The Rural Energy for America Program,
which supersedes the Renewable Energy Systems and Energy Efficiency
Improvements Program under Title IX, Section 9006 of the Farm
Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002, is designed to help
agricultural producers and rural small business reduce energy cost
and consumption, develop new income streams, and help meet the
nation's critical energy needs by requiring the Secretary of
Agriculture to provide grants and/or guaranteed loans for several
types of projects as follows: • Grants and grants and loan
guarantees (combined funding) to agricultural producers and rural
small businesses to purchase renewable energy systems and make
energy efficiency improvements. • Grants to eligible entities to
provide energy audits and renewable energy development assistance
to enable agricultural producers and rural small businesses to
become more energy efficient and to use renewable energy
technologies and resources. Entities eligible to receive grants
under this program are State, tribal and local governments;
land-grant colleges and universities or other institutions of
higher learning; rural electric cooperatives; public power
entities; Resource Conservation and Development Councils and
instrumentalities of local, state, and federal governments. These
grant funds may be used to conduct and promote energy audits;
provide recommendations and information on how to improve the
energy efficiency of the operations of the agricultural producers
and rural small businesses; and provide recommendations and
information on how to use renewable energy technologies and
resources in the operations. No more than five (5) percent of the
grant can be used for administrative purposes. Agricultural
producers and rural small businesses for which a grantee is
conducting an energy audit must pay at least 25 percent of the cost
of the energy audit.
The burden decrease is due to
removing the guaranteed loans from the regulation. The guaranteed
burden has been incorporated into 7 CFR 5001.
$3,532,868
No
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
Thomas Dickson 202 690-4492
thomas.dickson@usda.gov
No
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that
the collection of information encompassed by this request complies
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(ii) Use of information;
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(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a
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