Subject: [windenergyweekly] Wind Energy Weekly #964
Date: Fri, 07 Dec 2001 11:41:37 -0500
From: "Tom Gray" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[clipped non-relevant stuff - Will]
EESI ADVOCATES WIND
PROGRAMS IN FARM BILL
___________________________________________
The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) of Washington,
D.C.,
issued a new report on September 24 entitled The 2002 Farm Bill:
Revitalizing the Farm Economy Through Renewable Energy Development." The
report addresses how developing U.S. on-farm renewable energy resources has
the potential to boost farmer income, create jobs in rural communities,
diversify energy markets, and protect the environment.
With the reauthorization of the farm bill, Congress has the
opportunity to
marry agriculture and energy production, said Carol Werner, executive
director of EESI and co-author of the report. Diversifying our nation�s
energy markets through the development of renewable power and fuels is a
matter of national security. By integrating renewable energy development
initiatives throughout the farm bill, America�s farmers can be provided the
support they need to develop their renewable energy resources, including
bioenergy, wind, solar, and geothermal.
EESI recommends that renewable energy production be integrated
throughout
the farm bill, including the Conservation, Research, and Rural Development
titles, as well as in related appropriations and legislation, and also
recommends several new initiatives that could be included in an Energy
title of the Farm Bill. EESI�s recommendations that involve wind power
include:
Conservation Title:
* Conservation Reserve Program (CRP): Allow wind turbines and biomass
harvesting for the production of biopower, biofuels, and biobased products
on CRP land where appropriate and consistent with other conservation goals.
Credit and Rural Development Titles:
* Rural Business-Cooperative Service: Provide grants and loan
guarantees to
establish cooperatives or expand existing cooperatives to undertake wind,
biopower, biofuel, and biobased product development projects.
* Rural Utilities Service: Provide support to the Rural Electric
Cooperatives to establish net metering services, standardized
interconnection, and increased transmission efficiency, all of which are
vital to developing renewable energy.
Research and Extension Title:
* Land-Grant Universities: Expand the mission of the Cooperative
Extension
Service (CES) to provide education and technical assistance to farmers for
the development and marketing of renewable energy resources.
The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) is a non-profit,
non-partisan organization with the mission of promoting sustainable energy
resources development. The full report is available on the EESI Web site
at http://www.eesi.org/publications/Farm Bill Policy Paper.pdf . For more
information, contact Jeremy Ames, phone (202) 662-1892, e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
.
The Environmental Law and Policy Center (ELPC) in Chicago has been
deeply
involved in looking at the same set of issues and is also working closely
with Congressional Agriculture Committees as they prepare to develop the
next farm bill. AWEA Great Plains Representative John Dunlop and Executive
Director Randy Swisher have worked with ELPC in some of their
planning. The ELPC recommendations are similar to those of EESI, but also
include:
* Preferential loan treatment and reduced interests rates for Rural
Utilities Service loans for renewable energy projects; and
* Low-interest loans or grants to Rural Electric Cooperative customers
to
support installation of small wind turbines or other customer-owned
renewables.
According to Howard Learner, Executive Director of ELPC, "We have a
tremendous opportunity to achieve progress on a new clean energy title in
the federal farm bill."
More information is available on the ELPC Web site at
http://www.elpc.org
or by contacting the Center, 35 East Wacker Drive, Suite 1300, Chicago,
Illinois 60601, phone (312) 673-6500, fax (312) 795-3730.
___________________________________________
EPA COUPLE TO CELEBRATE
NATION�S FIRST GREEN-POWERED WEDDING
___________________________________________
With a new twist on the old saying, "Something old, something new,
something borrowed, something . . . green," Kate Narburgh and Rich Iovanna
will marry on September 29 in what is believed to be the nation�s first
green-powered wedding.
The bride and groom share strong environmental values, including the
desire to offset the polluting effects of activities associated with their
wedding ceremony, such as generating electricity to light their wedding
festivities taking place tomorrow in Oxon Hill, Maryland just outside of
Washington, DC.
Kate Narburgh and Rich Iovanna are both employed by the U.S.
Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA). Kate works in EPA�s Climate Protection
Partnerships Division, where she recently helped launch EPA�s Green Power
Partnership, a new EPA voluntary program to encourage organizations to
purchase green power. So it was fitting that one of Narburgh�s colleagues
presented a wedding gift of Green Tags from the Bonneville Environmental
Foundation (BEF), a gift that offsets pollution associated with the
electricity used for the wedding by supporting development of new green
power.
BEF, a non-profit organization, provides individuals with the
opportunity
to buy Green Tags, which are the environmental benefits created when clean,
renewable energy displaces burning fossil fuels. Additional information is
available at http://www.greentagsusa.org . The BEF Green Tags program is
open to residents of all U.S. states and does not disrupt the current
relationship between purchasers of Green Tags and their electricity provider.
"When I�m walking down the aisle, I can feel confident that our
wedding
isn�t contributing to global warming and other environmental problems,"
said Narburgh. "Rich and I hope that having a green-powered wedding will
help raise awareness of how easy it is to choose green power."
___________________________________________
The American Wind Energy Association's WIND ENERGY WEEKLY is published
weekly, 50 times per year. Subscription rate: $595 per year. For
advertising rates, contact AWEA at (202) 383-2500. @Copyright American Wind
Energy Association. Individual articles may be retransmitted electronically
or reprinted with attribution to the American Wind Energy Association. All
other rights reserved. ISSN 0747-5500. Send address changes to
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>.
