Dennis Burke is truly a pioneering spirit of America, in Massachusetts where America's first revolution began. But today, he's leading the state's charge in the next revolution to wean off foreign oil and convert to biofuel.
He's Massachusetts' first entrepreneur to open a public E85 fueling facility. Burke Oil, at 410 Beacham St. in Chelsea, Mass., will open soon its E85 pumps.
Burke pioneered biodiesel in the region and recently decided to go all biofuel green, adding E85 to fueling options – but not without a fight. "Waivers and permits were new issues for state and local government agencies and for us," says Andy Frongillo of Burke Oil. Lack of Underwriters Laboratories certification of a dispenser kept the site from opening much sooner.
Burke supplies many of the area's largest biodiesel and bioheat users. To keep pace with growing demand, the company recently opened a Biofuels Storage Facility in Holyoke, Mass.
New York is East's biggest E85 burner
As of May 14, the National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition listed 1,563 E85 stations in the country. Despite having America's highest-priced petroleum-based gasoline, state and federal (non-public) E85 pumps outnumber public E85 stations in the Northeast. Here's the NEVC count of public pumps in the region.
New York has 13 stations with public access. That may be changing soon, though. The coalition announced this week that Byrne Dairy of Syracuse has joined the coalition as a member. Byrne has a chain of pumps across New York.
Pennsylvania also has 13 public E85 stations.
West Virginia has two pumps accessible for the public.
Delaware and Maryland each have one public pump, although Maryland has a second one with limited public use.
No E85 fuel – zip – is available, according to NEVC, in Connecticut, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Rhode Island or Vermont.
For a complete listing of public E85 stations across the country go to: www.E85Refueling.com.