​Estimates of economic damage from the 2019 Midwest flooding have reached $12.5 billion, according to AccuWeather, which based its estimates on already-inflicted damages and estimated additional damage and lingering health effects from flooding. 

​For the first time since 1998, Americans consumption of ethanol fuel declined. According to the Energy Information Association, a Federal agency, consumption fell from 14.5 billion gallons in 2017 to just under 14.4 billion gallons in 2018. The Renewable Fuel Association (RFA), a policy advocate for the ethanol industry, suggests that a change in the overall blend rate, via a decline in RIN waivers, led to the decline.