Rural Energy for America Program: Worth a Second Look

Image courtesy USDA NRCS
The House Agriculture Committee has begun hearings in preparation for reauthorizing and/or reforming the nation’s nutrition and agriculture programs. The current authorization for these programs (the Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008) expires at the end of 2012. If recent House votes on Fiscal Year 2011 and 2012 agriculture appropriations bills are any indication, the future of most of the programs under the farm bill energy title – such as the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP), the Biomass Crop Assistance Program, and the Biorefinery Assistance Program – may be at risk.

At a time when job creation is at a standstill across the United States and oil import costs are soaring, driving up costs for agricultural producers and rural businesses, these programs are the kinds of public investments that can help get the economy moving again in an environmentally sustainable direction.

For example, according to the Environmental Law and Policy Center (ELPC), “each year more farmers and rural businesses have used REAP, with demand far outpacing the available funding. Since 2003, REAP has helped nearly 6,000 farmers and rural businesses in every state in the U.S. with grants and loan guarantees to help finance new clean energy and energy efficiency projects, drive private investment and save many millions of dollars each year on energy costs.” REAP has helped reduce energy costs for poultry producers, convert livestock wastes to clean heat and power on dairy farms with anaerobic digesters, and finance local wind energy projects for rural electric cooperatives. Each of these projects have supported local job creation and rural business development and helped make these agricultural producers and businesses more competitive.

To learn more about the REAP program, you are invited to attend a briefing on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, July 19, hosted by EESI and ELPC. The same briefing will be repeated at 10 a.m. (Room 1300 Longworth House Office Building) and 2 p.m. (Room 188 Russell Senate Office Building). If you would like your Congressional delegation to learn more about this topic, we encourage you to call your Senators' or Representative's staff on Capitol Hill and ask them to attend the briefing. Video and other information from the briefing also will be posted at www.eesi.org/briefings after the event.