Download Locations

• National Agricultural Law Center

Summary

This report provides a summary of major legislative proposals for change in the farm bill energy title (Title IX) and compares current law with energy provisions from the recently approved House 2007 farm bill. On July 27, 2007, the House approved a new farm bill -- the Farm, Nutrition, and Bioenergy Act of 2007 (H.R. 2419) -- which includes an energy title (Title IX). H.R. 2419, as amended and passed by the House, expands and extends several provisions from the energy title of the enacted 2002 farm bill with substantial increases in funding and a heightened focus on developing cellulosic ethanol production. A key departure from current farm-bill related energy provisions is that most new funding would be directed away from corn-starch-based ethanol production and towards either cellulosic-based biofuels production or to new as-yet-undeveloped technologies with some type of agricultural linkage. In particular, the bill proposes a total of $3.2 billion in new funding for Title IX energy provisions over five years including $1.4 billion for production incentive payments on new biofuels production; $800 million in funding to underwrite up to $2 billion in loan guarantees for the development of new biorefineries; $420 million for research on biomass production, harvest, transportation, and storage; and new mandatory funding for a biomass reserve for cellulosic feedstock. A funding complication relating to "pay-go" budget restrictions on new energy funding arose because the Congressional Budget Office's March baseline showed no funding in the farm bill for a new energy title. However, the House Agriculture Committee resolved this issue by finding $2.4 billion in funding offsets from outside of the agriculture budget. The Senate Agriculture Committee is expected to mark up its version of a 2007 farm bill in mid-September. The Senate is also expected to adhere to "pay-go" budget restrictions which may, in and of themselves, lead to different funding choices than made by the House. Although the chairman's mark is not yet completed, several farm-policy related bills with important energy components have already emerged in the Senate and are likely to figure in the Senate farm bill discussion. In addition to forthcoming Senate farm bill action, both the House and Senate have recently passed different versions of new energy bills that contain many biofuels provisions similar to those contained in H.R. 2419.

Related Legislation:
• H.R.2419

XML