SIOUX FALLS, South Dakota – According to a new report, a proposed ethanol pipeline would be an economic boost for the USA, creating almost 80,000 direct, indirect, and induced jobs across the country. Once the feasibility study is complete, the pipeline could be operational as early as 2014.

Ethanol producer POET of Sioux Falls, and energy infrastructure operator Magellan Midstream Partners L.P. of Tulsa, Oklahoma have formed a joint venture to assess the feasibility of a 2,900 kilometre ethanol pipeline from ethanol production facilities in the Midwest, starting at Davison County, South Dakota, to distribution outlets in the northeast of the country, ending in Linden, New Jersey.

A recent report from the consulting firm LECG shows that the majority of the jobs created will be in the construction and transportation industries. More than 50,000 jobs will come from construction alone. The pipeline project would provide approximately 1,100 permanent jobs after construction is complete.

CEO of POET, Jeff Broin, said: "This project has the clear environmental benefit of dramatically reducing carbon emissions from traditional ethanol transportation, and this latest report shows its important impact on our economy, too. Ethanol continues to play a large role in the new energy economy taking shape in the USA."

COO of Magellan, Mike Mears, added: "Pipelines are the most cost-efficient, safest, and most reliable mode of transportation for liquid energy. Construction of a large-scale renewable fuel pipeline complements the national objective of creating high-quality jobs while increasing transportation efficiencies for the growing renewable fuels industry."

A loan guarantee with the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) is necessary for this project to become a reality. Congress is considering amendments to DoE’s loan guarantee program to include large-scale renewable fuel pipeline projects. Besides job creation, the report outlines other economic benefits of the project including:

• $6.6 billion in USA economic growth
• $3.7 billion in household income
• $0.7 billion in federal tax revenues
• $0.6  billion in state and local tax revenues

Corporate information

POET lays claim to being the largest ethanol producer in the world, producing more than 1.54 billion gallons* of ethanol annually from 26 production facilities nationwide. The 20-year-old company recently started up a pilot-scale cellulosic ethanol plant, which uses corn cobs as feedstock, and plans to commercialise the process in Emmetsburg, Iowa. More at www.poet.com

Magellan Midstream Partners L.P. (NYSE: MMP) is a publicly-traded partnership formed to own, operate, and acquire a diversified portfolio of energy assets. The partnership primarily transports, stores, and distributes refined petroleum products in 22 states. It owns and operates the country’s longest refined-products pipeline system, and says it is connected to more than 40% of the refining capacity in the USA. More at www.magellanlp.com

*Editor’s note: Such archaic measures as gallons are now used only in the USA. The rest of the world uses metric measures, such as litres. The majority of imperial measurements can be converted easily, quickly, and free of charge at www.metric-conversions.org