The refueling site, located at Western Convenience at 938 S. Townsend Ave., is Montrose’s first, according to the Colorado Corn Growers Association. The station sells E85, a fuel blend composed of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline.
Ethanol is a high octane, liquid, domestic and renewable fuel, produced by the fermentation of plant sugars, as defined by the National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition.
 Heather Schroeder fills a few gas tanks with E85 fuel at Western Convenience Store Tuesday afternoon. The Colorado Corn Growers Association, the Governors' Biofuels Coalition, and Western Convenience Store celebrated the opening of a new alternative fuel site, by carrying E85 and selling it for 85 cents per gallon for two hours on Tuesday. (Joel Blocker / Daily Press) Advertisement |
“There’s a big market for (ethanol),” Van Meter said. “There’s a lot of corn growers over here (and) I know the cities are starting to switch to some flex fuel vehicles.”
Although the current price of E-85 is $2.69 per gallon at all four Western Slope stations, Van Meter said the price will fluctuate with the cost of corn, gasoline and ethanol processing. He said consumers may even see prices decline in the future.
As a grand opening special, Western Convenience offered the E-85 at $0.85 a gallon. Drivers took advantage of the offer and cars crowded the station through the afternoon.
Among those consumers was Richard Thompson, Montrose County environmental health manager. For about six months, he’s been driving a vehicle that takes E-85.
Despite less fuel economy — about two to three miles less per gallon — the cost of regular gasoline makes the option more cost effective, he said.
“Sometimes it’s more than a dollar cheaper to buy the more carbon efficient fuel (ethanol),” Thompson said.
“And as a personal opinion, I’d rather be sending my dollars to our farmers than to some country that we’re feuding with overseas.”
All of the ethanol at Western Convenience’s stations is domestically produced in Colorado, and the gasoline used to blend the fuel is purchased from Conoco, said Van Meter.
Most of the state’s ethanol is produced around the Sterling and Yuma area, said Charles McMurdy, board member for the Colorado Corn administrative committee.
About two years ago, a feasibility study determined that building an ethanol plant in the Montrose area wasn’t feasible, McMurdy said. The two main reasons for this were that not enough corn was being produced to fill the plant, and the facility needed to be located fairly close to livestock, which would be fed the bi-product. Moreover, the import and export of the ethanol posed feasibility questions.
“I don’t believe we’ll have a corn ethanol plant here,” said McMurdy, who lives in Montrose County. However, ethanol produced from cellulose (a material derived from the cell walls of certain plants) may be a future option for the area, he added.
The benefits of ethanol are that it decreases dependence on petroleum, burns cleaner and can be made from a number of feed stocks which are grown and processed in America, the Coalition noted. On the downside, research is still being conducted to determine the best feed stock.
Not all cars can take E85. However, both new and old model vehicles take the fuel. To find out if a car takes E85, visit the Web site: www.drivingethanol.org/ethanol_in_vehicles/ffv_chooser.aspx
What is ethanol?
Ethanol is a high octane, liquid, domestic and renewable fuel, produced by the fermentation of plant sugars. In the United States, ethanol is typically produced from corn and other grain products, although in the future it may be economically produced from other biomass resources such as agricultural and forestry wastes or specially grown energy crops.
Source: National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition
• Be respectful of others, the writer and the subjects in the story.
• Be relevant. Keep your comments on point.
• See the guidelines for TalkAbout. Perhaps your comment is best for that community forum, available from the home page, instead of commenting on a particular story.
Comment posters are responsible for the opinions they express and the accuracy of the information they provide. We urge comment writers to treat this as a public forum where manners matter. We encourage a collegial, non-insulting tone. All readers comments must be approved by our staff before posting to the Web site. Be aware, in accordance with the Communications Decency Act and provisions upheld in judicial appeal, that you are responsible for comments posted on this Web site. Montrose Press is not liable for messages from third parties.
DO NOT POST:
* Potentially libelous statements or damaging innuendo.
* Obscene, explicit, or racist language.
* Personal attacks, insults or threats.
* The use of another person's real name to disguise your identity.
* Comments unrelated to the story.
Opinions, advice and all other information expressed in montrosepress.com's reader comments represent the individual's own views and not necessarily those of the Montrose Press. Montrose Press does not endorse and is not responsible for statements, advice or opinions offered by anyone other than authorized Montrose Press spokespersons.
Thank you for your comments!