U.S. Agriculture Sec. Sonny Perdue announced this week that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has invested $22 million in biofuel efforts including to a company based in Florida.
Perdue said the funds were from “$100 million in grants available to increase American ethanol and biodiesel sales” and are from the Higher Blends Infrastructure Incentive Program (HBIIP).
“Investments made through the Higher Blends Infrastructure Incentive Program are helping rural communities build stronger economies and will give consumers more choices when they fill up at the pump,” Perdue said on Thursday. “President Trump has expanded ethanol use by unleashing year-round E15, and the result is more demand for American farmers and more affordable fuel for American consumers.”
“The Higher Blends Infrastructure Incentive Program helps transportation fueling and biodiesel distribution facilities convert to higher ethanol and biodiesel blends by sharing the costs related to the installation of fuel pumps, related equipment and infrastructure,” the USDA noted. “Eligible applicants are vehicle fueling facilities, including, but not limited to, local fueling stations/locations, convenience stores, hypermarket fueling stations, fleet facilities, fuel terminal operations, midstream partners and/or distribution facilities. Higher biofuel blends are fuels containing ethanol greater than 10 percent by volume and/or fuels containing biodiesel blends greater than five percent by volume.”
Southeast Petro Distribution Inc. in Cocoa will get $3,537,00.
“This Rural Development investment will be used to create infrastructure to expand the sale and use of renewable fuels. This project will replace and install 113 dispensers and 48 storage tanks at 26 fueling stations in Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina and Alabama. Southeast Petro Distributors Inc. is the owner of 10 or more fueling stations. This project is expected to increase the amount of ethanol sold by 1,732,390 gallons per year,” USDA noted.
Reach Kevin Derby at kevin.derby@floridadaily.com.
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