Progressive Farmer by Tod Neeley 8/20/2019
POET Cuts Production After RFS WaiversOMAHA (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,
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