Minnesota Policymakers Approve Grants For E15 Upgrades

  • Wednesday, 20 May 2015 00:00

The legislative session that ended Monday produced several bills including one which contains funding for a pilot program to help retailers  upgrade their equipment to dispense E15.

As reported in today’s Star Tribune, Minnesota’s legislature approved $500,000 in grants over a two-year period to help fuel retailers  make simple upgrades (e.g., values, meters, seals) to their fuel dispensers so they can sell E15.

The grants were part of the Agriculture and Environment bill which has since been sent to Gov. Mark Dayton. The Minnesota Bio-Fuels Association played a key role in getting the E15 dispenser grants included in the bill and generated support for it from members of the Minnesota Senate and the House of Representatives.

If Dayton signs the bill into law, the grants would assist approximately 100 retail fuel stations in the state upgrade their equipment to sell E15.

The grants were included in the Agriculture and Environment bill as legislators sought ways to meet the state’s greenhouse gas emission (GHG) reduction goals as well as fulfill state law that requires more biofuel be used to displace finite, carbon intensive petroleum gasoline.

Under Minn. Stat 216H.02, the state has set a goal to reduce GHG emissions to 30 percent below 2005 levels by 2025.

E15 produces fewer GHG emissions. An analysis by the University of Illinois in February this year concluded that if all gasoline consumed in Minnesota was E15, annual CO2 savings would amount to 358,000 metric tons which is the equivalent of removing 75,368 cars from the road. 

Meanwhile, Minn. Stat 239.7911 has set incremental increases for biofuels to be used in spark ignition engines over the next 10 years. For 2017, the law requires the volume of biofuels consumed in transportation fuel for spark ignition engines (most vehicles on the road) to be 18 percent. Increasing the volume of E15 sold in Minnesota would play a significant role in achieving that goal.

Last but not least, legislators saw the potential E15 has in saving consumers some dollars at the pump. With E15 generally being sold at 10 cents less per gallon than regular unleaded gasoline (E10), this new limited measure passed on Monday has the potential to start saving Minnesotans $6.72 million at the pump annually.