[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1757 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1757

     To promote clean energy infrastructure for rural communities.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            October 20, 2011

  Mr. Tester (for himself, Mr. Harkin, Mr. Bennet, and Ms. Klobuchar) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
           Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
     To promote clean energy infrastructure for rural communities.

    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 ``Clean Energy Infrastructure for 
Rural Communities Act of 2011''.

SEC. 2. ELECTRIC LOANS FOR RENEWABLE ENERGY.

    Section 317 of the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 (7 U.S.C. 
940g) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (b)--
                    (A) by striking ``for electric generation'' and 
                inserting ``for--
            ``(1) electric generation'';
                    (B) by striking the period at the end and inserting 
                ``; and''; and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(2) transmission facilities primarily for the purpose of 
        interconnecting 1 or more renewable energy facilities to a 
        high-voltage transmission line.''; and
            (2) by striking subsection (c).

SEC. 3. RURAL NATURAL GAS INFRASTRUCTURE.

    Section 310B(a) of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act 
(7 U.S.C. 1932(a)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1)--
                    (A) by redesignating subparagraph (B) as 
                subparagraph (C); and
                    (B) by inserting after subparagraph (A) the 
                following:
                    ``(B) Natural gas.--The term `natural gas' means--
                            ``(i) unmixed natural gas; or
                            ``(ii) any mixture of natural and 
                        artificial gas.''; and
            (2) in paragraph (2)--
                    (A) in subparagraph (C), by striking ``and'' at the 
                end;
                    (B) by redesignating subparagraph (D) as 
                subparagraph (E); and
                    (C) by inserting after subparagraph (C) the 
                following:
                    ``(D) improving the economic and environmental 
                climate by encouraging the development and construction 
                of infrastructure to provide access to natural gas in 
                rural communities; and''.
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