For the motoring public anxious to obtain ethanol and biodiesel fuels, Florida Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Charles H. Bronson has announced that more facilities throughout the state are making these products available.

To help consumers locate stations offering alternative fuels around Florida, Bronson unveiled a Web site that provides locations statewide where E85, E10, biodiesel and biodiesel-blended fuels can be purchased. The web site is located at http://www.doacs.state.fl.us/standard/petro/AltSiteMap.html.

“This tool will enable motorists to locate renewable, cleaner burning fuels around the state,” Bronson said. “I am very pleased a number of facilities are now making these fuels available to the public, and we expect the number to continue growing.”

E85, an alternative fuel comprised of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline, requires a flex-fuel vehicle. E10, gasoline blended with 10 percent ethanol, and biodiesel-blended fuels can be used in virtually any modern gasoline or diesel engine respectively.

The Web site is the latest effort in Bronson’s “Farm to Fuel Initiative,” which is designed to ease both Florida and the nation’s dependency on foreign oil and promote cleaner, renewable fuels by having Florida farmers grow fuel crops to support this production.

The initiative stems from the “25 x ’25” vision, which calls for 25 percent of the nation’s energy needs to be produced by America’s farms, ranches and forests by the year 2025.

“Florida is well positioned to be a leader in this effort because of our available farmland and our mild climate,” Bronson said. “The goal is to reduce the country’s dependency on foreign oil, and at the same time to provide alternative crops that our farmers can grow to keep our agriculture industry viable.”