WASHINGTON – U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack pushed back hard Tuesday against complaints from some in the ethanol industry that the Obama administration has weakened its commitment to the alternative fuel.
In an interview with the Star Tribune, Vilsack said a new $100 million USDA program to build more blender pumps to distribute multiple grades of ethanol is just the latest proof of White House advocacy.
"There are 17 million flexible fuel vehicles on the road," Vilsack said.
Getting them much wider access to fuel with higher amounts of ethanol — from 15 percent ethanol to as high as 85 percent — will create demand that will help corn growers and biofuel refiners in Minnesota and across the country, Vilsack said.
He spoke as ethanol producers, at a meeting in Minneapolis, sharply criticized the Environmental Protection Agency for proposing rules that biofuel blending mandates are less than they want.
In Minnesota, which has aggressively promoted blender pump construction in partnership with the Corn Growers Association and the American Lung Association, the new USDA program is "great news," said Charlie Poster, an assistant commissioner in the state Agriculture Department.
"We're coming for that money," Poster said of federal blender pump dollars.
The cost of installing blender pumps is expensive. It can run to more than $100,000 per pump station depending on whether underground tanks must be replaced, according to Poster. The state now has 48 blender pump stations, more than nearly every other state. But the ultimate goal in corn-rich Minnesota is to have blender pumps at every service station.