I want to personally commend Senator Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., for her work to address the needs of production agriculture in this process. As with similar efforts by House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson, D-Minn., AAM supports her initiative and urges its inclusion in the final Senate bill.

In addition to the climate bill moving through the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, AAM calls for swift action on the energy bill pending in the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. We are very interested in advancing the energy bill and call for the inclusion of a measure introduced by Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore. 

Wyden’s ‘Renewable Energy Alternative Production Act,’ or the ‘REAP Act’ (S. 1094), will provide renewable energy initiatives for biomass in the form of Production Tax Credits (PTC) for non-electric renewable energy productions similar to the PTC for wind and other renewable electricity generation.

AAM has worked for years with ACORE and 25x’25 to develop sound policies for renewable energy from farms and forests. We support the policy recommendations of both groups and the recommended government incentives to achieve those policy goals.  I fully believe that the pending energy and climate bill will create and save jobs in rural America, help move us toward energy independence, keep energy more affordable in the long run and help reduce pollution.

Matlack, Burrton, co-owner of Stinger in Haven, is president of the American Agriculture Movement.