New fuel tanks to increase ethanol use in South Dakota state government vehicles
Prairie Business
Gov. Mike Rounds says state government is adding special ethanol fuel tanks at three locations to increase the use of the renewable fuel in state government vehicles.
The new tanks will allow fuel blends up to 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline to be used in flexible fuel vehicles in the state fleet. Most ethanol blends contain 10 percent ethanol.
The first tank has been added at the state Department of Transportation’s regional yard in Rapid City. Tanks will be added in November at the state DOT regional yard in Pierre and area state DOT yard in Sioux Falls. The locations are three of the most heavily used by state employees to fuel state vehicles.
Although nearly 40 percent of state government’s 3,395 vehicles are flexible fuel, state employees previously have had the option of purchasing higher ethanol blends like E85 at commercial stations but not at state fueling facilities. State employees purchased 32,640 gallons of E85 at commercial stations during the 2009 fiscal year that ended June 30.
Gov. Rounds says having three ethanol tanks in the high traffic locations will bring multiple benefits.
“It makes it more convenient for state employees to get higher ethanol blends, and it should increase our use of those higher ethanol blends to an estimated 250,000 gallons per year,” the Governor said. “It also will benefit South Dakota’s ethanol producers and the farmers who grow the corn that’s used to make ethanol.”
State employees driving one of the 1,287 flexible fuel vehicles in the state government fleet will be encouraged to use ethanol pumps at the three locations. The new yellow pumps with yellow hoses and special decals will be highly visible, and state vehicles capable of using high ethanol blends will have matching yellow fueling keys.
The state’s Fleet and Travel Office will monitor use of the fuel and performance of the vehicles at various blends to ensure an efficient fleet.
Funding for the three ethanol tanks comes from a $280,000 energy grant that is part of the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) stimulus package.
