EPA pumped up about new Zarco station

State and federal officials were in town Monday to celebrate the Zarco 66 Earth Friendly Fuels, 2005 W. Ninth St. From left are state Rep. Tom Sloan, R-Lawrence, Adrian Polansky, Kansas secretary of agriculture, and U.S. Rep. Dennis Moore, D-Kan.

Scott Zaremba sells a variety of so-called “flex” fuels, illuminates his fuel pumps with compact fluorescent light bulbs and grows grass that doesn’t require mowing on the roof of his soon-to-open coffee shop at Ninth and Iowa streets.

Next up in his environmental drive: installation of solar panels to go on top of the canopy. And an electricity-generating wind turbine is on order.

“If all of us do a little, we can make a big difference,” Zaremba said outside his latest venture, Zarco 66 Earth Friendly Fuels, 2005 W. Ninth St.

Turns out Zaremba is doing more than anybody else, and on a national scale, when it comes to offering renewable fuels such as biodiesel and ethanol blends with an increased eye toward environmental sustainability and pollution prevention.

John Askew, regional administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency, said as much Monday as he and other officials – Lawrence city commissioners, state representatives, federal administrators and a U.S. congressman – applauded Zaremba’s commitment to “green” operations during an event that was part award ceremony and part environmental revival.

About 200 people crowded onto the site of the station, which opened in February to much fanfare and today remains the only one of its kind nationwide. Joining the site’s information-loaded pump displays, specially designed pumping systems and other features Monday were several alternative-fuel vehicles, including an ethanol-powered Indy race car.

The EPA is working with Zaremba to track both how his energy-efficient systems perform and how his alternative fuel offerings sell. The results will be used to see what works in a market that is thirsting for more options, and potentially give station operators real guidance for how they can respond and succeed, Askew said.

“This has national attention,” said Askew, who presented Zaremba with a Blue Skyways Award, honoring his leadership in “green” operations.

Zaremba said the new station cost him about 30 percent more to develop and equip than one of his traditional stations, of which his family has seven in Lawrence, Olathe, Ottawa and Paola.

Customer response has increased “every day” since opening in February, he said, and he’s confident that the “Earth Friendly” operation one day will surpass volume at some of his traditional stations. It’s simply a matter of educating the public about the fuels’ performance and benefits.

“This is where we’re going,” he said.

U.S. Rep. Dennis Moore, D-Kan., said that while Zaremba’s operation might seem small in a world driven by demand for petroleum, that’s a sense that shouldn’t last for long.

“One little place can’t make a huge difference,” said Moore, who carpooled to Monday’s event with Askew from Kansas City, Mo., “but you multiply this by 50,000 around the country and that can start to make a big difference.”