USDA Awards $97 M for Renewable Energy Projects

August 23, 2007 | 3 Comments

Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns yesterday announced the award of $97 million in guaranteed loans to help businesses in Georgia, Illinois and North Carolina create jobs and develop renewable energy systems.

"These funds are part of USDA's ongoing commitment to bring greater economic opportunities to rural citizens," Johanns said. "They will help rural communities create jobs and strong, competitive business enterprises."

The four recipients received funding through USDA's Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (Section 9006) guaranteed loan program and the Business and Industry (B&I) guaranteed loan program. The Section 9006 program provides financial assistance to agricultural producers and rural small businesses to install renewable energy projects or make energy efficiency improvements.The four recipients are:

Clean Burn Fuels LLC, in Hoke, County, N.C., is approved to receive $10 million from the Section 9006 program and a $25 million B&I loan guarantee to construct a new ethanol plant that is expected to produce 60 million gallons of ethanol per year.
Blackhawk Biofuels LLC, Freeport, Ill., is approved for a $7.5 million Section 9006 loan and a $20 million B&I loan to build and operate a 30-million-gallon biodiesel facility.
Appling County Pellets, Savannah, Ga., is approved to receive a $10 million Section 9006 loan and a $9.5 million B&I loan to produce up to 130,000 metric tons of wood pellets to be sold in domestic and international markets.
National Trail Biodiesel, Newton, Ill., also approved to receive a $10 million Section 9006 loan and a $5 million B&I loan to build and operate a 30-million-gallon-per-year biodiesel production facility in Jasper County, Ill.

USDA Rural Development's mission is to increase economic opportunity and improve the quality of life for rural residents. Rural Development has invested more than $76.8 billion since 2001 for equity and technical assistance to finance and foster growth in homeownership, business development, and critical community and technology infrastructure. More than 1.5 million jobs have been created or saved through these investments.

3 Comments

Patrick Reagan
September 3, 2007

This $97M sounds like a great step in the right direction. Yet contrast this with a recent AP article that points out how the USDA is making loans for coal-fired plant construction of $5.1B.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6600AP_WST_Coal_Plant_Delay.html

A quick search did not yield an over-all comparision of USDA renewable versus non-renewable power plant loans. Is $97M versus $5.1B the full story? Is it really this big a difference?

John Briggs
August 27, 2007

I thought Mr. Hughes' comments were a gross exaggeration, but it may be close to being true. If we assume 110 million homes and $30,000 for a solar system. The total cost would be

$3.3 Trillion

The cost of the Iraq war, direct and indirect, according to MSNBC might be

$1.0 Trillion

So the numbers are actually comparable.

Of course, the Iraq war has nothing to do with electricity, however perhaps we are there fighting for oil to fuel our cars.

Thanks

John C. Briggs

william hughes
August 26, 2007

It boggles the mind to think what the effect would have been if, instead of 97M, all the money wasted in the Gulf War had been put into renewable energy. Every house in America could have had solar panels on the roof and America would be well on the road to energy independence and not need to ensure her supply of oil from the Middle East.