Farmers Cooperative Company in Mount Ayr hosted Governor Terry Branstad, Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey and many other state
and local dignitaries as well as a large crowd Thursday afternoon in the official groundbreaking ceremony for a new
ethanol and biodiesel blending fuel facility to be located at their Mount Ayr site.On April 14, Branstad, Lt. Gov. Kim
Reynolds and Northey announced the $577,559 project had been awarded $125,000 in funding from the "Fueling our Future" pilot
program and $100,000 from the Iowa Renewable Fuels Infrastructure program.
The new fueling facility's location at
the corner of U.S. Route 169/State Highway 2 and County Highway P46 will expand access to clean-burning, domestically-produced
renewable fuels in Ringgold County, by offering E-10, registered E15, E30 and E85 and biodiesel blends of B5, B10, B20
and B99. Actual construction on the project will begin later this year.
"It's expecially exciting to have a farmer-owned
coop be a part of this program," said Brantad. "Iowa produced 25 percent of all the ethanol in the United States and this
site will help Iowans gain access to biofuel and renewable fuel."
"People will learn from this project," said Northey. "We will
learn what type of blends people choose and why they choose them. We want to keep ethanol growing despite the large oil
companies that don't like the competition."
Creston Farmers Coop branch manager Darin Schlapia introduced both the
governor and secretary and said the coop anticipates a September 15 completion date for the project.
One of the
new pumps will allow consumers to choose the blend of ethanol they desire, including E10, registered E15, E30 and
E85. Another pump will offer straight B5 diesel while the third pump will provide blended bio-diesel.
The fueling station will
provide pay-at-the-pump service and be available 24 hours a day.
The Fueling Our Future program was a joint initiative of
the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, the Iowa Department of Transportation, Iowa State University and
the Iowa Renewable Fuels Infrastructure Board.
Photographs courtesy of Mount Ayr Record-News
Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, June of 2014
Farmers Cooperative Company in Mount Ayr hosted Governor Terry Branstad, Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey and many other state
and local dignitaries as well as a large crowd Thursday afternoon in the official groundbreaking ceremony for a new
ethanol and biodiesel blending fuel facility to be located at their Mount Ayr site.
