MONTGOMERY, AL– The Alabama state government is switching its fleet of vehicles to ethanol and is trying to make it easier for consumers to find alternative fuels, according to the Associated Press. Gov. Bob Riley said that the state is spending $324,0000 to install a 12,000-gallon E-85 fuel tank and two pumps at the Motor Pool.

The equipment should be ready in May. The Motor Pool, which provides vehicles for state employees to use on trips across the state, has 132 of its 207 vehicles that can use flex fuel and all of its future purchases will be flex fuel capable. Next, fuel stations for alternative fuels will be installed at the Department of Transportation’s pumping stations for its equipment. About 2,000 of DOT’s 3,000 vehicles are flex-fuel capable.

On the consumer side, the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs is taking applications for commercial stations along Interstate 65 that want to offer alternative fuels to the public. A federal grant of $312,000 will help six stations add E-85 ethanol pumps and five stations install B-20 biodiesel pumps. Alabama is working with Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee to create a “clean fuels corridor” from the Great Lakes to the Gulf Coast, the report said.

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