The American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) gathered together three fuel retailers who market higher ethanol blends to talk about why a cap on the price of Renewable Identification Numbers (RINS) would be detrimental to their businesses.

Bruce Vollan of Midway Service in South Dakota, Charlie Good of Good & Quick in Iowa, and Mike Lewis of Pearson Fuels in California, have all been marketing E15 to E85 blends for years and understand the RIN system, which was developed as a way to encourage refiners to blend more biofuels.

“What the RINS have done is given us the ability to expand to higher (blends),” said Vollan. “It helps us buy the ethanol, get a good price on the raw product…and pass that on to our consumers.”

Audio file – Bruce Vollan, Midway Service, SD

“I’ve been able to hook up with an ethanol plant that is passing the RIN price down to me,” said Good. “In turn, I was able to immediately lower my E85 and E15 prices.”

Audio file – Charlie Good, Good & Quick, Iowa

Lewis built the first California E85 site in 2003, but has since become a fuel wholesaler for E85. “We now supply 87 retail sites (in California) and 35 more signed and in development,” Lewis said. E85 sells for much less than regular gasoline because of the RIN credits, but as RIN prices go lower, the retail price goes up.

Audio file – Mike Lewis, Pearson Fuels, California