January 14, 2000 / Reuters
WASHINGTON -- President Clinton on Thursday proposed more than doubling federal spending on development of new technologies that use crops, corn stalks and trees to make cleaner, renewable fuels for cars and buildings.
The White House said Clinton's Fiscal Year 2001 budget request to Congress would propose an increase of more than $240 million over the 2000 budget for such efforts, with $49 million earmarked for the Department of Energy (DOE) and $194 million for the Agriculture Department.
"This initiative will increase the viability of alternative energy sources, help meet environmental challenges like global warming, support farm incomes, and diversify and strengthen the rural economy," the White House said in a memorandum.
Clinton in August stepped up a federal drive to use crops, grasses and trees to develop fuels such as ethanol, electricity and industrial products, aiming to triple their use by 2010. That would help meet Clinton's goal to have 7.5 percent of U.S. electricity to come from renewable energy sources by 2010.
Congress approved a budget of $196 million for similar efforts in 2000.
Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman welcomed the proposed funding increase, saying it marked a "significant" advance over the initiative announced in August.
"During these difficult times in American agriculture, farmers need all the new market opportunities they can get," Glickman said in a statement. "This kind of diversification will not only help protect our environment, it will also strengthen the farm and rural economy."
The administration said its goal was "making biomass a viable competitor to fossil fuels as an energy source and chemical feedstock," building on fermentation and gasification and other biomass-related activities currently funded by DOE.
The White House last summer said adoption of the fledgling biomass industry could mean up to $20 billion in new farm income, less reliance on oil imports and less risk of global warming.
At present, biomass accounts for three percent of U.S. energy use, mostly in the wood industry and in ethanol distilled from corn as a clean-fuel additive.
If the goal of tripling biomass use is met, it would equal 348 million barrels of oil a year, equal to 158 super tankers, the White House said in August. Emission of greenhouse gases would drop by 100 million tons, the amount emitted by 70 million cars.:
