The Kentucky Department of Agriculture’s new motor fuel and pesticide testing laboratory is scheduled to be up and running soon.  Ground was broken in May 2007 for the $1.65 million facility, located in Frankfort near the KDA’s Office of Consumer and Environmental Protection on Corporate Drive.  
The lab will enhance the KDA’s ability to test motor fuel for quality and octane level. The KDA tests motor fuel to ensure Kentucky does not become a dumping ground for poor quality fuel. The KDA also tests for the presence of MTBE, or methyl tertiary butyl ether, a fuel additive banned in Kentucky.

The test facility will have a biofuel testing component that will help the KDA serve the Commonwealth’s rapidly growing biofuel industry.   With the lab’s resources, the Department will be able to more comprehensively support its pesticide regulatory programs, following up on complaints and analyzing pesticide residues in the environment. The Department currently sends motor fuel samples to an out-of-state laboratory for testing.  As the cost of the test has increased, the number of samples the KDA tests has fallen ten-fold, to fewer than 600 a year. The new lab will have a testing capacity of more than 20,000 samples a year– enough to sample motor fuels in Kentucky and offer contract testing services to other agencies and states. Added revenue from contract services may reduce the cost of testing samples.  Kentucky has approximately 3,500 retail motor fuel locations that sold 3.4 billion gallons of fuel in fiscal year 2005, according to the state Revenue Cabinet.  The lab should begin testing diesel fuel by the end of 2008 and biofuels in 2009.