Meijer And General Motors Celebrate Opening Of Twentieth E85 Ethanol Pump At Michigan Meijer Gas Stations

Pump Opening Part of Ongoing Partnership to Make E85 Ethanol More Available to Michigan Drivers

CANTON, MI - February 27, 2007: Meijer and General Motors joined together today to celebrate the opening of Meijer’s twentieth E85 ethanol fueling location in the state of Michigan.

Today's event marks the completion of twenty new E85 ethanol pumps, following a joint commitment entered into back in April of last year between GM, Meijer, CleanFUEL USA and the State of Michigan.

Mitch Irwin, director of the Michigan Department of Agriculture, was on hand to celebrate today’s opening. "This partnership and others like it will fuel Michigan 's future," said Irwin. "Strong public policy support and private industry expertise are key ingredients to establishing a thriving renewable energy market, but it is innovation and commitment that will position our state as a national leader."

As part of this collaboration, local GM dealers are helping to promote the new refueling stations when customers purchase FlexFuel vehicles and GM will continue to focus on increasing awareness of E85 ethanol as a renewable, alternative fuel that is able to meet the demands of today’s drivers. To drive awareness around E85 ethanol and to encourage customers to consider using this cleaner burning fuel, Meijer has been selling ethanol at all of the 20 locations for 10 cents less than the price of unleaded gas.

Meijer, a Michigan company with headquarters in Grand Rapids, Michigan, strives to provide the freshest product to its customers. E85 ethanol is one of those fresh products, providing a cleaner burning fuel alternative and a new way to think about dependency on petroleum.

“Meijer took a first, but large step toward creating real choices for its customers at the pump when we committed to opening 20 E85 ethanol stations across the state,” said Hank Meijer, co chairman of Meijer, Inc. “Fulfillment of this commitment is the foundation of Meijer’s overall focus on environmental stewardship for the future.”

Michigan is also home to one of the largest concentrations of GM’s E85 flexible fuel vehicles in the country, with more than 140,000 in use. Meijer’s 20 E85 ethanol pumps will allow even more Michigan drivers to fill up with the alternative, renewable fuel.

"At GM, we believe that the biofuel with the greatest potential to displace petroleum-based fuels in the U.S. is ethanol, and we have made a major commitment to vehicles that can run on E85 ethanol—with over two million of our FlexFuel vehicles on the road today,” said Elizabeth Lowery, GM vice president of environment and energy. “We’re pleased to join Meijer in celebrating its twentieth E85 ethanol pump in the state and we commend Meijer on joining our efforts to make E85 ethanol available to more Michigan motorists.”

Meijer and CleanFUEL USA, the E85 fuel provider, have been working together to identify and install new E85 fueling locations across the state over the past year.

"One of CleanFUEL USA’s primary missions is to make alternative fuels available as quickly and efficiently as possible to everyone,” said Russell C. Youngdahl, Jr., CEO and director, CleanFUEL USA. “We’re pleased to have come closer to accomplishing that mission in Michigan."

GM’s E85 partnership and marketing campaign are designed to encourage greater E85 use and showcase GM’s E85 FlexFuel vehicle leadership to U.S. consumers. E85 FlexFuel vehicles can run on any combination of gasoline and/or E85, a fuel blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. E85 can contribute to energy independence because it diversifies the source of transportation fuels beyond petroleum, and it provides positive environmental benefits in the form of reduced greenhouse gas emissions.

Today, GM has over two million E85 FlexFuel vehicles on the road in all 50 states, and will produce more this year. For the 2007 model year, GM is offering 16 E85 ethanol-capable vehicle models, with an annual production of more than 400,000 vehicles. This is more than any other manufacturer.

GM believes that developing alternative sources of energy and propulsion is the key to mitigating many of the issues surrounding energy availability. Producing E85 FlexFuel vehicles is one part of GM’s strategy to help reduce the use of petroleum and also reduce vehicle emissions. GM’s strategy also includes improving the efficiency of the traditional internal combustion engine with technologies available today; and developing electrically-driven vehicles such as hybrids, plug-in hybrids, fuel cell vehicles, and electric vehicles.

About Meijer, Inc.:

Based in Walker, Mich., Meijer is a family-owned and operated company operating supercenters throughout the Midwest. Meijer operates more than 176 stores in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky and will add another five stores to the list this year. For more information, visit www.meijer.com.

About CleanFUEL USA:

Founded in 1993, CleanFUEL USA is based in Georgetown, Texas and is recognized as the leading global manufacturer of certified and approved alternative fuel dispensing equipment for both propane and E-85. CleanFUEL USA provides comprehensive alternative motor fuel programs for fleet managers throughout the world. For more information, visit www.cleanfuelusa.com.