Sponsors (4)
The bill directs targeted federal funding and regulatory tweaks to expand and modernize forest‑products and bioenergy projects in rural areas—boosting jobs and manufacturing capacity—while raising federal spending and creating risks of local pollution and increased competition that may disadvantage smaller applicants.
Rural communities and small wood‑product businesses gain new grant funding ($50M/year for FY2026–2030) to build or retrofit forest products facilities, creating local jobs and investment.
Rural manufacturers, sawmill operators, and other forest‑product firms can access grants for a broader set of construction and retrofit activities (not limited to sawmills), increasing capacity for wood‑product manufacturing and timber market demand.
Project cost‑share cap raised to 50%, reducing local match burdens and enabling larger or otherwise unaffordable modernization projects for eligible applicants.
Taxpayers face an increase in federal spending of $50M per year for five years to fund these grants, which has budgetary trade‑offs for other priorities.
Rural communities near larger biomass energy facilities could experience increased local air pollution or emissions risks if new, larger projects are built without adequate controls.
Limiting eligibility to projects using 'primarily forest biomass' may disadvantage applicants proposing other sustainable feedstocks or mixed biomass approaches, narrowing innovation or diversification opportunities.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Broadens and funds USDA wood/forest biomass grant programs to support construction, retrofitting, and operation of forest products manufacturing and larger thermal energy facilities with higher cost-share and annual funding.
Introduced March 31, 2025 by Marie Gluesenkamp Perez · Last progress March 31, 2025
Expands and refocuses USDA wood/forest biomass grant programs to support construction, retrofitting, and operation of forest products manufacturing and larger thermal energy facilities, and boosts annual funding. It raises grant cost-share limits, broadens eligible project types beyond sawmills, changes terminology to prioritize "primarily forest biomass," and increases several program limits and appropriation authorizations for FY2026–2030. The bill updates two existing programs—renaming one to a "Facilities Grant"—and increases per-year funding to $50 million for each of FY2026–2030, raises the allowable energy size to 15 megawatts thermal, increases cost-share from 25% to 50%, and makes other technical and substantive adjustments to eligibility and program structure.