**E-85 fuel \$.30 Cheaper than Regular Gasoline!**

By Christine Luciano

With rising gas prices, Central Texas drivers are trying to find ways to
save money at the gas pump. Consumers are looking at gas efficient
vehicles, hybrids, and using lower grades of gas to save those few extra
cents. However, starting Aug 16th consumers now have the choice to use
an alternative fuel, Ethanol-85 (E85) at Killeen's Here Everything's
Better Store (HEB) and save \$.30 a gallon!

For the last year and a half Robert Kennedy, Fort Hood's Directorate of
Public Works Air Program Manager and the installation's Alternative
Fuels Committee have been working with Curtis Donaldson, Chairman of the
National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition; Sally Jo Hahn, Environmental
Specialist for Alternative Fuel Infrastructure, US Army Installation
Management Agency; and Stacy Neef, Coordinator of the Central Texas
Clean Cities program to bring E-85 fuel to the Killeen/Fort Hood area.

E-85 fuel is a blend of 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline with an octane of
105. Starch is removed from corn and other grained products to produce
ethanol and then blended with gasoline. "It is a much cleaner burning
and domestically produced product," Donaldson said.

"It started with Fort Hood's overall air sustainability goal to reduce
the impact on regional air quality from all sources, including mobile
sources," Kennedy said. "For this area the primary source of pollution
are our vehicles, so if we can do anything to reduce our emissions from
mobile sources, that will help meet our overall goal."

"Fort Hood has just over 200 flex-fuel fleet vehicles," Kennedy said.
"However, there may be more flex vehicles out there that we are not
aware of."

Fort Hood fleet vehicles will be required to use this alternative fuel
because of mandates by the U.S. Energy Policy Act of 1992, the Executive
Order 13149, and the Energy Policy Act of 2005. These mandates require
the purchase of flex-fuel vehicles and reducing the consumption of
petroleum by using alternative fuels for those vehicles, Kennedy said.

In the U.S., there are approximately 6 million E-85 flex-fuel vehicles
on the road today.

Flex-fuel vehicles are manufactured by GM, Ford, Isuzu, Mazda, Mercedes,
Mercury, Nissan, and Chrysler. Flex-fuel vehicles give consumers the
choice to use regular gasoline or E-85 fuel for their vehicles.

CleanFuel USA manufactures E-85 dispensers and helps gas stations to
transition to putting in new alternative fuel pumps. "Clean Fuel USA has
been working with HEB to help them integrate alternative fuel
solutions," Donaldson said.

By the end of August there will be five E-85 fuel sites, with four along
the I-35 corridor from San Antonio to Waco.

"Certainly one of our targeted locations was this one here in the
Killeen/Fort Hood area because of its proximity to the post," Donaldson
said. "There are GSA vehicles but more importantly it's domestically
produced fuel that lessens our dependency on foreign oil."

New tanks and an E-85 dispenser will be put in so that consumers are not
confused about what product they are putting into their vehicles.

The cleaner gasoline that has 39-46% fewer harmful emissions will be
sold at \$.30 less per gallon than regular gasoline, said James Aulds,
HEB's Vice President of Petroleum Marketing.

"There are more than 450,000 flex-fuel vehicles on the roads of Texas
today," Aulds said. "It's the number one state in terms of flex fuel
vehicles."

"E-85 not only benefits Fort Hood but it benefits Central Texas as a
whole," Auld said.

Contact: Christine Luciano

DPW Outreach Coordinator

Phone: 254-286-6664