Wisconsin motorists can get help finding ethanol fueling stations in the state with a new E85 station map and vehicle information brochure available free courtesy of Wisconsin’s corn checkoff.
New E85 station guides were printed by the Wisconsin Corn Promotion Board and produced by the Wisconsin Clean Air Choice Team, which also includes the American Lung Association in Wisconsin, Wisconsin Office of Energy Independence, General Motors Corporation, the National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition and the US Department of Energy.
The guides contain valuable information about E85, flex-fuel vehicles along with listings and a map of the 130 stations currently offering E85 fuel in Wisconsin. “The positive effects of ethanol reach well beyond the farm and provide returns for every Wisconsin resident through improved air quality, economic development and reduced dependency on foreign oil,” explains Ken Rosenow, Oconomowoc corn grower and WCGA president.
“Transportation costs are a huge part of the pass-along cost of food and fuel for all consumer and local ethanol production can help keep food and fuel prices under control. Ethanol helps extend our domestic fuel supplies, provides a high-protein feed for dairy cows, hogs and poultry and contributes millions of dollars to local economies,” says Rosenow.
Another program recently introduced by the American Lung Association in Wisconsin is helping place E85 station signs on the familiar blue highway signs along major state by-ways. The first set of signs in this program were installed May 14 along Interstate 90 near Wisconsin Dells and at least 10 more locations will be added this summer. E85 is a blend of 85 percent ethyl alcohol produced primarily from domestically produced corn and 15 percent gasoline.
E85 is an official Clean Air Choice™ of the American Lung Association in the Upper Midwest for its proven role in reducing harmful emissions. Motorists who use E85 reduce particulate and ozone-forming emissions by 20 percent. Ethanol delivers similar performance as regular gasoline and is a renewable, domestically produced fuel that reduces sulfur and aromatic hydrocarbons for improved exhaust emissions performance. The E85 blend gives excellent performance because it is 109 octane.
Wisconsin’s ethanol plants inject some $56 million into our state economy each year and Wisconsin’s corn crop sells for an estimated $700 million annually. While half the state’s corn crop is used for livestock feed much of the remaining, annual corn crop fuels ethanol production, adding value by producing both locally grown, renewable fuel and distillers’ grains, a premium dairy and livestock feed. Ethanol production is a major success story for Wisconsin corn grower groups.
Within a few short years, the Wisconsin Corn Growers Association and the Wisconsin Corn Promotion Board helped develop new, value-added markets for state-produced corn by assisting ethanol plant startups. Today Wisconsin has ethanol plants operating in Monroe, Stanley, Oshkosh, Friesland, Wheeler, Milton, Cambria, Necedah and Jefferson. You can request copies of the E85 brochure by contacting WCGA via email at wicorn@centurytel.net.com or by calling 262-495-2232. The brochure can be downloaded as a PDF file online from the www.wicornpro.org home page.
