DES MOINES –Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey today announced that Elliott Oil Company of Ottumwa and Farm Service Company of Council Bluffs are the 2010 winners of the Secretary’s Biodiesel and Ethanol Marketing Awards. The awards were created by the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship to recognize fuel marketers that have gone above and beyond in their efforts to sell renewable fuels.
“Iowa is the leading producer of renewable fuels, but without proactive retailers and distributors these clean, renewable fuels would not be available to Iowa customers,” Northey said. “Elliott Oil and Farm Service Company in Council Bluffs have both made expanding the availability and promoting the use of renewable fuels an important part of their business. This award is just an opportunity to recognize them for all their efforts.”
The Secretary’s Ethanol and Biodiesel Marketing Awards were designed to recognize businesses that market the renewable fuels they have available through creative efforts including, but not limited to: hosting special events highlighting their renewable fuels, development of creative signage, initiation of new advertisements or marketing efforts, and dramatically increase pump availability.
The winners were announced and recognized during the Petroleum Marketers & Convenience Stores of Iowa Annual Meeting in Des Moines on Jan. 12th. The Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Stores of Iowa (PMCI) is a non-profit state trade association serving the needs of independent petroleum marketers and convenience store owners throughout the state of Iowa.
Biodiesel
Randy Woodard of Elliott Oil Company in Ottumwa is the 2010 Secretary’s Biodiesel Marketing Award winner for their efforts to expand the availability of biodiesel and promote it’s usage by their customers.
Notably, just this month C.W. Terminal Biofuels, LLC, of which Woodard is a 50 percent partner, completed a three year project to build a fully heated biodiesel loading system located at a major terminal rack in the state of Iowa. Many said the project could not be done, but was completed in part due to the hard work and perseverance of Woodard. And, as a result a major infrastructure void for biodiesel in Southeast Iowa has been eliminated.
In addition, Elliott Oil Company is making biodiesel more widely available on the retail level. Namely, since purchasing a small distributorship that sold no biofuels in 2008, Elliott Oil undertook a customer education effort and has since converted many customers to satisfied biodiesel users.
Woodard was nominated by Dave Palmer for the award.
Ethanol
Terry Bahl of Farm Service Company in Council Bluffs is that 2010 Secretary’s Ethanol Marketing Award winner for their efforts to promote ethanol and expand the availability of higher ethanol blends. Bahl and Farm Service Company have a long-standing commitment to renewable fuels.
They installed their first E85 dispenser in 2006 and have been adding additional E85 pumps since. They also plan to install four E85 blender pumps that will expand their offerings to flex-fuel vehicle customers.
In addition, to publicize E85, they hosted grand opening events at both location and held open houses in conjunction with a local auto dealer who displayed flex-fuel vehicles. Iowa Senator Tom Harkin attended one of the open houses. They have also done print advertizing and erected signage to let motorists know that E85 is available.
Bahl was nominated by Bernie Punt, the Market Development Chair for Growth Energy.
Renewable Fuels Industry Overview
Iowa is the leader in the production of renewable fuels. According to the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, Iowa has 39 ethanol refineries with a combined annual capacity of nearly 3.3 billion gallons and 15 biodiesel facilities that are capable of producing 322 million gallons a year.
“Iowa is truly the national leader in renewable fuels, and that would not be possible without support from the Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Stores of Iowa and its retail members across the state that market these home-grown fuels,” Northey said.
Northey, a corn and soybean farmer from Spirit Lake, is serving his first term as Secretary of Agriculture. His priorities as Secretary of Agriculture are the opportunities in renewable energy, conservation and stewardship, and telling the story of Iowa agriculture.
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