David Swenson, research scientist, was recently interviewed by:
John Steppe, Cedar Rapids Gazette, about the condition of the Iowa ethanol industry and its future prospects.
Linh Ta, Axios, about the economic impacts of ethanol production in Iowa and the issues the industry faces with the Biden Administration.
Sarah Beckman, WOI TV, about how the pandemic has affected the Iowa economy.
Swenson was quoted in a Feb. 22 KCCI TV story, "Gas prices on the rise, an economist tells KCCI why and if they will be coming down."
Dave Swenson says gas prices were lower than normal due to more supply than demand during the pandemic.
"They've climbed back up recently and they've climbed back up relatively rapidly. To here they are now close to what they were prior to the pandemic."
Swenson tells KCCI during the pandemic the price of oil was in a free fall and refineries were closing. He believes demand is catching up to supply and we will continue to see prices rise through 2021. Swenson says with electric cars, people working from home and younger people driving less, we will not see driving levels reach pre-pandemic. He says some investors are predicting gas prices to increase another 20%.
According to Swenson, the Energy Information Agency does not anticipate prices going up that much.