[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 121 (Thursday, July 26, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10155-S10156]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. SALAZAR:
  S. 1884. A bill to amend the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act 
of 2002 to reauthorize and improve agricultural energy programs, and 
for other purposes; to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and 
Forestry,
  Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, today I am introducing a bill that will 
help deliver clean energy technologies from the research pipelines of 
our labs into the hands of our farmers and ranchers, so that we can 
take better advantage of our farms and fields for clean energy 
production. This bill, called the Harvesting Energy Act, will bolster 
the energy title of this year's farm bill, building on the good ideas 
that Chairman Harkin, Ranking Member Chambliss, and the rest of us on 
the Agriculture Committee have been working on for several months.
  I am proud that the Harvesting Energy Act reflects the broad-based, 
bipartisan input of the 25 by '25 coalition which, earlier this year, 
provided us with their policy recommendations for how we can produce 25 
percent of our energy from renewable resources by 2025. The 25 by '25 
vision has been endorsed by 22 current and former Governors and several 
State legislatures across the country, along with over 500 
organizations and companies, including the Big Three automobile 
manufacturers, agricultural producers, and environmental groups. We 
established 25 by '25 as a national goal earlier this year when we 
passed the Energy bill in the Senate. We must now implement the 
policies that are necessary to achieve that goal.
  I have spoken many times about the urgency of moving this Nation 
toward energy independence by making better use of the resources we 
have here at home. Responsible development of our oil and gas 
resources, improved efficiency and conservation, and more aggressive 
investment in renewable energy technologies--these are the three 
pillars upon which we must build an economy that is less dependent on 
foreign oil.
  I do not need to remind my colleagues of the dangers that oil 
dependence poses to the United States and to global security. It is oil 
that empowers states such as lran, Venezuela, and Syria. It is oil that 
contributes to violence in Iraq, Nigeria, and the Sudan. It is oil that 
places Russia and China in a dangerous competition for oil in Central 
Asia and Africa.
  This Congress has made remarkable progress since January in 
confronting the daunting task of reducing our dependence on foreign 
oil. It is an effort that has spanned several committees.
  The Energy bill that we passed in early June represented the diligent 
work of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, the Commerce 
Committee, and the Finance Committee. I was proud of the work we did on 
that bill, from creating meaningful oil savings targets to making 
smarter investments in renewables, improving vehicle standards, and 
establishing a national goal of producing 25 percent of our energy from 
our farms and fields by 2025.
  I am also proud of the energy work we are doing on the farm bill in 
the Agriculture Committee. Thanks to Chairman Harkin's leadership, the 
2007 farm bill will build on the 2002 farm bill's first-ever energy 
title.
  This is an important step that recognizes the central role that our 
farmers and ranchers must play in a new, clean energy economy. We have 
the most productive lands and most efficient farmers in the world, 
allowing America to be the breadbasket for the global community. With 
these resources, talent, and ingenuity, there is no doubt that we can 
grow our way to energy independence.
  As I travel through Colorado, the possibilities of a clean energy 
revolution, driven by farmers and ranchers, are clear.
  In Weld County, Logan County, and Yuma County, we are seeing biofuel 
plants spring to life, creating new markets and new opportunities for 
our rural communities. In 2004, there were no ethanol plants in 
Colorado. Today, three plants produce more than 90 million gallons per 
year, and a fourth plant will come on line later this year, adding 
another 50 million gallons per year.
  But it is not just biofuels. In the San Luis Valley, where my family 
has lived for five generations, Xcel Energy just broke ground on the 
largest solar plant in North America.
  We have added 60 megawatts of wind capacity in Colorado in the last 2 
years, and by the end of 2007, we will add another 775 megawatts, more 
than tripling the State's production of wind power to more than 1,000 
megawatts. This is good for households along the Front Range that get 
clean, affordable power, and it is good for the ranchers in Prowers 
County, who own the land on which the turbines sit.
  These biofuel plants, wind turbines, and solar farms are revitalizing 
rural communities that have been withering on the vine. They are 
bringing life back to main streets that were boarded up and excitement 
back to farmers and ranchers who are eager to be a part of our clean 
energy revolution.
  The bill I am introducing today will help stimulate this revolution 
by getting more renewable energy technologies out of the development 
pipeline and into the fields, where they belong.
  It is based on the recommendations contained in the 25 by 25 Action 
Plan and builds on those ideas with important new initiatives to 
supplement the energy title of the farm bill. Our goal is to ensure 
that the renewable energy work being done at the Department of Energy 
and in colleges and universities throughout the country, in which we 
invested earlier this year through the Energy bill, is accompanied by a 
strong commitment at USDA to bring the resulting technologies and 
methods out to farmers and ranchers.
  USDA has a long history of identifying promising new production 
methods and technologies, refining them, and making them available to 
agricultural producers. The Akron Research Station in Washington 
County, CO, is a great example. For 100 years it has connected our 
farmers in eastern Colorado with the latest practical agricultural 
research available.
  USDA can and should be making the same efforts to disperse the latest 
and best developments from the renewable energy revolution to farmers 
and ranchers.
  I want to briefly describe four ways in which my bill will bolster 
USDA's capabilities in this area and help make the 25x'25 vision a 
reality.
  First, the Harvesting Energy Act of expands and extends Section 9006 
of the farm bill, which offers competitive grants and loan guarantees 
to help farmers, ranchers, and rural small businesses invest in proven 
clean energy technologies. My bill adds $280 million to section 9006, 
following the recommendations of the 25x'25 Agriculture Energy 
Alliance. This will ramp up the loan guarantees for cellulosic ethanol 
facilities, encourage community wind and other electric power projects, 
and expand the number of eligible applicants for these loans and 
grants. This is a responsible way to help more farmers become net 
energy producers of on-farm renewable energy.
  Second, my bill accelerates research, development, demonstration, and 
deployment of renewable resources such as biomass, wind, solar, and 
renewable natural gas. I am proposing that we devote an additional $200 
million per year to these efforts, with the specific goals of bringing 
biomass energy feedstocks such as native grasses and short-rotation 
trees into production; perfecting our biorefinery and conversion 
technologies; refining biofuels from these biomass feedstocks; and 
making use of the biobased coproducts to add value to the process.
  Third, if we are to continue to expand biofuels production, we need 
to ensure that the supply is stable so that we don't encounter major 
shortages in droughts or in periods of adverse weather. Storing 
feedstocks like corn, oilseed crops, and biomass for cellulosic ethanol 
will better protect consumers from huge price fluctuations or 
shortages. My bill would create a voluntary biofuel feedstock reserve 
that would encourage farmers to store these feedstocks on-farm and make 
them available for biofuel production when a price spike or a shortage 
occurs.

[[Page S10156]]

  Fourth, the Harvesting Energy Act invests in research and development 
in new production technologies that promise to yield high energy 
returns and carbon storage. One of the key investments that this bill 
makes is in biochar. Biochar is a type of charcoal produced from 
biomass that is valuable as a soil amendment. The USDA and DOE are 
finding that they can produce biochar as a carbon-capturing byproduct 
of cellulosic ethanol production. This is good for farmers, who put the 
biochar back into the soil as a fertilizer, good for the environment 
because it reduces carbon emissions, and good for consumers because it 
could drive down cellulosic ethanol production costs. My bill would 
provide $50 million in competitive funding for research and development 
grants to scale-up and commercialize biochar production systems. Like 
so much else we are doing in the energy title of the farm bill, this 
would move ideas from the research pipeline out into the field, where 
they need to be.
  This bill includes a wide range of other provisions that build on the 
good work that the Agriculture Committee is doing on the farm bill. 
Like the provisions I have described, they aim to expand the menu of 
renewable energy options we have available as we work to reduce our 
dependence on foreign oil.
  I again thank Chairman Harkin and Senator Chambliss for their 
leadership on the Agriculture Committee and for their commitment to 
creating a robust energy title in this year's farm bill. I firmly 
believe that with the right investments and a commitment from this 
Congress, our farmers and ranchers can help lead us down the path to 
energy independence.
                                 ______