BIOMASS RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE.Grants.Contracts.

SEC. 307. BIOMASS RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE. (a) In General.—The Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of Energy, acting through their respective points of contact and in consultation with the Board, shall establish and carry out a Biomass Research and Development Initiative under which competitively awarded grants, contracts, and financial assistance are provided to, or entered into with, eligible entities to carry out research on biobased industrial products. (b) Purposes.—The purposes of grants, contracts, and assistance under this section shall be— (1) to stimulate collaborative activities by a diverse range of experts in all aspects of biomass processing for the purpose of conducting fundamental and innovation-targeted research and technology development; (2) to enhance creative and imaginative approaches toward biomass processing that will serve to develop the next generation of advanced technologies making possible low cost and sustainable biobased industrial products; (3) to strengthen the intellectual resources of the United States through the training and education of future scientists, engineers, managers, and business leaders in the field of biomass processing; and (4) to promote integrated research partnerships among colleges, universities, national laboratories, Federal and State research agencies, and the private sector as the best means of overcoming technical challenges that span multiple research and engineering disciplines and of gaining better leverage from limited Federal research funds. (c) Eligible Entities.— 114 STAT. 434 (1) In general.—To be eligible for a grant, contract, or assistance under this section, an applicant shall be— (A) an institution of higher education; (B) a national laboratory; (C) a Federal research agency; (D) a State research agency; (E) a private sector entity; (F) a nonprofit organization; or (G) a consortium of two or more entities described in subparagraphs (A) through (F). (2) Administration.—After consultation with the Board, the points of contact shall— (A) publish annually one or more joint requests for proposals for grants, contracts, and assistance under this section; (B) establish a priority in grants, contracts, and assistance under this section for research that— (i) demonstrates potential for significant advances in biomass processing; (ii) demonstrates potential to substantially further scale-sensitive national objectives such as— (I) sustainable resource supply; (II) reduced greenhouse gas emissions; (III) healthier rural economies; and (IV) improved strategic security and trade balances; and (iii) would improve knowledge of important biomass processing systems that demonstrate potential for commercial applications; (C) require that grants, contracts, and assistance under this section be awarded competitively, on the basis of merit, after the establishment of procedures that provide for scientific peer review by an independent panel of scientific and technical peers; and (D) give preference to applications that— (i) involve a consortia of experts from multiple institutions; and (ii) encourage the integration of disciplines and application of the best technical resources. (d) Uses of Grants, Contracts, and Assistance.—A grant, contract, or assistance under this section may be used to conduct— (1) research on process technology for overcoming the recalcitrance of biomass, including research on key mechanisms, advanced technologies, and demonstration test beds for— (A) feedstock pretreatment and hydrolysis of cellulose and hemicellulose, including new technologies for— (i) enhanced sugar yields; (ii) lower overall chemical use; (iii) less costly materials; and (iv) cost reduction; (B) development of novel organisms and other approaches to substantially lower the cost of cellulase enzymes and enzymatic hydrolysis, including dedicated cellulase production and consolidated bioprocessing strategies; and (C) approaches other than enzymatic hydrolysis for overcoming the recalcitrance of cellulosic biomass; 114 STAT. 435 (2) research on technologies for diversifying the range of products that can be efficiently and cost-competitively produced from biomass, including research on— (A) metabolic engineering of biological systems (including the safe use of genetically modified crops) to produce novel products, especially commodity products, or to increase product selectivity and tolerance, with a research priority for the development of biobased industrial products that can compete in performance and cost with fossil-based products; (B) catalytic processing to convert intermediates of biomass processing into products of interest; (C) separation technologies for cost-effective product recovery and purification; (D) approaches other than metabolic engineering and catalytic conversion of intermediates of biomass processing; (E) advanced biomass gasification technologies, including coproduction of power and heat as an integrated component of biomass processing, with the possibility of generating excess electricity for sale; and (F) related research in advanced turbine and stationary fuel cell technology for production of electricity from biomass; and (3) research aimed at ensuring the environmental performance and economic viability of biobased industrial products and their raw material input of biomass when considered as an integrated system, including research on— (A) the analysis of, and strategies to enhance, the environmental performance and sustainability of biobased industrial products, including research on— (i) accurate measurement and analysis of greenhouse gas emissions, carbon sequestration, and carbon cycling in relation to the life cycle of biobased industrial products and feedstocks with respect to other alternatives; (ii) evaluation of current and future biomass resource availability, (iii) development and analysis of land management practices and alternative biomass cropping systems that ensure the environmental performance and sustainability of biomass production and harvesting; (iv) the land, air, water, and biodiversity impacts of large-scale biomass production, processing, and use of biobased industrial products relative to other alternatives; and (v) biomass gasification and combustion to produce electricity; (B) the analysis of, and strategies to enhance, the economic viability of biobased industrial products, including research on— (i) the cost of the required process technology; (ii) the impact of coproducts, including food, animal feed, and fiber, on biobased industrial product price and large-scale economic viability; and (iii) interactions between an emergent biomass refining industry and the petrochemical refining infrastructure; and 114 STAT. 436 (C) the field and laboratory research related to feedstock production with the interrelated goals of enhancing the sustainability, increasing productivity, and decreasing the cost of biomass processing, including research on— (i) altering biomass to make biomass easier and less expensive to process; (ii) existing and new agricultural and energy crops that provide a sustainable resource for conversion to biobased industrial products while simultaneously serving as a source for coproducts such as food, animal feed, and fiber; (iii) improved technologies for harvest, collection, transport, storage, and handling of crop and residue feedstocks; and (iv) development of economically viable cropping systems that improve the conservation and restoration of marginal land; or (4) any research and development in technologies or processes determined by the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of Energy, acting through their respective points of contact and in consultation with the Board, to be consistent with the purposes described in subsection (b) and the priority described in subsection (c)(2)(B). (e) Technology and Information Transfer to Agricultural Users.— (1) In general.—The Administrator of the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service and the Chief of the Natural Resources Conservation Service shall ensure that applicable research results and technologies from the Initiative are adapted, made available, and disseminated through their respective services, as appropriate. (2) Report.—Not later than 5 years after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service and the Chief of the Natural Resources Conservation Service shall submit to the committees of Congress with jurisdiction over the Inititive a report on the activities conducted by the services under this subsection. (f) Authorization of Appropriations.—In addition to funds appropriated for biomass research and development under the general authority of the Secretary of Energy to conduct research and development programs (which may also be used to carry out this title), there are authorized to be appropriated to the Department of Agriculture to carry out this title $49,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2000 through 2005.