One of Nation's Largest Ethanol Companies Announces Job Cuts Coming

[Elderberry]

Progressive Farmer by Tod Neeley 8/20/2019

POET Cuts Production After RFS Waivers

OMAHA (DTN) -- One of the nation's largest ethanol companies announced on Tuesday it will idle a 92-million-gallon plant in Cloverdale, Indiana, following EPA's decision to grant 31 new small-refinery waivers to the Renewable Fuel Standard for 2018.

POET, based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, stated it has started the process of idling the Indiana plant "due to recent decisions by the administration" regarding the waivers. The company said in a news release that the move means the plant will "cease processing of over 30 million bushels of corn annually and hundreds of local jobs will be impacted."

POET said it already has cut production at half of its plants, with the largest cuts coming at plants in Iowa and Ohio.

In addition, the company said numerous jobs will be consolidated across POET's 28 plants and corn processing will be reduced by an additional 100 million bushels across Iowa, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Minnesota, South Dakota and Missouri.

POET Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jeff Broin said in a statement that ethanol companies made investments based on the EPA upholding the Renewable Fuel Standard.

Since 2016, President Donald Trump's administration has issued 85 exemptions totaling 4.03 billion gallons of ethanol-equivalent gallons not being blended with gasoline. According to the agency's dashboard,

More: https://www.dtnpf.com/agriculture/web/ag/news/business-inputs/article/2019/08/20/one-nations-largest-ethanol-job-cuts

[InHeavenThereIsNoBeer]

POET Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jeff Broin said in a statement that ethanol companies made investments based on the EPA upholding the Renewable Fuel Standard.

If your business model is counting on the govt to force people to buy your product, perhaps those job cuts should go all the way to the top.

[Free Vulcan]

POET Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jeff Broin said in a statement that ethanol companies made investments based on the EPA upholding the Renewable Fuel Standard.

If your business model is counting on the govt to force people to buy your product, perhaps those job cuts should go all the way to the top.

So true. That and the current ethanol process is about the most piss poor way to use ag products, but too many farmers want to keep doing the same thing and expect different results.

[IsailedawayfromFR]

"POET can continue to produce ethanol with cheap grain, but we don't want to lose our family farmers. The EPA has robbed rural America, and it's time for farmers across the Heartland to fight for their future."

The EPA is the villain in many ways to farmers in imposing restrictions to them, but that is the first time I have ever read they are villains for that reason of not imposing restrictions on someone.

[Joe Wooten]

POET Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jeff Broin said in a statement that ethanol companies made investments based on the EPA upholding the Renewable Fuel Standard.

If your business model is counting on the govt to force people to buy your product, perhaps those job cuts should go all the way to the top.