Ethanol Plant Stats: Man! they use a lot of corn

A few numbers on the ethanol industry in the USA:

• 101 plants in operation, making 4.5 billion gallons of ethanol (yes billion)
• An additional 44 are under construction and 7 are expanding, with an anticipated 3 billion gallons of production
• The existing plants used 550 million bushel of corn this past year.That accounted for 1/2 the decrease in American corn stocks year over year
• It's estimated this consumption added $0.25 a bushel to the price of corn. Yes a quarter