Governor Bredesen Unveils New Campaign to Increase Visibility of Biofuels

Nashville, Tenn. – Governor Phil Bredesen today unveiled BioTENN, a new campaign to raise the visibility of biofuels in Tennessee. The Governor announced the new initiative during the first ever Biofuels Day in Tennessee at the Daily’s fueling station on South Hartman Drive in Lebanon. The BioTENN logo will be used to designate biofuels on pumps across the state. Governor Bredesen placed the first BioTENN logo sticker on two new E85 ethanol and two new B20 biodiesel pumps at the Daily’s station, then fueled up cars waiting in line for the reduced biofuel prices.

“This is an important next step in our initiative to make clean, homegrown, renewable biofuels a real choice for Tennesseans,” said Bredesen. “BioTenn will help both Tennesseans and visitors to our state identify those stations which have E85 and biodiesel available.”

Currently there are 32 retail biofuels stations in operation in Tennessee. Five stations offer both E85 (ethanol) and B20 (biodiesel), while 25 stations sell only B20 and two have only E85 available. A map of existing retail biofuel stations can be found at www.biotenn.org. A list of existing stations is available by clicking here.

At the Biofuels Day event, Governor Bredesen also announced the first of several additional retail biofuels stations to receive Green Island Corridor Network Grants from funds made available through the Governor’s budget and approved by the General Assembly.

Three refueling stations will receive a total of $76,700. The South Willow Exxon located at 1040 South Willow Avenue in Cookeville will be awarded grants of $49,151 and will offer both E85 and B20. The Quick Mart #14 at 1102 Nashville Highway in Columbia will also offer both E85 and B20 and will receive grants for $24,349. A grant award of $3,200 will also go to the Appco #19 located at 5993 Piney Flats Rd. in Sullivan County to help the station convert existing tanks to B20.

“The Green Island program was established to encourage more stations to offer biofuels to the public,” added Bredesen. “More than 60% of all refueling stations are independently owned. These grants help support those independent business owners, while also boosting the incomes of many farmers and reducing our dependence on petroleum.”

The TDOT grants are funded, in part, by $1.5 million in state funds provided by the Governor and approved by the General Assembly in the 2007 state budget as part of the over all $4 million alternative fuels initiative. The goal of the grant program is to place biofuel stations along Tennessee’s interstates and major highways no more than one hundred miles apart. Click here for a fact sheet on biofuel funding projects.

“Awarding these grants today takes us one step closer to achieving the goal of making biofuels more commercially available to Tennesseans,” said TDOT Commissioner Gerald Nicely. “This will allow us to reduce vehicle emissions and in turn benefit public health. TDOT is pleased to take part in this project to help make cleaner fuels readily available to the public.”
Biofuels can be used in many existing cars and trucks. E85 is a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline that can be used in flexible fuel vehicles, which are designed to run on either conventional gasoline or ethanol blends up to E85. Approximately 60,000 to 80,000 vehicles in Tennessee are flex fuel vehicles according to reports from the Tennessee Department of Revenue and General Motors. B20 is a blend of 20 percent biodiesel and 80 percent petroleum diesel and can be used in most diesel engines with little or no modifications. Biodiesel is a regulated diesel fuel made from natural, renewable sources such as plant oils or animal fats. Click here for fact sheets on biodiesel and ethanol.

For more information on all of these programs please visit www.biotenn.org.