Royal Farms and Protect Fuel Management, LLC (Protect) announced the completion of the first phase in a sustainability initiative designed to offer customers renewable fuel options that save money and dramatically reduce pollution with E85 Flex Fuel and Regular 88. The new fuels are the latest addition to Royal Farms’ ongoing sustainability efforts which began in 2008. The celebration on April 23rd with national and regional partners was conducted at the Royal Farms at 100 Monument Avenue in Oxon Hill. The store, the 200th in Royal Farms regional portfolio, is located at the exciting National Harbor waterfront district.
For more than a decade Royal Farms has made sustainability a priority. Efforts include building all new stores to meet LEED certification requirements, sustainability education for staff, and recycling waste cooking oil into biodiesel. While the programs have at times added cost and complexity to projects, the company’s unwavering commitment is making an impact. To date, cleaner ethanol fuels have already displaced enough gasoline to cut greenhouse gas emissions by the equivalent of planting 54,319 trees and letting them grow for ten years. The National Harbor location is the 12th Royal Farms store in Maryland or Virginia to introduce renewable fuels with Protect, with more anticipated in the future.
“We are proud to lead the way with renewable fuels; offering higher quality and better value is the cornerstone upon which Royal Farms was built,” said Fuel and Environmental Leader Tom Ruszin. “It is gratifying that our whole team, from the fry cook at our smallest store to our corporate executives, are working together to make a meaningful impact in our home state of Maryland and across the region,” he added.
Protect has been a national leader in ethanol fuels since designing, installing, and supplying the very first E85 station in Texas in 2006. The company’s focus on delivering comprehensive retail solutions has culminated in the successful completion of more than 400 stations during a three-year, five-state partnership with the USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) program known as the Biofuels Infrastructure Partnership (BIP). Richard Fordyce, Administrator of the FSA, spoke at today’s event to mark the milestone.
“The Mid-Atlantic region is not only important to Protect, but holds tremendous potential for forward-thinking retailers like Royal Farms that are ready to differentiate their stations by offering customers domestically made, cleaner fuel options at great prices,” said Steve Walk, Managing Partner of Protect FUel. He added, “Protect has also worked with a number of other parties that contributed to this success.”
Increasing availability of ethanol in the region has been a collaborative effort, including strong support of private and public entities such as Sustainable Energy Strategies Inc. and Clean Cities chapters of Virginia and Maryland. Notably, the Maryland Energy Administration (MEA) and Maryland Grain Producers Utilization Board investment in growing ethanol in the state has been instrumental in a 70% increase in E85 and Regular 88 sales in 2018. Part of that investment has come through the MEA’s Alternative Fuel Infrastructure Program, a competitive, technology-neutral effort that annually supports the development of state-wide alternative fuel and electric charging infrastructure. The Maryland Grain Producers Utilization Board investment comes from a farmer checkoff program, whereby farmers give a portion of every grain sale to fund projects in research, education, and market development.
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