Application Period Now Open for Biomass Crop Assistance Program Project Areas
The USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) is now accepting applications for the Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP) Project Areas. Proposals will be accepted until close of business, April 23, 2012.
“BCAP is an important and unique program that develops new biomass energy crops that can boost farmer income while providing a new energy source for the nation. It has potential across the country,” said Steve Falck, Senior Policy Advocate for the Environmental Law & Policy Center (ELPC).
Read the rest of this page »
Farm Energy Success Stories Report Released
A new report from the Environmental Law & Policy Center (ELPC) unearths the stories of farmers and rural small businesses that are making clean energy their newest cash crop.
Read the rest of this page »
WTO Legal Impacts on Commodity Studies
This ELPC report WTO Legal Impacts on Commodity Subsidies finds that the WTO legal ruling on commodity subsidies may provide opportunity to gain support for farm-based natural resources conservation and clean energy development programs. (.pdf file)
Mitigating Global Warming through the Farm Bill
Mitigating Global Warming through the Farm Bill is the first study to examine the potential greenhouse gas savings of the Farm Bill Energy Title. The study shows that renewable energy and energy efficiency programs in the U.S. Farm Bill could reduce greenhouse gas pollution by 57 million metric tons a year – the equivalent of eliminating the pollution from over 11 million cars.
Read the rest of this page »
Repowering the Midwest
The Clean Energy Development Plan for the Heartland will shift the region’s electricity portfolio from an over-reliance on polluting coal to and nuclear plants to cleaner fuels. The plan points the way toward implementation of smart policies and practices to capture readily achievable environmental, public health and economic development benefits.
Read the rest of this page »
An American Success Story: The Farm Bill’s Clean Energy Programs
This very popular ELPC report highlights some of the innovative projects that received funding through the 2002 Farm Bill’s Section 9006 Renewable Energy/Energy Efficiency Program (now called REAP). The 2002 Farm Bill created programs to help farmers, ranchers and rural small businesses invest in wind power, biofuels, solar power, energy efficiency improvements and other clean energy technologies.
Read the rest of this page »