New budget bills and infrastructure spending are dominating the talk in Washington, DC, and the Algae Biomass Organization is part of the appropriations discussions on several fronts. In each case, our priority is support that can drive algae technology forward and accelerate commercial applications.
Early this month the Senate Energy and Water Development and Senate Agriculture Appropriations committee reports were posted. These are the latest drafts of what kinds of funding are being considered for various federal agencies, including funds that support technology development important to the algae industry.
Notably, the reports include some items that are important ABO policy priorities:
- Renewed funding for the advanced algal systems R&D program at the Department of Energy’s Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO). This funding has been an important driver of algae technology progress for the past decade.
- The DOE’s Fossil Energy (FE) office would again receive funds to support carbon utilization programs, with some specifically dedicated for algae. This research support is relatively new at FE, and ABO is glad to see that the importance of carbon utilization is being recognized in the appropriations process.
There is also very favorable report language in the Agriculture Appropriations report encouraging the National Institute on Food and Agriculture within the U.S. Department of Agriculture to support research into algae applications in agriculture, specifically new technologies and developing commercial markets for sustainable products derived from algae.
The Senate Energy and Water Development Appropriations bill can be found here.
The Senate Agriculture Appropriations report can be found here.
These are just a few of the policy developments that ABO is keeping an eye on, in coordination with its membership. Ready to get involved in helping push policies that can accelerate the impact of algae? Become a member of ABO and start working with our Policy Committee today!