Here in the Northeast, you're more likely to spot the Loch Ness monster in your neighbor's kiddie pool than you are to find a fuel pump that dispenses E85 Ethanol, a situation that always makes me chuckle at the various "FLEXFUEL" badges I increasingly see on area vehicles. Well, as of this Thursday, June 26, people in Massachusetts will actually be able to fill their tanks with the biofuel at the first public E85 pump in the state. And for 85 minutes, they'll be able to do so for 85 cents a gallon after the grand opening ceremonies at the Burke Oil station in Chelsea, MA. General Motors, purveyors of flex-fuel vehicles that in most cases rarely see a drop of the stuff, is sponsoring (we assume that means "paying for") the 85-cent promotion, after which the price will go back up to its normal rate of $2.85/gallon. Nowadays, that doesn't sound so bad at all. All the specifics can be found in the press release after the jump.

[Source: National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition]

As the average gas price for a gallon in America drops to under $3, ethanol promoters went ahead and sold E85 for $1.85 or so at some Iowa fuel stations yesterday (other stations sold the biofuel at 85 cents below the normal price). The reason for the sale is the upcoming Iowa Corn Indy 250 in Newton on Sunday. There were also E10 promotions yesterday and today.

So, with so many ethanol promotions going on (Minnesota just had some), do you think there's a chance that people won't take ethanol seriously? Hear me out. For some reason, it seems that brand name items with inflated costs are what people in our culture gravitate to (e.g., Starbucks charges $3 for a cup of coffee but that certainly doesn't hold back sales). Does ethanol, because it's a vehicle fuel, somehow escape this slightly-higher-price-is-better analysis? Is ethanol too new and misunderstood for me to worry about this stuff yet? Are the temporary low prices are just the right thing for ethanol promotion and education? Do you want ethanol to be seen as disreputable?

Just curious about what readers think about this stuff. Fire away.

[Source: Domestic Fuel]