Ag department collecting ethanol reports, but not studying them
During a Legislative Audit Commission hearing today (April 17) Minnesota Department of Agriculture Commissioner Gene Hugoson indicated that his department has not been auditing the financial reports that state ethanol producers have been obligated to submit in order to receive ethanol subsidy payments.
Hugoson told the commission that his department does not have the funding or staff to conduct audits. Beyond this, data privacy considerations require that the financial data be general — the records of the companies are not completely opened to scrutiny, he explained.
Legislative Audit Commission Chairwoman Ann Rest, DFL-New Hope, chided Hugoson for the state of affairs.
“It’s getting a taxpayer subsidy,” she said of the ethanol companies.
Taxpayers have right, Rest said.
Having administrations scrutinize such data should be as routine as brushing your teeth in the morning, Rest opined.
She also questioned why companies receiving state subsidies are not required to completely open their books.
The issue of the ethanol finanical reports spilled out onto the Senate floor where the agriculture and veterans bill was amended to require ethanol producers to continue to submit financial reports — they were no longer needed because the payment program was nearing its end, it was argued.
The legislative auditor used the financial records in researching a report on the state’s biofuel policies and programs.
It’s estimated that state’s subsidies to the ethanol industry since the start of the program more than a decade ago is about $329 million.
