WEST BEND - Wingate Creek BP owner Scott Sadownikow is willing to take a chance on E85 fuel, as are a growing number of service stations and drivers in Wisconsin.

Sadownikow’s E85 pump went into use shortly after the Wingate station opened last year.

"It wasn’t as much of a price spread between E85 and regular gas then," Sadownikow said.

On Saturday, regular gas sold at the station for $4.10 per gallon while E85 - a mixture of 85 percent corn byproduct ethanol blended with a 15 percent gasoline - sold for $3.19.

On hand for the station’s one-year anniversary was Ashley Huibregtse, the current Alice In Dairyland, and Maria Redmond, a biofuels sector specialist at the state’s Office of Energy Independence.

Gov. Jim Doyle created the OEI in April 2007. Its goals are to increase renewable fuel and electricity production, and to raise awareness as well as private and federal funding for research, development and commercialization of renewable energy. The initial goal is for the state to obtain 25 percent of its energy and fuel needs from renewable sources by 2025.