DES MOINES –Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey today announced that Mulgrew Oil Company of Dubuque and W & H Cooperative of Humboldt are the 2012 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 promote and sell renewable fuels.
“Iowa is fortunate to have retailers like W & H Cooperative and Mulgrew Oil Company that make the extra effort to market and promote the home-grown fuels we produce in this state and make them available to customers,” Northey said. “Both winners have gone to great lengths to make biodiesel and ethanol available to Iowa drivers.”
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 renewable fuel availability.
The winners were announced and recognized during the Petroleum Marketers & Convenience Stores of Iowa Annual Meeting in Des Moines on Jan. 10th. 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
Jim Mulgrew of Mulgrew Oil Company is the 2012 Secretary’s Biodiesel Marketing Award winner.
Under his leadership, Mulgrew Oil has made a long-term commitment to biodiesel and made significant investments to install necessary infrastructure and make multiple biodiesel blends available. Mulgrew has also installed heated storage tanks so that biodiesel can be sold year-round and they priced biodiesel competitively to encourage customers to choose this home-grown, renewable fuel.
Mulgrew was nominated for the award by Grant Kimberly, the Directory of Market Development for the Iowa Soybean Association.
Ethanol
Greg Emick of W & H Cooperative in Humboldt is the 2012 Secretary’s Ethanol Marketing Award winner.
Emick has installed blender pumps, which allow customers to choose from a variety of ethanol blends, at all three of his Cenex fuel retail locations. He has made E15, a fuel blend with 15 percent ethanol that only recently has been approved for all 2001 vehicles and newer, at all the pumps.
Emick also worked with the Iowa Corn Growers Association, the Iowa Corn Promotion Board and the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association to hold “grand opening” events for each of the new blender pumps.
Emick was nominated for the award by Dale Boeckman, who is on the Board of Directors of the Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Stores of Iowa, and by the Iowa Corn Growers Association.
Renewable Fuels Industry Overview
Iowa leads the nation in the production of ethanol and biodiesel. According to the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, Iowa has 41 ethanol refineries with the capacity to produce nearly 3.7 billion gallons annually. Iowa also has 12 biodiesel refineries with a combined annual capacity of over 315 million gallons.
The Iowa Renewable Fuels Infrastructure Program offers cost-share grants for the installation of E85 dispensers, blender pumps, biodiesel dispensers, and biodiesel storage facilities. The grant program is managed by Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship and more information can be found on the Department’s website at www.IowaAgriculture.gov.
“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.
