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Alva Thompson pulled his new Chrysler Sebring up to the pumps at Western Convenience Wednesday to capitalize on fuel costing only 85 cents a gallon.
Alva Thompson pulled his shiny nearly-new Chrysler Sebring up to the gas pump, eagerly searching for the right pump and the right price.
For more than two hours Wednesday, Thompson and others filled their tanks with 85-cent fuel at the first retail E85 ethanol station in Grand Junction, Western Convenience at 2998 North Ave.
Thompson topped off his tank with nine gallons and spent only $7.77.
At 84, Thompson has seen fuel cost a lot less than 85 cents a gallon.
“I don’t appreciate the gas producers getting in our pockets,” Thompson said, so the retired rancher and miner from Steamboat Springs decided to take ethanol for a test-drive.
Loma residents Roger and Marjorie Ouellette “drove 40 miles to fill up,” Roger said. “I’ll get every drop I can.”
He used his wife’s credit card to charge $16.41 worth of ethanol, or 19.1 gallons.
“It’s either gas or groceries,” Marjorie said.
E85, the fuel made mostly from corn, is now available in Grand Junction.
After the initial 85-cent offering, the fuel is now for sale at $2.65 a gallon.
E85 is made of 85 percent ethanol, 15 percent unleaded gasoline. Many cars now operating can use E85, said Bob Van Meter, director of operations for Western Convenience. For a listing of cars able to use the fuel, see www.E85fuel.com. Also, the store has a list of the vehicles that can use this fuel.
For two hours Wednesday, Western sold E85 for 85 cents a gallon, giving a break to owners of cars and trucks that had been pumping gas pushing nearly $4 a gallon.
Wednesday’s event coincided with the announcement that the city of Grand Junction now uses E85 in many of its vehicles and has an E85 pump at its River Road shop.
Grand Junction City Councilman Jim Doody said the city owns 28 vehicles that can use E85 and will soon buy more.
“We started buying them in 2001, anticipating this day,” with high gas prices, Doody said. The city is the first municipality on the Western Slope to use E85, he added.
The city is becoming greener, using three hybrids and one electric vehicle, installing geothermal heat in one building, and replacing all traffic lights with more energy-efficient LED lights, saving $90,000 a year, said Deputy Director for Utilities and Streets Terry Franklin, who praised Western Convenience.
Western Convenience is “the trailblazer,” Franklin said.
Western Convenience has introduced E85 at many stores throughout the state, so now it’s possible to travel across Colorado and find the alternative fuel, Van Meter said.
Prior to the promotion, Van Meter and Megan Castle, communications director for the Governor’s Energy Office, spoke to a group of business leaders at the Grand Junction Chamber of Commerce.
There, some praised the new fuel and others panned it.
Proponents of the alternative energy fuel praise it for decreasing America’s dependence on foreign oil, which continues to climb in price. They also say it’s cleaner on the environment.
Skeptics say for every gallon of ethanol made, one gallon of petroleum is used, so there’s no net savings to the environment.
But that includes all the energy it takes to plant, grow and harvest the corn and then make the ethanol, said Castle.
Grand Junction engineer Don Pettygrove pointed to a column by conservative economist Walter Williams, who panned the fuel in a piece posted on Townhall.com.
Williams said ethanol is 20 to 30 percent less efficient than gas. The column said it takes the same amount of corn to create enough fuel to fill the tank of a SUV than it does to feed one person for one year.
Grand Junction businesswoman Laura Bradford said she opposed the tax subsidy on ethanol.
Genetic engineering of a crop better than corn from which to develop ethanol is the future of the fuel, said Mesa County Commissioner Steve Acquafresca, who added using taxpayer-subsidized grains is “short-lived.”
Reach Marija B. Vader at mvader@gjfreepress.com.
For more than two hours Wednesday, Thompson and others filled their tanks with 85-cent fuel at the first retail E85 ethanol station in Grand Junction, Western Convenience at 2998 North Ave.
Thompson topped off his tank with nine gallons and spent only $7.77.
At 84, Thompson has seen fuel cost a lot less than 85 cents a gallon.
“I don’t appreciate the gas producers getting in our pockets,” Thompson said, so the retired rancher and miner from Steamboat Springs decided to take ethanol for a test-drive.
Loma residents Roger and Marjorie Ouellette “drove 40 miles to fill up,” Roger said. “I’ll get every drop I can.”
He used his wife’s credit card to charge $16.41 worth of ethanol, or 19.1 gallons.
“It’s either gas or groceries,” Marjorie said.
E85, the fuel made mostly from corn, is now available in Grand Junction.
After the initial 85-cent offering, the fuel is now for sale at $2.65 a gallon.
E85 is made of 85 percent ethanol, 15 percent unleaded gasoline. Many cars now operating can use E85, said Bob Van Meter, director of operations for Western Convenience. For a listing of cars able to use the fuel, see www.E85fuel.com. Also, the store has a list of the vehicles that can use this fuel.
For two hours Wednesday, Western sold E85 for 85 cents a gallon, giving a break to owners of cars and trucks that had been pumping gas pushing nearly $4 a gallon.
Wednesday’s event coincided with the announcement that the city of Grand Junction now uses E85 in many of its vehicles and has an E85 pump at its River Road shop.
Grand Junction City Councilman Jim Doody said the city owns 28 vehicles that can use E85 and will soon buy more.
“We started buying them in 2001, anticipating this day,” with high gas prices, Doody said. The city is the first municipality on the Western Slope to use E85, he added.
The city is becoming greener, using three hybrids and one electric vehicle, installing geothermal heat in one building, and replacing all traffic lights with more energy-efficient LED lights, saving $90,000 a year, said Deputy Director for Utilities and Streets Terry Franklin, who praised Western Convenience.
Western Convenience is “the trailblazer,” Franklin said.
Western Convenience has introduced E85 at many stores throughout the state, so now it’s possible to travel across Colorado and find the alternative fuel, Van Meter said.
Prior to the promotion, Van Meter and Megan Castle, communications director for the Governor’s Energy Office, spoke to a group of business leaders at the Grand Junction Chamber of Commerce.
There, some praised the new fuel and others panned it.
Proponents of the alternative energy fuel praise it for decreasing America’s dependence on foreign oil, which continues to climb in price. They also say it’s cleaner on the environment.
Skeptics say for every gallon of ethanol made, one gallon of petroleum is used, so there’s no net savings to the environment.
But that includes all the energy it takes to plant, grow and harvest the corn and then make the ethanol, said Castle.
Grand Junction engineer Don Pettygrove pointed to a column by conservative economist Walter Williams, who panned the fuel in a piece posted on Townhall.com.
Williams said ethanol is 20 to 30 percent less efficient than gas. The column said it takes the same amount of corn to create enough fuel to fill the tank of a SUV than it does to feed one person for one year.
Grand Junction businesswoman Laura Bradford said she opposed the tax subsidy on ethanol.
Genetic engineering of a crop better than corn from which to develop ethanol is the future of the fuel, said Mesa County Commissioner Steve Acquafresca, who added using taxpayer-subsidized grains is “short-lived.”
Reach Marija B. Vader at mvader@gjfreepress.com.
