Texas opens its first E85 (ethanol fueled) gas station.

[NNadir]

One would think that there would be lots of these stations already in Texas, but apparently not. The first one has just opened, a victory for all mankind.

Texas Opens First Public E85 Pump (10-21-05)

The Corn Producers Association of Texas (CPAT) celebrated the opening of the state’s first public E85 pump in San Antonio on Wednesday, the National Corn Growers Association notes.

The Bexar County Fleet Maintenance Building is selling the blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. On Wednesday, the station promoted the fuel by selling it for 85 cents for a couple hours. After the promotion, the station posted a price of $2.35 a gallon, which is about 20 cents less than regular unleaded in the San Antonio area.

“It’s good to finally have a site open to the public in Texas,” said David Gibson, executive director of CPAT. “Corn was touted really strongly there. This is good for farmers, and we’re looking forward to opening more stations. In fact, there’s a site under review in Austin right now.”

In order to buy the fuel at the station, motorists must register their car by calling [phone], ext. 8374 or [phone]. The site is an unmanned station, and motorists need a special card to purchase the fuel.

Bexar County has a fleet of alternative fuel vehicles that use biodiesel and E85, but this is the first station that has E85 available to the public...

http://www.ncga.com/news/notd/2005/october/102105a.html

And in other news:

The dryness and drought across the nation’s midsection continued to impact crop quality. Illinois appears to be most seriously affected from an agricultural standpoint, with 52 percent of its corn, 45 percent of its sorghum, and 41 percent of its soybeans reported in poor or very poor condition, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service. In other states, 28 percent of Texas corn, 27 percent of Indiana corn, 32 percent of Arkansas soybeans, 25 percent of Arkansas sorghum, and 31 percent of Texas oats were also in poor or very poor condition. For the 18 primary corn producing states as a whole, more than twice as much of the crop is in poor or very poor condition this year compared to the same time last year (17 percent in 2005, as opposed to 7 percent in 2004). Similarly, the 18 primary soybean producing states report 16 percent of the crop in poor or very poor condition, compared to only 8 percent last year.

http://www.drought.unl.edu/dm/archive/2005/drmon0712.ht...

[mastein]

1. WIth all the oil down there, they shouldn't need ethanol

and that is the way their congressional delegation votes. Us in the Midwest on the other hand need it to reduce the price of gas. The technology is known and stable. It could reduce gas prices tremendously, and reduce our dependence on foriegn oil, yet development of the technology is not being actively pursued. This is one of those places where money grubbing is more important to the current cabal than actually fixing our energy problems.