President’s Budget Asks Little for Rural Energy Programs, But Would Boost DOE Biomass Investments

In its Fiscal Year 2013 (FY13) budget request to Congress, the administration requested only $4.6 million in new budget authority for the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP), and it did not request any new funds for the other bioenergy programs in the Farm Bill. What is going on? Until now, the administration and the USDA have given strong priority to implementing Farm Bill energy programs.

On February 13, the Obama administration rolled out its proposed budget for FY13 . In this election year, with a deeply polarized and divided government, many see the President’s budget proposal as being primarily a political campaign document. Not many of his priorities are likely to be enacted this year. Nonetheless, throughout the budget proposal, the administration has made its priorities clear.

First, the good news for bioenergy: the administration requested $270 million in new budget authority, an increase of $70 million (35%) over FY12 for the Department of Energy (DOE) Biomass Program . In addition, the administration is also proposing to continue funding the DOE Office of Science Bioenergy Research Centers at $75 million, the same level as previous years.

However, in the USDA FY 2013 Budget Summary and Annual Performance Plan , for energy title programs such as the Biorefinery Assistance Program , the Biomass Crop Assistance Program , the Biomass Research and Development Initiative , and the Bioenergy Program for Advanced Biofuels , the President’s budget says simply "subject to reauthorization." And for the widely popular, job-creating Renewable Energy for America Program , the administration requested only a small fraction of the amount funded in previous years.

What is going on? The Obama administration has, until now, expressed and demonstrated a high level of commitment to promoting the development of advanced biofuels and the bioeconomy, support that the Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, continued to express on February 13 at the USDA budget briefing and in testimony before the Senate Agriculture Committee on February 15. Thus, the lack of an administration budget request for rural energy programs is difficult to comprehend.

On the White House website’s "Department of Agriculture: Funding Highlights" page, the White House says that "the administration proposes over $200 million to continue support for the development of homegrown, advanced biofuels that have the potential to reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil and to bolster our rural economies." However, upon closer examination , it appears that this is not a request for new funds, but rather accounts for how the administration plans to spend previously authorized funds through the Commodity Credit Corporation.

In the 2008 Farm Bill Energy Title , Congress authorized more than $1 billion in mandatory spending and another $1 billion in discretionary spending over five years to develop advanced biofuels, bioenergy, energy efficiency, and other forms of renewable energy across rural America. Since then, most of the mandatory funding has been invested or otherwise committed, but Congress appropriated relatively little of the discretionary funding that was authorized. The Farm Bill expires on September 30 of this year (the end of FY12), and Senate and House Agriculture Committees are working on legislation to reauthorize Farm Bill programs for the next five years, starting in FY13. Unlike most previous administrations, the Obama administration has said that it does not plan to offer a Farm Bill plan of its own.