Rural Energy Programs Cut under House Panel’s Version of Farm Bill
(The Hill/E2Wire)Five rural energy programs will end while others will be slimmed down if a draft version of the 2012 farm bill released Thursday becomes law.
The cuts, made by leaders of the House Agriculture Committee, will total about $500 million, according to the draft legislation, which “streamlines current programs, enhances program integrity, and repeals five programs that have outlived their usefulness.”
The five energy programs on the chopping block are the Repowering Assistance Program, Biofuels Infrastructure Study, Renewable Fertilizer Study, Rural Energy Self-Sufficiency Initiative and the Forest Biomass for Energy Program.
…A handful of other programs would undergo changes that supporters claim will boost efficiency and save money.
Rural Energy for America would be one of those altered programs.
…The bill also would cancel collection, harvest, storage and transportation (CHST) payments in the biomass crop assistance program.
…The Biorefinery Assistance Program would no longer give grants for biorefinery demonstration projects, the bill said.
Other programs will get reauthorized or expanded under the bill.
The bill retains the following programs: the Biodiesel Fuel Education Program, the Bioenergy Program for Advanced Biofuels, the Biomass Research and Development Program, the Feedstock Flexibility Program and the Community Wood Energy Program. READ MORE and MORE (DomesticFuel.com) and MORE (Ethanol Producer Magazine)
