Funding for Renewable Energy and Value-Added Programs
Protected by Senate Appropriators – Awaits Floor Action
Today,
July 17, 2003
, the Senate
Appropriations Committee reported out its Fiscal Year 2004 Department of
Agriculture (USDA) spending bill. The Committee restored funding to two
grant and loan programs in the 2002 Farm Bill which promote renewable
energy production in the agricultural sector.
The 2002 Farm Bill provided the Renewable Energy
and Energy Efficiency Improvements Program (Sec. 9006) with $23 mil/yr
in mandatory funding and the
Value-Added Agricultural Market Product Development Grants Program (Sec.
6401) with $40 mil/yr in mandatory funding.
Despite this, both programs have been the target of budget cuts
by the Administration as well as the House Appropriations Committee.
The Senate Agriculture Appropriations bill protects spending for
both programs. It remains
unclear when the bill will be taken up by the full Senate.
The Administration’s proposed budget eliminated mandatory funding for
the two programs, and in late June, the House Agriculture
Appropriations bill also eliminated mandatory funding for the two
programs. However, in House
floor action on July 14, an amendment offered by Rep. Marcy Kaptur
(D-OH) was adopted that restores full funding to Sec 9006. The
mandatory funding for the Value-Added was not restored in the House
bill.
The
Renewable Energy and Energy
Efficiency Improvements Program (Sec. 9006) is a new grant and
loan program in the Energy Title of the 2002 Farm Bill.
It provides grants, loans, and loan guarantees to farmers,
ranchers, and rural small businesses for the development of renewable
energy projects and energy efficiency improvements. The program is
designed to help farmers develop much needed new income streams in the
form of renewable energy, such as wind, biomass, and solar energy, and
to help meet the nation’s critical energy needs in an environmentally
clean way.
The
Value-Added Agricultural Market Product Development Grants program (Sec.
6401), which is part of
the Rural
Development title of the 2002 Farm Bill, was
allocated $40 million per year in mandatory funding.
The program was created to spur development of new uses
for agricultural products, and the 2002 Farm Bill amended the program to
include renewable energy. Under the
Value-Added program, $40 million
in grants in 43 states
were awarded by USDA in 2002, several of which were awarded to bioenergy
projects throughout the country.
In
June, a broad-based coalition letter was sent by 179 public interest,
agricultural, and environmental organizations, requesting that funding
be restored to Sec. 9006 and the Value-Added grants programs.
Click
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For additional information please visit www.eesi.org
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