The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
General Manager Jim Leiting of Big River Resources, fills his new Ford truck with ethanol gasoline from the newly opened Hy-Vee gas station in Burlington, Iowa.
This past week, Hy-Vee began blending ethanol gas on site using Great River Resources gas at Hy-Vee's 3140 E Agency Road location. The new Hy-Vee location is the only gas station that offers E-15 and E-85 ethanol fuel in Burlington, IA.
The new Hy-Vee gas station officially opened with Big River Resources LLC helping with the ribbon cutting ceremony Tuesday. Thanks to the help of BRR, customers will have a lot of fuel options to choose from with ethanol, which will be coming straight from the Big River Resources plant in West Burlington.
Burlington's Hawk Eye reported Jason Hutcheson, president and CEO of the Greater Burlington Partnership as saying: "It's really a big deal! Big River Resources is a major company in our community, and it has a huge economic impact. Many of their shareholders are local, and the profits from the company stay here."
Besides a brand-new convenience store twice the size of the existing building, the station has an additional six pumps for a total of 16 pumps. Two blender pumps will mix ethanol from Big River Resources with traditional gasoline for grades of E85 and E15 which represents the percent of the mixture that is ethanol, which is stored in a tank under the pumps. The pumps mix the ethanol with traditional gasoline from other underground tanks on the spot.
"We also offer diesel fuel," said Hy-Vee store director Brent Heinz. "We've had requests from several people who wanted E85."
"We want to support the environment," Heinz said.
Hutcheson said E85 has been available in the community about 11 years, starting with the Highway 34 Truck Stop between West Burlington and Middletown. He's happy to see it made more readily available through Hy-Vee. "This is an opportunity to celebrate," Hutcheson said.
CEO Ray Defenbaugh encourages other gas station owners to contact BRR and take advantage of the Prime The Pump initiative that helps bring more choices at the pump for customers.
From left to right: Jim Purlee, BRR Board Member; Jason Hutcheson, President and CEO of Greater Burlington Partnership; Gene Youngquist, Secretary BRR; Ray Defenbaugh, CEO, President and Chairman of BRR; Andy Brader, Vice President of BRR; James Leiting, COO BRR; James Hall, CFO BRR and Kirk Siegle, BRR Board Member, recognized for their assistance in bringing ethanol and E85 and E15 pumps to HyVee through the Growth Energy Prime-The-Pump initiative, chaired by Ray Defenbaugh.