Ethanol continues creating good, local jobs
Posted Mar. 17, 2015 at 11:30 AM
By Mitch Miller, CEO Carbon Green BioEnergy
I’m proud of our work at Carbon Green BioEnergy to produce high-blend, advanced ethanol for use across Michigan and the nation. Ethanol benefits Michigan in many ways – and job creation is at the top of the list. To keep boosting the economy and creating good jobs, we’re counting on a strong Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) into the future.
The Michigan Corn Growers Association and Michigan’s ethanol companies recently released a short video, available at www.micorn.org, featuring the enormous benefits of the ethanol industry and the job creation that comes with it, as well as the need for a strong RFS.
The video shows how Carbon Green BioEnergy provides more than 40 good, local jobs. That allows our employees, many of whom are from the area, to make a living in rural Michigan and do work that benefits folks across the state.
As one of our employees, Maggie Benham, says: “Michigan’s ethanol industry provided me with a chance to use my accounting background, but also raise my family in rural Michigan – something that’s very important to us. With so many people across Michigan employed by the ethanol industry, my story is replicated many times over.”
More than 22,000 Michigan jobs are connected to the production of renewable fuels like ethanol, including hundreds of workers directly employed at Michigan ethanol facilities.
And by strengthening our rural economy, ethanol production is boosting opportunity for small businesses and keeping dollars here in Michigan. Carbon Green BioEnergy, for example, uses corn grown right here in Michigan to produce our ethanol – helping send stronger signals on prices for corn farmers – and we contract locally for as many services as possible. These benefits are set to continue increasing as America’s use of biofuels like ethanol ramps up.
At the same time, we’re always looking to modernize our operations and become more advanced. Using today’s production methods, each bushel of corn that goes into an ethanol plant produces 2.8 gallons of ethanol, just over half a pound of corn oil, and 17 pounds of animal feed in the form of dried distillers grains. Innovation like this will put us on a long-term pathway to success, allowing us to create and maintain quality jobs into the future.
To keep growing, we’re counting on smart, forward-looking policies like the Renewable Fuel Standard.
Michigan’s ethanol industry provides a wide range of benefits for our state – including thousands of jobs – and we’re proud to create a Michigan-made product that helps so many across the nation. I encourage folks to visit www.micorn.org to see our new video, and to learn more about how we can keep this work going strong.
