The Biden administration's top farm czar announced millions of dollars in federal funding on Monday aimed at helping small and rural gas station service companies upgrade ethanol and biodiesel dispensers across the state, from an Amoco station in Evansville, Minn., to a cooperative near the Iowa border.
U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack was joined by Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith on a conference call — after weather woes in Washington, D.C., scuttled plans for a St. Paul event — to unveil 18 Minnesota businesses that will receive part of an additional $50 million to improve fuel dispensers for ethanol and biodiesel.
"By expanding the availability of homegrown biofuels, we are strengthening our energy independence, creating new market opportunities and revenue streams for American producers, and bringing good-paying jobs and other economic benefits to rural and farm communities," Vilsack said.
Funding is just the opening salvo in grant allocations of up to $500 million, which was allocated last fall by Congress and the Biden administration as part of the Inflation Reduction Act, aiming to increase the availability of domestically produced biofuels.
Klobuchar estimated Minnesota received "roughly one-third" of the initial $50 million, showcasing the state's place near the top of the nation's biofuels industry.
"We need to make sure these higher blends can be sold to consumers," Klobuchar said.
Sen. Smith framed the funding as part of the administration's push to decarbonize the nation's transportation sector. "This is nothing but good," she said.
The announcement comes just days after some in the industry expressed concern after the Environmental Protection Agency announced new Renewable Fuel Standards volumes — or the rates at which fuel manufacturers must blend in ethanol or biodiesel — that came in below what some farm commodity groups had called for.
