II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2461 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to make qualified biogas 

property and qualified manure resource recovery property eligible for 

the energy credit and to permit renewable energy bonds to finance 

qualified biogas property, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 22, 2021 

Mr. BROWN (for himself and Mr. THUNE) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to make 

qualified biogas property and qualified manure resource 

recovery property eligible for the energy credit and to 

permit renewable energy bonds to finance qualified 

biogas property, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Agriculture Environ5 mental Stewardship Act of 2021’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) Incentives and encouragement for the con2 servation and appropriate handling of nutrients con3 tained in organic matter are necessary. 

4 (2) Biogas systems will save Federal, State, and 

5 local taxpayers money by converting waste into use6 ful products, such as fuel, fertilizer, thermal heat, 

7 feedstock for hydrogen fuel cells, and renewable 

8 chemicals. 

9 (3) Manure resource recovery systems will save 

10 Federal, State, and local taxpayers money by recov11 ering the nutrients contained in organic matter from 

12 their source, rather than recovering the nutrients 

13 after they have entered landfills or waterways. 

14 SEC. 3. ENERGY CREDIT FOR QUALIFIED BIOGAS PROP15 ERTY AND QUALIFIED MANURE RESOURCE 

16 RECOVERY PROPERTY. 

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 48(a)(3)(A) of the Inter18 nal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking ‘‘or’’ 

19 at the end of clause (vii) and by adding at the end the 

20 following new clauses: 

21 ‘‘(ix) qualified biogas property, or 

22 ‘‘(x) qualified manure resource recov23 ery property,’’. 

24 (b) 30-PERCENT CREDIT.—Section 48(a)(2)(A)(i) of 

25 such Code is amended by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of 


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1 subclause (IV), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of subclause 

2 (V), and by adding at the end the following new sub3 clauses: 

4 ‘‘(VI) qualified biogas property, 

5 and 

6 ‘‘(VII) qualified manure resource 

7 recovery property, and’’. 

8 (c) DEFINITIONS.—Section 48(c) of such Code is 

9 amended by adding at the end the following new para10 graphs: 

11 ‘‘(6) QUALIFIED BIOGAS PROPERTY.— 

12 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘qualified 

13 biogas property’ means property comprising a 

14 system which— 

15 ‘‘(i) uses anaerobic digesters, or other 

16 biological, chemical, thermal, or mechanical 

17 processes (alone or in combination), to 

18 convert biomass (as defined in section 

19 45K(c)(3)) into a gas which consists of not 

20 less than 52 percent methane, and 

21 ‘‘(ii) captures such gas for use as a 

22 fuel. 

23 ‘‘(B) INCLUSION OF CERTAIN CLEANING

24 AND CONDITIONING EQUIPMENT.—Such term 

25 shall include any property which cleans and 


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1 conditions the gas referred to in subparagraph 

2 (A) for use as a fuel. 

3 ‘‘(C) TERMINATION.—No credit shall be 

4 determined under this section with respect to 

5 any qualified biogas property for any period 

6 after December 31, 2023. 

7 ‘‘(7) QUALIFIED MANURE RESOURCE RECOVERY

8 PROPERTY.— 

9 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘qualified 

10 manure resource recovery property’ means 

11 property comprising a system which uses phys12 ical, biological, chemical, thermal, or mechanical 

13 processes to recover the nutrients nitrogen and 

14 phosphorus from a non-treated digestate or ani15 mal manure by reducing or separating at least 

16 50 percent of the concentration of such nutri17 ents, excluding any reductions during the incin18 eration, storage, composting, or field application 

19 of the non-treated digestate or animal manure. 

20 ‘‘(B) INCLUSION OF CERTAIN PROCESSING

21 EQUIPMENT.—Such term shall include— 

22 ‘‘(i) any property which is used to re23 cover the nutrients referred to in subpara24 graph (A), such as— 

25 ‘‘(I) biological reactors, 


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1 ‘‘(II) crystallizers, 

2 ‘‘(III) water filtration membrane 

3 systems and other water purifiers, 

4 ‘‘(IV) evaporators, 

5 ‘‘(V) distillers, 

6 ‘‘(VI) decanter centrifuges, and 

7 ‘‘(VII) equipment that facilitates 

8 the process of removing and 

9 dewatering suspended and dissolved 

10 solids, ammonia stripping, gasifi11 cation, or ozonation, and 

12 ‘‘(ii) any thermal drier which treats 

13 the nutrients recovered by the processes re14 ferred to in subparagraph (A). 

15 ‘‘(C) TERMINATION.—No credit shall be 

16 determined under this section with respect to 

17 any qualified manure resource recovery prop18 erty for any period after December 31, 2023.’’. 

19 (d) DENIAL OF DOUBLE BENEFIT FOR QUALIFIED

20 BIOGAS PROPERTY.—Section 45(e) of such Code is 

21 amended by adding at the end the following new para22 graph: 

23 ‘‘(12) COORDINATION WITH ENERGY CREDIT

24 FOR QUALIFIED BIOGAS PROPERTY.—The term 

25 ‘qualified facility’ shall not include any facility which 


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1 produces electricity from gas produced by qualified 

2 biogas property (as defined in section 48(c)(6)) if a 

3 credit is determined under section 48 with respect to 

4 such property for the taxable year or any prior tax5 able year.’’. 

6 (e) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

7 this section shall apply to periods after December 31, 

8 2020, in taxable years ending after such date, under rules 

9 similar to the rules of section 48(m) of such Code (as in 

10 effect on the day before the date of the enactment of the 

11 Revenue Reconciliation Act of 1990). 

12 SEC. 4. STUDY OF BIOGAS AND NUTRIENT REUSE. 

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Treasury 

14 shall enter into an agreement with the National Renewable 

15 Energy Laboratory to undertake a study of biogas that 

16 addresses the following: 

17 (1) The quality of biogas, including a compari18 son of biogas to natural gas and the identification 

19 of any components of biogas which make biogas un20 suitable for injection into existing natural gas pipe21 lines. 

22 (2) Methods for obtaining the highest energy 

23 content in biogas, including the use of co-digestion 

24 and identifying the optimal feed mixture. 


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1 (3) Recommendations for the expansion of 

2 biogas production, including an analysis of the ex3 tent to which increasing the methane content of 

4 biogas would result in the greater use of biogas and 

5 an analysis of how the expanded use of biogas could 

6 help meet the growing energy needs of the United 

7 States. 

8 (4) Methods for productive use of nutrients re9 covered from qualified manure resource recovery 

10 property that benefits the agricultural economy. 

11 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 2 years after the date 

12 of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit 

13 to Congress a report on the study conducted under sub14 section (a). 

Æ 


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