Colorado Corn Cultivating Opportunities

By Tony Kindelspire
Longmont Times-Call
Publish Date: 3/23/2008

LONGMONT — Sales of E85 fuel have steadily increased at both Longmont gas stations that are selling the alternative fuel.

In July, the 1st Stop station at 900 Ken Pratt Blvd. became the first station in Boulder County to sell the fuel, which is composed of 85 percent corn ethanol and 15 percent gasoline.

“We’ve had a very good public response to E85 in Longmont,” said Renee Shellhorse, marketing manager for Greenwood Village-based Pester Marketing, which owns 53 1st Stop stations in Colorado and Kansas. “Even the people who can’t use E85 because they don’t have a flex-fuel vehicle will come in and talk to store personnel (about it).

“It’s probably one of our higher-volume E85 locations.”

Ten of the company’s 53 stations offer E85, and Shellhorse said the company will open three more this year.

Sales of E85 now make up about 10 percent of the store’s total fuel sales, excluding diesel, Shellhorse said. That’s up from the first month, when E85 sales made up about 11/2 percent.

Longmont’s 1st Stop became the 35th station in the state to sell the alternative fuel, which is touted as being a cleaner alternative to traditional gasoline.

Using E85 requires having what is called a flex-fuel vehicle, which is capable of running on E85, gasoline, or a combination of both. Running E85 in a regular vehicle will damage that vehicle’s fuel system.

As part of Gov. Bill Ritter’s pledge to have Colorado be the leader in renewable energy, he formed the Governor’s Energy Office, and out of that spun the Governor’s Biofuels Coalition. It encourages, through state and federal tax breaks, more companies to offer alternative fuels such as E85 and biodiesel.