State Subsidies for Ethanol

Ethanol production, which was virtually nonexistent in the U.S. in 1980, grew to 6.5 billion gallons per year by 2007, fueled by federal subsidies and mandates requiring ethanol to be mixed with gasoline.


The current federal subsidy is 51 cents per gallon for ethanol/gasoline. Many states offer additional subsidies or tax credits to encourage ethanol production or consumption. Wisconsin, for example, offers a 20-cent-per-gallon subsidy, up to 15 million gallons.

That’s equivalent to $71,400 per worker for an average-sized plant in Wisconsin, Cotti explained.
SEE HERE
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State subsidies are a subject that I never see covered.  I suspect they are well known to those in the industry.  The Wisconsin example adds up to .20x15M=$3M/year.  Looks like they use an average of 42 employees/plant to get their figures which seems about right.  GreenShift has a COES in Utica, WI, a contract with a plant in Milton WI and patent litigation against a plant in Stanley, Wisconsin.
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For a Michigan take:
"If a state wants to play a significant role in the emerging biofuel industry, then policymakers may need to consider ethanol incentives," Skidmore said. "States such as Iowa and Nebraska offered ethanol incentives relatively early and this has enabled them to lead the industry - - plus those two states also have ideal corn growing conditions. But even states such as Oklahoma and Montana, which can't grow corn very well, offer ethanol subsidies. Like Michigan, this could set them up to be leaders in the cellulosic ethanol industry when that becomes commercially viable."

SEE HERE
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For those who want to see the actual study these articles are based on -
SEE IT HERE
SkunK