House Agriculture Committee Holds Hearing on Energy Programs

On May 18, the Subcommittee on Conservation, Energy and Forestry of the House Committee on Agriculture received testimony on agricultural energy and forestry programs. Witnesses on the energy title presented testimony in support of renewing funding for the Biobased Market Program, the Biorefinery Assistance Program, the Bioenergy Program for Advanced Biofuels, the Biodiesel Fuel Education Program, the Rural Energy for America Program, and the Biomass Crop Assistance Program.

This was the final hearing in a series on the Farm Bill. The Subcommittee received testimony from Jim Greenwood, president and CEO, Biotechnology Industry Organization, Washington, D.C.; Ryan Stroschein, Agriculture Energy Coalition, Washington, D.C.; Steve Reinford, owner/operator, Reinford Farms Inc., Mifflintown, PA; Jerry Taylor, president and CEO, MFA Oil Company, co-founder, MFA Oil Biomass LLC, Columbia, MO; and Gary Haer, chairman, National Biodiesel Board, Washington, D.C.

All witnesses spoke in support of renewing Farm Bill energy programs. Questions from Subcommittee members included:

• If only three energy title programs can be funded, what should they be?
• How much do anaerobic digesters cost? How do they work? How are they financed? How much did REAP help with this?
• How can the Biomass Crop Assistance Program be improved?
• Why is it taking so long to get commercial scale cellulosic ethanol biorefineries up and running?
• Can you grow Miscanthus (a perennial energy crop) in Colorado?
• For how many more years will the federal government need to support the advanced biofuel industry? When can these programs sunset?

Next, the House Committee on Agriculture will draft its version of the 2012 Farm Bill reauthorization.

On April 26, the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry approved its version of the bill, the Agriculture Reform, Food and Jobs Act of 2012 . The Senate Committee’s version of the bill renewed mandatory funding for many current agriculture energy programs, as reported in a previous SBFF post . The bill is expected to be brought to the Senate floor for debate in June.