David Cay Johnston: “I am sorry that I will not be able to support the amendment. In fact, I will oppose the amendment. But nevertheless, as…”

“I am sorry that I will not be able to support the amendment. In fact, I will oppose the amendment. But nevertheless, as a courtesy to my colleague, I will offer it. What it would do is to take four-tenths of 1 percent of each program in R&D, energy supply, and put that into a program called Biomass Power for Rural Development. The money now available, some $55 million, in biomass fuels in the bill, part of that could be used for the purposes for which the Senator from Minnesota would like it used, that is, the Niagara Mohawk power project, involving short rotation willows, which would be grown and harvested every 3 years, and also another project involving alfalfa stems. The alfalfa stem program would be a total of a $232 million project, where the DOE cost share would be 20 percent of that, or approximately $46 million. Mr. President, it seems to me we should not get into one of these projects unless it can pass muster against the other programs. These would be available to be funded under the program--Mr. President, I just misspoke. I said $55 million would be available for the program. Actually, only a part, $27 million, would be available for biomass electric program. All of these projects ought to compete for that $27 million.”