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Updated: Check out map showing impact of COVID-19 on production and tell us how your ethanol plant is operating.

Compiled by staff

May 13, 2020

2 Min Read

Updated.

House Democrats unveiled their proposal for the next phase of coronavirus aid today (May 12), according to CBS News.

The bill, which is known as the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions  (HEROES) Act, includes:

  • Assistance to state and local governments,

  • Hazard pay for frontline health care workers,

  • Forgiveness of student debt,

  • Provisions to assist farmers,

  • Provisions to protect renters and homeowners from evictions and foreclosures,

  • Bolstering Medicaid and Medicare.

  • Extensions to family and medical leave provisions.

The $3 trillion proposal will be voted on Friday, Forbes reports. The HEROES Act also includes another stimulus check for individual taxpayers and their families.

The Renewable Fuels Association welcomed the inclusion of the Renewable Fuels Reimbursement Program in the act.

“The Renewable Fuel Reimbursement Program represents a potential lifeline for the 350,000 men and women whose jobs depend on a healthy and vibrant ethanol industry,” said RFA President and CEO Geoff Cooper. “This program would lend a crucial helping hand and ensure that ethanol producers are able to participate in the economic recovery from COVID-19.”

The ethanol industry is struggling amid the COVID-19 pandemic. On Monday, four Midwest legislators led a letter to House leadership warning about the impact of the struggling biofuel industry. RFA and other biofuel supporters sent a similar letter to House and Senate leadership.

Related:Rural Democrats call for creation of Heroes Fund

The HEROES Act would provide 45 cents per gallon for qualifying renewable fuel produced between Jan. 1 and May 1, 2020.

The ethanol industry is experiencing the worst economic crisis in its 40-year history, Cooper said, with roughly half of the industry’s capacity offline today. Nearly 70 ethanol plants are completely idled and another 80 facilities are operating well below normal output rates.

Farm Futures continues to compile data on the ethanol plant situation across the country. Please submit your information here.

Here's a look at what we've learned so far from readers.

 

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