Durbin Discusses COVID-19 Impact On Ethanol Producers With Growth Energy

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today spoke by phone with members of Growth Energy to discuss the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on Illinois ethanol producers. On today’s call, Durbin, a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, heard about the severe harm to ethanol production caused by the steep decline in gasoline demand and how provisions included as part of the House-passed Heroes Act will help ethanol producers. Call participants included the Illinois companies Marquis Energy in Hennepin, ADM in Decatur and Peoria, Green Plains in Madison, and the National Corn-to-Ethanol Research Center at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville.

“The Trump Administration is a step closer to permanently crippling the ethanol industry, an important market for corn and a job creator for rural areas. President Trump’s EPA has handed out 85 waivers to stop blending ethanol into gasoline, helping large oil companies that already had huge profits. Now with the COVID-19 pandemic, half of the nation’s ethanol plants have shutdown, yet these same oil companies want more waivers,” said Durbin. “Under this President, the farming sector now finds itself relying more on government aid than free markets. I will be joining my colleagues in Congress to help the ethanol and farm sector and keep it moving forward until this crisis is over.”

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