Report says Poet added $5.4B to GDP

Source: Amanda Peterka, E&E reporter • Posted: Monday, August 17, 2015

Ethanol giant Poet LLC has added $5.4 billion to the national gross domestic product and supports nearly 40,000 direct and indirect jobs, according to a report commissioned by the company.

The report released yesterday also found that Poet spent $3.1 billion on raw materials to feed into its ethanol plants and produced a total of 1.7 billion gallons, or more than 11 percent of total U.S. ethanol output, in 2014.

The report estimated that Poet displaced about 1.2 million gallons of gasoline used in the United States.

Agriculture and BioFuels Consulting LLP conducted the study for the company. It comes as the ethanol industry is fighting stakeholder groups and critics in Congress who have questioned the corn-based fuel’s benefits.

“Ethanol provides us the means to produce our own clean fuel and keep the enormous economic benefits within America’s borders,” Poet CEO Jeff Lautt said in a statement. “The impact flows from the plants to farmers, communities, throughout the states in which they operate and across the nation.”

Poet operates 27 corn ethanol plants in South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Indiana, Ohio and Michigan. The company has consistently ranked among the top five ethanol producers in the United States.

The report is the first commissioned by the company to evaluate its economic impact.

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