10.01.06
USDA Awards $5.5 Million for Biofuels, Biomass, and Wind Power
Last week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (“USDA”) announced its selection of 44 projects, spanning 21 states, that will receive approximately $5.5 million in grants for the production and marketing of ethanol, ethanol by-products and biodiesel, as well as for feasibility studies of energy production from biomass and wind power. The funds are part of a larger package of Small Minority Producer Grants and Value-Added Producer Grants. While the majority of the funds are earmarked for ethanol-related projects, the funds will also support efforts to market heating fuels derived from wood pellets, wood chips, sugarcane biomass, corn and from methane produced from an anaerobic digester on a dairy farm. Several on-farm, wind power projects have also received funding. The projects will be located in the states of Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
The USDA is also offering $5.4 million for research in bio-based products and bioenergy production, to be awarded in FY 2007 (note that the FY 2007 appropriations have not yet been passed by Congress, and the appropriation levels may change the funding or cancel portions of the program). The funds are part of the National Research Initiative’s Competitive Grants Program, run by the USDA’s Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service. Research priorities include the development of biocatalysts for converting cellulosic biomass into fuels and products; improved pretreatment and conversion of biomass for conversion into fuels and products; and innovative non-food uses of biomass residuals and co-products from the production of biofuels and bioproducts. Interested parties must submit a letter of intent to the program by November 8, 2006.