USDA Splurges Millions on Biomass Power Incinerators

[More tax­pay­er mon­ey fund­ing pri­vate cor­po­ra­tions to log Nation­al Forests under the unsci­en­tif­ic guise of “wild­fire pre­ven­tion.” ‑Ed.]

-  US Depart­ment of Agri­cul­ture, July 23, 2014, Office of Communications

Agri­cul­ture Sec­re­tary Tom Vil­sack today announced that the U.S. Depart­ment of Agri­cul­ture (USDA) has select­ed 36 ener­gy facil­i­ties in 14 states to accept bio­mass deliv­er­ies sup­port­ed by the Bio­mass Crop Assis­tance Pro­gram (BCAP), which was autho­rized by the 2014 Farm Bill. Bio­mass own­ers who sup­ply these facil­i­ties may qual­i­fy for BCAP deliv­ery assis­tance start­ing July 28, 2014.

Of the total $25 mil­lion per year autho­rized for BCAP, up to 50 per­cent ($12.5 mil­lion) is avail­able each year to assist bio­mass own­ers with the cost of deliv­ery of agri­cul­tur­al or for­est residues for ener­gy gen­er­a­tion. Some BCAP pay­ments will tar­get the removal of dead or dis­eased trees from Nation­al Forests and Bureau of Land Man­age­ment pub­lic lands for renew­able ener­gy, which reduces the risk of for­est fire.

“This pro­gram gen­er­ates clean ener­gy from bio­mass, reduces the threat of fires by remov­ing dead or dis­eased trees from pub­lic for­est lands, and invests in rur­al busi­ness­es and new ener­gy mar­kets,” said Vil­sack. “The fires we are see­ing right now in the west under­score the need for for­est restora­tion and fire pre­ven­tion. Pair­ing this effort with for­est restora­tion on pub­lic lands will help guard against these fires while pro­mot­ing eco­nom­ic oppor­tu­ni­ty for rur­al communities.”

Farm­ers, ranch­ers or foresters who har­vest and deliv­er for­est or agri­cul­tur­al residues to a BCAP-qual­i­fied ener­gy facil­i­ty may be eli­gi­ble for finan­cial assis­tance for deliv­er­ies. The USDA Farm Ser­vice Agency (FSA), which admin­is­ters BCAP, will begin accept­ing appli­ca­tions from bio­mass own­ers from July 28 through Aug. 25. Deliv­er­ies of residues for approved con­tracts may be made through Sept. 26, 2014.

The 36 BCAP ener­gy facil­i­ties are:

Ari­zona

Novo BioPow­er LLC (f/k/a Snowflake White Moun­tain Power)

For­est Ener­gy Corporation

Cal­i­for­nia

Bur­ney For­est Power

Pacif­ic Ultra­pow­er-Chi­nese Station

HL(Honey Lake) Pow­er Company

Rio Bra­vo Rocklin

Collins Pine Company

Ther­mal Ener­gy Devel­op­ment Part­ner­ship, LP

Cov­an­ta Delano Inc.

Cov­an­ta Men­do­ta L.P.

Sier­ra Pacif­ic Indus­tries — Sonora

Sier­ra Pacif­ic Indus­tries — Bur­ney Division

Sier­ra Pacif­ic Indus­tries — Quin­cy Division

Sier­ra Pacif­ic Indus­tries — Lincoln

Rose­burg For­est Products

Col­orado

Eagle Val­ley Clean Ener­gy, LLC

Ida­ho

Clear­wa­ter Paper Corporation

Basic Amer­i­can Foods

Kansas

Aben­goa

Michi­gan

Hill­man Pow­er Com­pa­ny LLC

Min­neso­ta

Min­neso­ta Pow­er – Hib­bard Renew­able Ener­gy Center

Min­neso­ta Pow­er – Rapid Ener­gy Center

Mis­souri

Eng­i­nu­ity

Mon­tana

Eure­ka Pel­let Mills Inc.

F.H. Stoltze Land & Lum­ber Co.

Nebras­ka

Chadron State College

New Mex­i­co

Mt. Tay­lor Machine LLC

Ore­gon

Bio­mass One LP

Inter­for Pacif­ic Inc., Gilchrist Division

Ochoco Lum­ber dba Mal­heur Lumber

Rose­burg For­est Products

Seneca Sus­tain­able Ener­gy, LLC

South Car­oli­na

Coun­cil Ener­gy Inc.

Allen­dale Bio­mass LLC

Dorch­ester Bio­mass, LLC

Wash­ing­ton

Boise White Paper

Vis­it www.fsa.usda.gov/bcap or a local FSA coun­ty office to learn more about BCAP.

BCAP was reau­tho­rized by the 2014 Farm Bill. The Farm Bill builds on his­toric eco­nom­ic gains in rur­al Amer­i­ca over the past five years, while achiev­ing mean­ing­ful reform and bil­lions of dol­lars in sav­ings for tax­pay­ers. Since enact­ment, USDA has made sig­nif­i­cant progress to imple­ment each pro­vi­sion of this crit­i­cal leg­is­la­tion, includ­ing pro­vid­ing dis­as­ter relief to farm­ers and ranch­ers; strength­en­ing risk man­age­ment tools; expand­ing access to rur­al cred­it; fund­ing crit­i­cal research; estab­lish­ing inno­v­a­tive pub­lic-pri­vate con­ser­va­tion part­ner­ships; devel­op­ing new mar­kets for rur­al-made prod­ucts; and invest­ing in infra­struc­ture, hous­ing and com­mu­ni­ty facil­i­ties to help improve qual­i­ty of life in rur­al Amer­i­ca. For more infor­ma­tion, vis­it www.usda.gov/farmbill.