[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3708 Introduced in House (IH)]







107th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 3708

To continue the Department of Agriculture program that promotes the use 
of certain agricultural commodities to produce bioenergy and to expand 
  the program to include animal fats, animal by-products, and oils as 
          eligible agricultural commodities under the program.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 7, 2002

Mr. Thune (for himself and Mr. Boswell) introduced the following bill; 
           which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To continue the Department of Agriculture program that promotes the use 
of certain agricultural commodities to produce bioenergy and to expand 
  the program to include animal fats, animal by-products, and oils as 
          eligible agricultural commodities under the program.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Bioenergy Investment and Opportunity 
Act of 2002''.

SEC. 2. BIOENERGY PROGRAM TO PROMOTE INDUSTRIAL CONSUMPTION OF 
              AGRICULTURAL COMMODITIES FOR PRODUCTION OF BIOENERGY.

    (a) Continuation of Program.--Through fiscal year 2011, the 
Secretary of Agriculture shall continue the Department of Agriculture 
program under chapter 1424 of title 7, Code of Federal Regulations, 
under which the Secretary makes payments to producers of bioenergy from 
agriculturally derived sources to encourage increased purchases of 
eligible agricultural commodities for the purpose of expanding 
production of such bioenergy and supporting the construction of new 
production capacity.
    (b) Payment Basis; Evidence.--The Secretary shall make payments 
under the program based on the increase in the bioenergy production of 
an eligible producer compared to the producer's bioenergy production of 
the previous year. To be eligible to receive a payment under the 
program, a bioenergy producer shall submit to the Secretary such 
records as the Secretary may require to indicate the increased 
purchases and utilization of eligible agricultural commodities for the 
production of bioenergy.
    (c) Payment Limitation.--The amount of funds that any single 
producer may obtain under the program in a fiscal year may not exceed 
five percent of the total amount expended under the program in that 
year or $10,000,000, whichever is less.
    (d) Eligible Agricultural Commodity Defined.--For purposes of the 
program, the term ``eligible agricultural commodity'' means--
            (1) barley, corn, grain sorghum, oats, rice, wheat, 
        soybeans, sunflower seed, canola, crambe, rapeseed, safflower, 
        flaxseed, mustard seed, and cellulosic crops, such as 
        switchgrass and short rotation trees, grown on farms in the 
        United States for the purpose of producing bioenergy.
            (2) animal fats, animal by-products, and oils from animals 
        raised in the United States; and
            (3) any other agricultural commodity or commodity by-
        product produced in the United States that the Secretary 
        determines is suitable for use in bioenergy production.
    (e) Funding.--The Secretary may use up to $200,000,000 of the funds 
of the Commodity Credit Corporation each fiscal year to make payments 
under the program.
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