25x'25 Alliance: House Farm Bill strengthens renewable energy
By Dairy Herd news source
| Tuesday, July 31, 2007
The National 25x'25
"We applaud House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) for championing a farm bill that will capitalize on the new opportunities that the development renewable energy provides our nation's farms, ranches and forests," said Read Smith, a Washington state grain farmer and co-chair of the national 25x'25 Steering Committee. "By promoting the research and development of land-based renewable energy, this new farm bill could strengthen our national security, improve our environment and boost our economy, especially in rural areas."
The House bill provides $2.4 billion over five years for clean energy incentives for wind power, advanced biofuels, solar power, energy efficiency, and new energy crops for clean power and fuels. And that fiscal support "goes a long way toward redefining the role of production agriculture," said Bill Richards, a former director of USDA's Soil Conservation Service and the other co-chair of the 25x'25 Steering Committee. "The energy provisions in the farm bill will enable
The House Farm Bill also:
- Increases funding for a program that makes grants and authorizes loans and loan guarantees to farmers, ranchers and rural businesses to cover up to 25 percent of the purchase of renewable energy systems and improve energy efficiency.
- Provides guarantees of up to 90 percent on loans for development, construction and retrofitting of biorefineries and biofuel production plants to demonstrate the commercial viability of converting biomass to fuel or chemicals, covering up to $2 billion in loans.
- Provides funding for a program that makes payments of $1.5 billion to producers of bioenergy — including biodiesel, renewable diesel and fuel-grade ethanol — over the 2008-2012 period.
- Increases funding for a number of companion conservation programs.
For more information about 25x'25, go to http://www.25x25.org.
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