I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 260 

To authorize the Secretary of Energy to make loan guarantees for cellulosic 

ethanol production technology development. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 7, 2009 

Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Science and Technology, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 

as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To authorize the Secretary of Energy to make loan guarantees for cellulosic ethanol production technology development. 

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 ‘‘21st Century Energy 

5 Independence Act of 2009’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) The Energy Information Administration es2 timates that the United States imports nearly 60 

3 percent of the oil it consumes. 

4 (2) The world’s greatest petroleum reserves re5 side in regions of high geopolitical risk, 57 percent 

6 of which are in the Persian Gulf. 

7 (3) Replacing oil imports with domestic alter8 natives such as traditional and cellulosic ethanol can 

9 not only help reduce the $180,000,000,000 that oil 

10 contributes to our annual trade deficit, it can end 

11 our addiction to foreign oil. 

12 (4) According to the Department of Agri13 culture, biomass can displace 30 percent of our Na14 tion’s petroleum consumption. 

15 (5) Along with traditional production of ethanol 

16 from corn, cellulosic ethanol can be produced domes17 tically from a variety of feedstocks, including 

18 switchgrass, corn stalks, and municipal solid wastes, 

19 which are available throughout our Nation. 

20 (6) Cellulosic ethanol also relies on its own by21 products to fuel the refining process, yielding a posi22 tive energy balance. 

23 (7) Even though the potential production of 

24 traditional corn-based ethanol is about 

25 10,000,000,000 gallons per year, the potential proVerDate Nov 24 2008 00:56 Jan 14, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H260.IH H260

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1 duction of cellulosic ethanol is estimated to be 

2 60,000,000,000 gallons per year. 

3 (8) In addition to ensuring access to more 

4 abundant sources of energy, replacing petroleum use 

5 with ethanol will help reduce United States carbon 

6 emissions, which are otherwise expected to increase 

7 by 80 percent by 2025. 

8 (9) Cellulosic ethanol can also reduce green9 house gas emissions by 87 percent. 

10 (10) Facilitating the transition from foreign oil 

11 to ethanol will protect our environment from dan12 gerous carbon and greenhouse gas emissions. 

13 (11) Cellulosic ethanol technology requires ini14 tial governmental investment and policy support to 

15 achieve the necessary scale to become self-sufficient 

16 and gain market-penetrating capacity. 

17 SEC. 3. PURPOSE. 

18 In carrying out this Act, the Secretary of Energy (in 

19 this Act referred to as the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall seek to en20 sure the availability of 200 percent of the volume of renew21 able fuels required to be available in the United States 

22 by 2013 under the Energy Policy Act of 2005, and to en23 sure the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions from the 

24 production and use of renewable fuels by 25 percent. 


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1 SEC. 4. LOAN GUARANTEE PROGRAM. 

2 The Secretary shall establish a program for making 

3 loan guarantees for up to 80 percent of the cost of a 

4 project, consistent with section 3, for— 

5 (1) up to 5 projects for the harvesting, storing, 

6 and delivery of agriculture residues for use in cellu7 losic or traditional ethanol production plants; 

8 (2) cellulosic ethanol production technologies 

9 that will reduce the initial capital cost to $2.50 per 

10 annual gallon, and reduce operation and mainte11 nance costs to 125 percent of those at traditional 

12 corn ethanol plants; 

13 (3) advanced biomass gasifiers that can provide 

14 at least 90 percent of the thermal input require15 ments for traditional ethanol plants to produce 

16 syngas; and 

17 (4) appropriately scaled catalytic conversion 

18 process (such as Fischer-Tropsch) projects to con19 vert syngas to liquid fuels with the potential for eco20 nomic conversion at facilities producing 100,000,000 

21 annual gallons, with projects colocated at ethanol fa22 cilities already using advanced gasifiers given pri23 ority. 

24 SEC. 5. LIMITATIONS. 

25 The Secretary shall make a loan guarantee under sec26 tion 4(1)— 


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1 (1) for a traditional ethanol plant only if the 

2 agriculture residue products are used as feedstock to 

3 replace thermal input requirements otherwise pro4 vided by fossil fuels such as natural gas or coal; and 

5 (2) for an existing ethanol plant only if the ap6 plicant demonstrates the potential to reduce carbon 

7 dioxide emissions related to ethanol production by at 

8 least 75 percent. 

9 SEC. 6. GRANTS. 

10 The Secretary may additionally provide grants for 

11 projects described in section 4(2) for up to 50 percent of 

12 the capital costs of the initial commercialization projects. 

13 SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

14 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Sec15 retary for carrying out this Act, $250,000,000. 

Æ 


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