Northdale Oil Inc.’s work and persistence has been rewarded with a grant of $181,000 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) High Blend Infrastructure Incentive Program (HBIIP). The funding will help offset costs this northwestern Minnesota-based company will incur in upgrading fuel handling equipment at C-stores in East Grand Forks and two more in Thief River Falls (their Main and Square locations).
The Reck Family – Missy & Scott Reck (at right) with children (from left to right) Larissa, Nicholas & Alayna. Source: Northdale Oil, Inc. www.NorthdaleOil.com
Eight dispensers and associated components will be going in at Northdale’s station at 607 Gateway Drive, East Grand Forks, allowing sale of biodiesel blends of up to 20% (B20). Minnesota state law now requires sale and use of diesel blends ranging from 5% biodiesel (B5) in winter months and B20 in warmer months.
Northdale’s Thief River Falls “Square” outlet, located at 100 Pennington Avenue South, will undergo similar upgrades with four B5-B20 dispensers. A third project at the company’s Thief River Falls “Main” station will add four dispensers offering E15, the 88-octane, 15% ethanol gasoline blend.
The HBIIP grant process, which closed in August, was rumored to have been arduous‒possibly turning off some potential fuel retailer and wholesaler applicants. When asked about that, Alayna Brown, regional manager for Northdale chuckles, “Yes, I’d say the process was a little thorough. But we are very pleased with the results. It will really help us expand our product line-up of renewable fuels.”
But they are not new to biofuels. The company’s grant writing was previously successful in securing funds to install E15 equipment. A few years ago, a grant from the public- and private-funded BIP program helped them build a wholesale E15 blending site as well as in renovating two C-stores to E15 in Bemidji. Those locations have been offering northern Minnesota customers E15 – what Brown calls “a cleaner, more renewable option.”
Scott and Missy Reck have led Northdale Oil Inc. for nearly three decades–a business Scott’s father, Dale Reck, purchased in the mid-1960s when it was the Standard Oil Agency. Today, the Reck family has grown Northdale to include multiple offices and bulk plants, a fleet of transport delivery trucks and a chain of eleven convenience stores in two states.
Presently, they serve customers in a territory stretching across the entirety of North Dakota, parts of eastern Montana and much of northern Minnesota. However, you will also spot Northdale tanker trucks in Iowa, South Dakota, and Wisconsin …or even across the International Border in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, Canada.
As E15 spreads farther north, Brown indicates they are happy to accommodate retailers looking to get into higher ethanol blends, “We’re happy to take referrals and are always glad to walk prospective customers through the options.”
Six Minnesota fuel retailers and bulk supply companies have received 2020 HBIIP grants. For a complete list of all awardees announced on October 8, 2020, please visit the USDA Rural Development at https://www.rd.usda.gov/sites/default/files/NR_HBIIP_CHART10082020.pdf