We Owe Ya' IOWA - Leading A War Footing Strategy

Photo Credit: flickr.com

Iowa's state senate does Kansas one better.

Yesterday, Iowa voted to place a strategy to embrace the availability of E85 Ethanol fuel mix (85% Ethanol, 15% petroleum fuel) at the forefront of its fuel consumption agenda. Through aggressive incentives given from the state tax code, Iowa expects to have 25% of all fuel sold be from "renewable" resources by 2020. The incentives are targeted toward the development of the distribution infrastructure designed for E85 and Bio-diesel.

Kansas, last month, put in place incentives that address the consumer side of the debate and by giving additional incentives on the distribution side, hopes to have 33 stations that are E85 capable by the end of the year (up from only 10).

Ethanol E85 cars use less petroleum fuel and emit less hydrocarbon emissions (when running on E85) than cars using Hybrid technology claim officials at General Motors. GM is the leading producer of flexible fuel automobiles able to use standard gasoline and E85 when available.

Excerpts from The Gazette -

Senate raises renewable fuel bar
Published: 04/11/2006 12:46 PM
Updated: 04/11/2006 3:12 PM
By: Rod Boshart - The Gazette

DES MOINES, IA - The Iowa Senate voted 49-1 today to set a more-aggressive renewable fuel standard and provide incentives for stations to sell more ethanol-based fuel without mandating its use or boosting the state's gas tax on regular unleaded gasoline.

"It's a pretty good compromise," said Senate Co-President Jack Kibbie, D-Emmetsburg, who favored mandating ethanol-blended fuel use for all vehicles in Iowa. He said he would have preferred a mandate, but believed the aggressive timeline would hasten more ethanol use.

"This is the most aggressive renewable fuels program in the country," said Monte Shaw, executive director of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association.
--
Senators also beefed up state money to assist service stations in upgrading infrastructure for delivering 85 percent blended ethanol and biodiesel products to consumers. The Senate nearly doubles the available funding to $16 million - providing $4 million annually for four years.
--
The revised version of House File 2754 sets a 10 percent standard beginning in 2010 and would increase it by 1 percent annually until 2014, when the requirement would jump by 2 percent each year to achieve the 25 percent threshold by 2020.
Read All>>