stations in Hammond, Dyer, Porter,
Michigan City and DeMotte, as well as in Hobart.
Meijer Inc. has pledged to having E85
pumps at Indiana locations, including Merrillville, Highland and Michigan City,
by the end of the year after announcing a join initiative in May with General
Motors Corp.