The Biden administration is expected to announce key updates this week to its carbon-intensity scoring for sustainable aviation fuel, while lawmakers struggle to break a partisan impasse over a new farm bill that Republicans have pledged to push through the House Ag Committee in May.
Also this week, EPA Administrator Michael Regan will appear at hearings on both sides of Capitol Hill.
According to sources, the administration plans to unveil on Tuesday an update to the GREET model that is used to estimate the greenhouse gas emissions from biofuel feedstocks. Industry officials expect the model to incorporate the effect of climate-smart practices on the carbon footprint of corn ethanol and other feedstocks.
The administration announced in December that GREET, which stands for Greenhouse gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy use in Technologies, could be used to determine the eligibility for sustainable aviation fuel for a temporary tax credit, known as Section 40B, that was created by the Inflation Reduction Act.
The revised GREET model also is expected to be used, possibly with additional modifications, in determining eligibility for the Section 45Z clean fuel production tax credit that is set to take effect in 2025, replacing the 40B incentive.
Airlines have committed to using 3 billion gallons of SAF a year by 2030, and they have barely gotten started toward that goal.
Meanwhile on Capitol Hill, the Republican majority on the House Agriculture Committee is trying to put pressure on Democrats to agree on a new farm bill that Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson, R-Pa., is determined to move through the panel before Memorial Day.
The GOP staff held stakeholder meetings on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday last week with commodity, conservation and nutrition groups to brief them on the plan for funding aspects of the bill, broad details of which have been publicly debated for weeks.
At the meetings, the GOP aides “asked for stakeholder support, which should be of no surprise to anyone because that's what everyone wants,” one person who attended a meeting told Agri-Pulse.
The GOP plan includes canceling the agriculture secretary’s Section 5 spending authority through the Commodity Credit Corporation and restricting future updates of the Thrifty Food Plan, an economic model used to estimate the cost of food for determining Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits.
Republicans also want to bring $14.4 billion in Inflation Reduction Act funding into the farm bill, and in a concession to Democrats, say the money would stay in the conservation title, creating a permanent 25% increase in long-term conservation funding. Republicans had originally proposed moving a portion of the money to other parts of the bill.
Republicans still intend to remove from the IRA funding the restrictions that the money be spent on climate-related practices; Democrats have insisted on protecting those climate guardrails.
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The GOP plan also calls for moving some of the IRA funding into the Conservation Reserve Program, which was not funded by the IRA, according to the source who attended one of the briefings.
In an interview with AgriTalk last week, Thompson said the bill would be “well received by the agriculture industry, and it certainly meets my criteria as highly effective, and I think in some regards, parts of it are going to be seen as transformational. But, you know, the new things have to be paid for.”
Without Democratic support, however, it will be difficult to move the bill across the House floor, given the razor-thin GOP majority.
The GOP majority shrank to 217-212 with the resignation Thursday of Wisconsin’s Mike Gallagher and is expected to tighten to 217-213 after a special election this Tuesday to fill a vacant seat in western New York.
EPA’s Regan is likely to face grilling by Republicans this week on a range of issues, including biofuel concerns, the administration’s “waters of the U.S. rule” redefining the jurisidiction of the Clean Water Act, and the agency’s new regulations on power plants that are intended to slash greenhouse gases and reduce emissions of other pollutants.
Regan faces the House Interior-Appropriations Subcommittee on Tuesday and the Senate Interior-Environment Appropriations panel on Wednesday.
Here is a list of agriculture- or rural-related events scheduled for this week in Washington and elsewhere (all times EDT):
Monday, April 29
National Association of Farm Broadcasting annual Washington Watch, through Wednesday.
11 a.m. – Center for American Progress webinar, “A Progressive, Principled, and Pragmatic Approach Toward China Policy.”
4 p.m. – USDA releases weekly Crop Progress report.
Tuesday, April 30
10 a.m. – House Interior-Environment Appropriations Subcommittee hearing with EPA Administrator Michael Regan, 2008 Rayburn.
10 a.m. – House Ways and Means Committee hearing with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, 1100 Longworth.
Wednesday, May 1
10:30 a.m. – Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, “Conflict and Humanitarian Emergency in Sudan: An Urgent Call to Action,” 419 Dirksen.
2 p.m. – Senate Interior-Environment Appropriations Subcommittee hearing with EPA Administrator Regan, 192 Dirksen.
May 1-2 - International Fresh Produce Association hosts a conference focusing on doing business and engaging with customers, with consumer insights from IFPA research, industry experts, and peers in Phoenix.
Thursday, May 2
8:30 a.m. – USDA releases Weekly Export Sales report.
10 a.m. – Senate Energy and Natural Resources hearing with Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, 366 Dirksen.
Friday, May 3
UN Food and Agriculture Organization releases monthly Food Price Index.
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