By KEVIN WALKER
Michigan Correspondent

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A group of farm and environmental organizations gathered last week for a teleconference to highlight their request for federal funds, to stimulate the renewable energy sector of the economy.

On Jan. 6, about 35 farm, environmental and alternative energy groups sent a letter to Congressional leaders requesting $1.2 billion in supplemental funding for programs they believe should be a top priority.

“To help resuscitate our nation’s economy and create hundreds of thousands of well-paying jobs, we ask you to support strong funding for agriculture-based clean energy development programs in the economic recovery package,” the letter states.

The teleconference included Mark Gaede of the National Assoc. of Wheat Growers; Ernest Shea of 25x25, an environmental and farm group; Bart Ruth, also of 25x25; Julie Sibbing of the National Wildlife Federation; and Andy Olsen of the Environmental Law and Policy Center. Ruth said the agriculture and forestry sectors could provide a good portion of the country‘s overall energy supplies.
“A new green energy future could stimulate and reinvigorate our nation’s economy,” he said.

Everyone who spoke seemed concerned about the economy and its effects on their priorities. Sibbing said climate change and global warming are top priorities for her group. Specific programs she mentioned were the rural energy for America and biomass crop assistance programs.

“Right now we think if we don’t free up some money and some loans, we could be putting this entire green technology and green technology future on hold for several years,” she said. “The biomass crop assistance program will play a crucial role in actually letting people pilot those new feedstocks.”

Gaede said wheat growers are excited about the commercialization of cellulosic ethanol and the use of wheat straw as a feedstock. He added his group worked with a company that produces cellulosic ethanol to locate in southeastern Idaho.

The company ended up locating its plant in Canada, however, because it wasn’t able to secure loan guarantees from the federal government that Gaede said should have been forthcoming.

He said language to provide for loan guarantees for this sector was placed into legislation several years ago, that could have helped the company locate in the United States.

“We worked with the Department of Energy year after year to get that program implemented, though to date it has still not made those loan guarantees available,” he said.

Gaede, Ruth and Olsen expressed concern not only about the economy but also about how oil and gas prices were affecting the construction of new biofuel plants and other alternative energy projects.

“In recent years we’ve seen a growing groundswell of clean energy projects planned around the country,” Olsen said. “This economic crisis has stalled many of the projects and they face an uncertain future. We’re seeing more news day after day of layoffs in renewable energy projects.”

Referring to the energy crisis of the 1970s, Gaede said, “We’ve seen this movie before. We can’t afford to lose sight of the goal here again. We can’t lose another 10 to 15 years because of our lack of foresight.”