Poet releases first economic impact study, suggests positive developments

Ethanol producer Poet has made a positive impact on the US economy, the company’s first published economic impact study suggests.

The study, published yesterday, reports Poet has generated a total of $13.5 billion (appr. €12bln) in sales for US businesses, added $5.4 billion in national gross domestic product, supported an estimated 39,978 full time jobs, and contributed $3.1 billion in income for US families.

The report further details Poet’s contribution to the economic prosperity in each of the seven states where it operates – South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan.

Poet, which is headquartered in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, operates a total of 27 dry mill corn ethanol plants with an annual capacity of 1.7 billion gallons, which is more than 11 percent of the total U.S. ethanol output.

‘Ethanol provides us the means to produce our own clean fuel and keep the economic benefits within US borders. The impact flows from the plants to farmers, communities, throughout the states in which they operate, and across the nation,” Poet CEO Jeff Lautt says.

In addition, the report cites Poet’s impact on reducing foreign oil dependence. 

According to the study, Poet’s production of 1.7 billion gallons of ethanol displaces nearly 1.2 billion gallons of gasoline, which requires 61 million barrels of crude oil to produce.

This displacement potentially reduces the outflow of money to foreign producers of oil by nearly $5.5 billion. 

The use of ethanol also reduces greenhouse gas emissions relative to gasoline, as burning a gallon of ethanol opposed to gasoline results in a 35% reduction of CO₂ emissions.

Reflecting this, the production of 1.7 billion gallons of ethanol by Poet cuts CO₂ emissions by approximately 874,000 metric tonnes. 

The full report and additional information on state-level data is available at http://www.poet.com/impact.