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Study: renewable fuels account for 850,000 U.S. jobs
Jon Doggett with the National Corn Growers Association says the $184.5 billion economic impact of renewable fuels goes beyond just numbers. Those numbers are part of an economic impact study showing that the renewable fuels industry supports more than 850,000 U.S. jobs.
Doggett cites what he’s heard from corn growers whose children have come back to the farm because of the relative prosperity resulting from the renewable fuel standard.
“Not only could I afford to have my kid and his or her family come back to the farm and get them into the operation, but we actually had an economically viable community,” said Doggett, during a coalition-hosted conference call Wednesday. “We had a movie theater, we had a hospital; the school district is doing well because of the economic impacts of biofuels.”
Larry Ward, with ethanol producer POET, says their plants keep people busy distilling 1.6 billion gallons of ethanol annually.
“They provide good-paying, direct jobs in rural small communities,” said Ward, who was also on the call. “These are jobs, as others have mentioned, that cannot be outsourced. These are great local jobs, direct jobs, highly technical jobs, good paying jobs for all those that are participating.”
POET and the National Corn Growers are part of Fuels America, a coalition working to preserve the Renewable Fuel Standard. The coalition commissioned the economic impact study, which also shows that biofuels account for $14.5 billion in annual tax revenue.
Fuels America wants the EPA to uphold the Renewable Fuel Standard, the federally mandated volumes of ethanol and biodiesel that are blended with petroleum fuels.
Renewable fuels represent nearly 10 percent of the U.S. fuel supply.
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