MOBILE - An effort to make Interstate 65 in Alabama the nation’s first biofuel corridor moved forward Friday when Governor Bob Riley helped open new fuel pumps at two Mobile gas stations that dispense E-85 ethanol and B-20 biodiesel.

“Their opening today means drivers in this area have a less expensive fueling option that is better for our environment and helps reduce our dependence on foreign oil,” said Governor Riley at the Ford’s Fuel station on Airport Boulevard.

The second station in Mobile offering the alternative fuels is located on Government Boulevard.

They join a Shell station off I-65 in Vestavia Hills that are part of the Clean Corridor initiative Governor Riley helped launch last year with a $312,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy. The grant covers 50 percent of the cost for a fuel retailer to add the infrastructure necessary to offer the alternative fuels.

Governor Riley said other stations along I-65 - at the Brewton exit and in Montgomery, Prattville, Warrior and Athens - will be joining those in Mobile and Vestavia Hills by offering the biofuels within weeks.

“We originally planned to place six E-85 and five B-20 retail outlets along I-65 in Alabama, but we will exceed our goal. We will instead be placing seven E-85 and eight B-20 outlets,” said Governor Riley.

The Clean Corridor along Interstate 65 will be the nation’s first biofuels corridor providing the public with E-85 and B-20 fueling options. When complete, drivers of flexible fuel vehicles and diesel vehicles will never be farther than a tank away from an E-85 or biodiesel pump along I-65.

“Nearly 7,000 Mobile-area residents own flex-fuel vehicles that can be run solely on gasoline, solely on E-85, or any combination of the two,” said Mobile Mayor Sam Jones, who joined Governor Riley at the Airport Boulevard station. “E-85 offers consumers a choice that can help lower our dependence on foreign oil.”

Protec Fuel Management worked with Ford’s Fuel to design and build the station and is supplying the E-85 and B-20. Promotional efforts, labels and displays at the stations were provided by the Ethanol Promotional and Information Council. The effort between stations, suppliers and government agencies was coordinated by the Alabama Clean Fuels Coalition, based in Birmingham.

The Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs (ADECA) partnered with the Alabama Clean Fuels Coalition to select the service stations where alternative fuel pumps will be added.

“By opening these ethanol and biodiesel pumps in Mobile, our state takes an important step toward wider commercial availability of biofuels,” said ADECA Director Bill Johnson. “We have made the promotion of alternative fuels a priority at ADECA because we believe Alabama has the potential to become a leader in the biofuels industry.”

Typically, a gallon of E-85 is cheaper than a gallon of gasoline. The lower price of ethanol accommodates any expected loss in gas mileage. E-85 costs are dictated by their proximity to an ethanol production facility. The nearer a station is to a plant, the cheaper the price tends to be. With the recent opening of a cellulosic ethanol production demonstration facility in Livingston, Mobile and other Alabama E-85 stations could potentially see lower E-85 prices in the future.

“Sort of like the chicken and egg, we often get asked which needs to come first to increase the use of E-85 - more E-85 infrastructure or more flex-fuel vehicles,” said Mark Bentley, Executive Director of the Alabama Clean Fuels Coalition. “We think they are walking hand-in-hand. Automotive makers are providing more flex-fuel vehicle options; consumers are buying more of these vehicles; at the same time, we have more production facilities and stations opening. Regardless of where it begins, the results are the same: less dependence on oil, more local jobs, and a cleaner environment.”

To celebrate the addition of the alternative fuel pumps, the station’s owner - Ford’s Fuels, LLC - offered E-85 for 85 cents a gallon from 11 a.m. to noon on Friday. The rest of the day motorists paid only $2.85 a gallon for the plant-based alternative fuel.

E-85 is 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. Ethanol is a distilled alcohol-based fuel that is derived from starch crops like corn and mixed with gasoline to fuel vehicles. B-20 biodiesel is made from soybean and other crops that produce oil and can be used in diesel engines.