224 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may provide 
assistance to a farmer, rancher, other agricultural 
producer, or rural small business to conduct a feasi-
bility study of a project for which assistance may be 
provided under this section. 
‘‘(2) LIMITATION.—The Secretary shall use not 
more than 10 percent of the funds made available to 
carry out this section to provide assistance described 
in paragraph (1). 
‘‘(3) CRITERIA.—The Secretary shall issue reg-
ulations establishing criteria for the receipt of assist-
ance under this subsection. 
‘‘(4) AVOIDANCE
OF
DUPLICATIVE
ASSIST-
ANCE.—An farmer, rancher, other agricultural pro-
ducer, or rural small business that receives assist-
ance to carry out a feasibility study for a project 
under this subsection shall not be eligible for assist-
ance to carry out a feasibility study for the project 
under any other provision of law. 
‘‘(f) SMALL ACTIVITIES.— 
‘‘(1) LIMITATION ON USE OF FUNDS.—The Sec-
retary shall use not less than 15 percent of the 
funds made available under subsection (h) to provide 
grants for activities that have a cost of $50,000 or 
less. 
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‘‘(2) EXCEPTION.—Beginning on the first day 
of the third quarter of a fiscal year, the limitation 
on the use of funds under paragraph (1) shall not 
apply to funds made available under subsection (h) 
for such fiscal year.’’; and 
(7) by adding at the end the following new sub-
section: 
‘‘(h) FUNDING.—Of the funds of the Commodity 
Credit Corporation, the Secretary of Agriculture shall 
make available to carry out this section— 
‘‘(1) $40,000,000 for fiscal year 2008; 
‘‘(2) $60,000,000 for fiscal year 2009; 
‘‘(3) $75,000,000 for fiscal year 2010; 
‘‘(4) $100,000,000 for fiscal year 2011; and 
‘‘(5) $150,000,000 for fiscal year 2012.’’. 
SEC. 5007. BIOMASS RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT ACT 
OF 2000. 
(a) RESTATEMENT OF ACT.—Section 9008 of the 
Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (116 
Stat. 486) is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘SEC. 9008. BIOMASS RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT ACT 
OF 2000. 
‘‘(a) SHORT TITLE.—This section may be cited as the 
‘Biomass Research and Development Act of 2000’. 
‘‘(b) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that— 
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‘‘(1) conversion of biomass into biobased indus-
trial products offers outstanding potential for benefit 
to the national interest through— 
‘‘(A) improved strategic security and bal-
ance of payments; 
‘‘(B) healthier rural economies; 
‘‘(C) improved environmental quality; 
‘‘(D) near-zero net greenhouse gas emis-
sions; 
‘‘(E) technology export; and 
‘‘(F) sustainable resource supply; 
‘‘(2) the key technical challenges to be overcome 
in order for biobased industrial products to be cost- 
competitive are finding new technology and reducing 
the cost of technology for converting biomass into 
desired biobased industrial products; 
‘‘(3) biobased fuels have the clear potential to 
be sustainable, low cost, and high performance fuels 
that are compatible with both current and future 
transportation systems and provide near-zero net 
greenhouse gas emissions; 
‘‘(4) biobased chemicals have the clear potential 
for environmentally benign product life cycles; 
‘‘(5) biobased power can— 
‘‘(A) provide environmental benefits; 
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227 
‘‘(B) promote rural economic development; 
and 
‘‘(C) diversify energy resource options; 
‘‘(6) many biomass feedstocks suitable for in-
dustrial processing show the clear potential for sus-
tainable production, in some cases resulting in im-
proved soil fertility and carbon sequestration; 
‘‘(7)(A) grain processing mills are biorefineries 
that produce a diversity of useful food, chemical, 
feed, and fuel products; and 
‘‘(B) technologies that result in further diver-
sification of the range of value-added biobased in-
dustrial products can meet a key need for the grain 
processing industry; 
‘‘(8)(A) cellulosic feedstocks are attractive be-
cause of their low cost and widespread availability; 
and 
‘‘(B) research resulting in cost-effective tech-
nology to overcome the recalcitrance of cellulosic bio-
mass would allow biorefineries to produce fuels and 
bulk chemicals on a very large scale, with a commen-
surately large realization of the benefit described in 
paragraph (1); 
‘‘(9) research into the fundamentals to under-
stand important mechanisms of biomass conversion 
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228 
can be expected to accelerate the application and ad-
vancement of biomass processing technology by— 
‘‘(A) increasing the confidence and speed 
with which new technologies can be scaled up; 
and 
‘‘(B) giving rise to processing innovations 
based on new knowledge; 
‘‘(10) the added utility of biobased industrial 
products developed through improvements in proc-
essing technology would encourage the design of 
feedstocks that would meet future needs more effec-
tively; 
‘‘(11) the creation of value-added biobased in-
dustrial products would create new jobs in construc-
tion, manufacturing, and distribution, as well as new 
higher-valued exports of products and technology; 
‘‘(12)(A) because of the relatively short-term 
time horizon characteristic of private sector invest-
ments, and because many benefits of biomass proc-
essing are in the national interest, it is appropriate 
for 
the 
Federal 
Government 
to 
provide 
precommercial investment in fundamental research 
and research-driven innovation in the biomass proc-
essing area; and 
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