Story on U.S. ethanol plant emissions is withdrawn

Green Plains

26/09/2022 23:06

Sept 26 (Reuters) - Reuters has withdrawn a Sept. 8
story comparing carbon emissions at U.S. ethanol plants and oil
refineries because of flaws in its interpretation of data that
led to inaccurate estimates of pollution at individual ethanol
plants.
    The errors stemmed in part from a misinterpretation of
Environmental Protection Agency data that included emissions
from non-fuel products produced by the ethanol plants, such as
alcohol for beverages or sanitizer.
    Three of the plants named in the story as top industry
polluters - owned by Golden Triangle Energy, Central Indiana
Ethanol and Green Plains Inc (GPRE.O) - produced mostly non-fuel
products, according to the companies. That made the article’s
comparison of their emissions to oil refineries inappropriate.
    In addition, the emissions estimate for another plant, owned
by Marquis Energy, was inflated because Reuters used data on
fuel capacity to derive an estimate of plant emissions per
gallon of fuel production. The estimate was overstated because
the Marquis plant’s actual production was substantially higher
than its stated capacity in the data set. 
    Data on actual production at ethanol plants is not publicly
available