(Radio Iowa) – U-S-D-A Rural Development recently approved around four million dollars in grants for stations to add infrastructure for renewable fuels. The Iowa director of Rural Development, Mike Sexton, says these stations are not part of larger chains.
“We still have a lot of mom and pop gas stations or somebody that maybe owns five or six gas stations in a in a rural area. And so these costs are extremely high for a small operation like that,” Sexton says. He says it allows the small stations to stay competitive with renewable fuel offerings. “These are really essential for our smaller companies to be able to expand and meet what the consumer, our rural consumer, that’s looking for E-15, E-85, and then, of course, our biodiesel,” he says.
Rainbo Oil Company received a grant ($589,648) to retrofit eight E-15 dispensers, install four E-15 dispensers, eight B-20 dispensers along with two ethanol storage tanks, and one biodiesel storage tank. They serve a station in Delhi in Delaware County, Iowa, and four stations in Dubuque in Dubuque County.
Multi-County Oil Company received a grant ($411,108) to install two E-15 dispensers, two E-85 dispensers, two B-20 dispensers along with one ethanol storage tank, and one biodiesel storage tank. That’s for stations in North English and Keswick in Keokuk County.
C&D Car Wash received a grant ($411,000) to install three E-15 dispensers, one B-20 dispenser along with one ethanol storage tank, and one biodiesel storage tank at one fueling station in Bellevue in Jackson County. Butler Truck Oasis received a grant ($573,375) to install four E-15 dispensers, four E-85 dispensers, and five B-20 dispensers at one station in Shell Rock in Butler County.
Prime Stop received a grant ($238,500) to install three E-15 dispensers, one ethanol storage tank at one station in Melbourne in Marshall County. Molo Petroleum received a grant ($1,950,500) to install 30 E-15 dispensers, six B-20 dispensers, four ethanol storage tanks, and four biodiesel storage tanks at seven fueling stations. The stations are in Eldridge, Bettendorf, and Davenport in Scott County; Hiawatha in Linn County; Dubuque in Dubuque County; and East Moline in Rock Island County, Illinois.
