USDA is crediting its Higher Blend Infrastructure Incentive Program, also known as H-BIP, with increased availability of E-15 across the country.
The program’s latest round of funding includes almost $60 billion for projects in nineteen states. The Rural Business Cooperative Service says that a truck stop in Illinois serves as a good example of how far that spending can go.
According to Betsy Dirksen-Londrigan, “The MB Truck Stop in Illinois. They received a $440,000 grant to install some ethanol dispensers and other biofuel dispenses and biodiesel storage tank, and this particular project is in Rochelle, Illinois. And it’s going to increase the amount of biofuel sold by 1.2 million gallons per year.
The Renewable Fuels Association says that the success of the program goes beyond increasing biofuel availability. It also provides opportunities for retail fuel businesses to expand their operations and receive more value added.
“It really got fuel retailers that would not have probably given us the time of day, at this point in stage, to actually install the infrastructure and that’ll be coming online in the next year— year or two,” RFA’s Robert White notes. “But, you’re going to hundreds and hundreds of new stations selling E-15 and E-85 across the country. Not just in the Midwest but California to Florida and up into the Northeast. So, exciting times in that H-BIP program.”
According to the USDA, approximately 96% of vehicles on the road today are legally approved to use E-15.
The agency says that the H-BIP program helps drivers save money at the pump while also reducing carbon emissions and tailpipe pollution.
