By Donnelle Eller

Des Moines Register

Feb 14, 2023

Iowa ethanol plants could close over the next decade without access to three proposed carbon-capture pipelines, a “catastrophic” hit that would ripple through the state economy, hitting farmers, livestock producers and rural residents, a new report funded by a renewable fuels group says.

Iowa’s ethanol industry would lose three-fourths of its production, or about $10.3 billion annually, in the next five to 10 years to neighboring states, according to a report from Decision Innovation Solutions, a Des Moines-area economic consultant.

Lost ethanol production would cut 1 billion bushels of local demand annually for Iowa corn, used to make the biofuel, according to the report, funded by the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association. That would equal about 40% of last year’s corn harvest, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data.

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