University researchers have found if the EPA’s current practice of refinery exemptions continues it will have a major impact on the U.S. ethanol industry and corn growers, reports AgriNews.
The University of Missouri’s Food and Agriculture Policy Research Institute’s updated analysis of U.S. agricultural markets estimates the U.S. ethanol industry could lose 4.6 billion gallons of domestic demand and nearly $20 billion in sales revenue over the next six years with continued EPA small refinery hardship exemptions.
“It shows that if EPA continues this practice of handing out dozens of exemptions to refineries that are highly profitable and probably not in need of any bailout from the government, that U.S. ethanol consumption is going to sink dramatically in the years ahead to the tune of almost 800 million gallons per year,” said Geoff Cooper, Renewable Fuels Association executive vice president, in a recent podcast.
Read the full report here.
