INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Office of Energy Development and the Indiana Corn Marketing Council announced more than $331,000 will be shared among two grantees for the third round of the Hoosier Homegrown Fuels Blender Pump Program.

This grant will provide Lassus Brothers Oil Inc. and Family Express Corporation, based out of Fort Wayne and Valparaiso, respectfully, a plan to deploy 16 blender pumps, allowing for the expansion of higher ethanol blends in areas of Indiana where blends of E15-E85 are limited or not available. E15 and E85 are abbreviations indicating the percentage of ethanol blended in the fuel.

The grant program is a partnership between OED, ICMC, the Indiana State Department of Agriculture, Greater Indiana Clean Cities and South Shore Clean Cities. ICMC saw an opportunity through the Biofuel Infrastructure Partnership to leverage state corn checkoff funds and partner with other organizations to expand ethanol’s availability to the roughly 450,000 Hoosiers throughout the state who drive Flex Fuel Vehicles. ICMC has been working with fuel retailers to help increase the number of flex fuel pumps across the state for five years, including offering grants for installation.

The HHF will allow for a total number of 64 blender pumps with funding coming from both the U.S. Department of Agriculture and ICMC totaling to more than $1,250,000.

Applicants are as follows:

• Lassus Brothers Oil Inc., Allen County; number of dispensers: eight; grant amount: $176,530.24
• Family Express Corporation, LaPorte County; number of dispensers: eight; grant amount: $154,682

OED and ICMC have asked the grantees to track their ethanol volume sales and marketing efforts through 2017 and their ethanol sales through 2022. This data will help OED and ICMC measure the impact of the new ethanol fueling infrastructure.