Tampa, Florida (March 2, 2007) (AgNewsWire) The ethanol industry is making progress towards the goal of helping consumers readily identify ethanol-enhanced fuel at the pump no matter where they are in the country.
Seven states have now officially approved labels that incorporate the “e” brand to mark pumps that dispense E10, or ten percent ethanol fuel, according to the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council (EPIC). Those states are Kansas, Michigan, Illinois, South Dakota, Nebraska, Arkansas and Ohio. EPIC is spreading the good news this week to corn growers meeting this week in Tampa, Florida at the 2007 Commodity Classic.
EPIC Director of Operations Robert White said they are pleased with the progress made in just a few short months.
“The branding program is literally going state by state and the consistency is the ‘e’ logo, or the brand, and the variation of the label just depends on state rules and regs,” said White. “But we have seven under our belt and another 25 in motion.”
White says the ethanol branding program has benefits for everyone, including individual retailers who in many cases are making less than a penny a gallon on gasoline sales.
“This is something that’s free to them – the labels, the shipping, point of sale materials and our national program – all tie consumers back to their individual station and their individual pumps,” White said.
After the labels are approved by the states with the right size and shape requirements, getting retailers to put them on their pumps becomes a grassroots effort, according to Mark Lambert with the Illinois Corn Marketing Board.
“We’re going to start changing out those stickers in the next month or so,” said Lambert. “Over the summer months, it’s going to be a great project for county Farm Bureaus and corn grower organizations. They’re going to go out to their local stations and get these on the pumps.”