Press Release
For Immediate Release : May 17, 2007
For More Information: Todd Sneller or Steve Sorum @ 402-471-2941

Ethanol Helps Ease Consumer’s Pain from Record Gas Prices

Higher gas prices will greet Nebraska motorists when they hit the road this Memorial Day weekend as mid-May gas prices exceed previous records set in 2005.

“Nebraska motorists will spend $3.5 billion annually for gasoline at current gas prices, using 1.2 billion gallons of motor fuel in the next year,” said Todd Sneller of the Nebraska Ethanol Board.

“With pump prices averaging a record high $3.25 per gallon, drivers can save money by purchasing E-10 blends containing Nebraska produced ethanol,” said Sneller.

“E-10 is the best fuel buy in today’s market. E-10 rack prices average six to eight cents below those of gasoline. Collectively, Nebraska motorists can save up to $10 million per year by using E-10,” said Sneller.

Nebraska has imported 100 percent of its gasoline supply, depending on refineries in Wyoming, Kansas, Texas and Oklahoma for each of the 1.2 billion gallons burned in an average year. The Nebraska Ethanol Board estimates that Nebraska ethanol plants can produce 1 billion gallons of ethanol annually, which will grow to 2.2 billion gallons over the next fourteen months as ten new ethanol plants begin production. Nebraska will soon become one of the few states that produce more liquid transportation fuel than it consumes. For the first time in history, the state will be a net exporter of motor fuel.

“Nebraska’s rapidly growing ethanol industry reduces the nation’s trade deficit, provides markets for the state’s largest crops, creates local jobs, increases economic activity in the state and helps fuel the rest of the country as well,” Sneller said.