Sponsors (6)
Official title: Amend the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 with respect to the definition of biofuels and sustainable aviation fuel, and for other purposes.
Introduced January 16, 2025 by Jerry Moran · Last progress January 16, 2025
The bill promotes domestic sustainable aviation fuel to drive rural economic opportunity, lower aviation emissions, and enhance energy security, but risks higher food/input prices, environmental harms from increased biomass demand, fiscal costs, and market and administrative effects that could favor larger firms over small producers.
Farmers and rural communities gain new markets and revenue as USDA programs and expanded SAF demand create opportunities to sell biomass feedstocks and byproducts, supporting local jobs and rural development.
Airlines, passengers, and the public benefit from lower aviation lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions because qualifying SAF must achieve at least a 50% lifecycle GHG reduction versus petroleum jet fuel, helping climate and public-health goals.
Fuel producers and investors gain regulatory clarity on feedstock definitions, ASTM standards, and lifecycle accounting, lowering compliance uncertainty and encouraging investment in SAF supply chains.
Consumers — especially low-income and middle-class households — may face higher food and feed prices as agricultural land and crops shift toward SAF feedstocks, increasing costs for staples.
Farmers, rural communities, and local environments face increased risk of land-use change, biodiversity loss, and water stress from expanded biomass demand if sustainability protections are insufficient.
Taxpayers could bear higher federal costs and program trade-offs because implementing and funding SAF-focused USDA programs, subsidies, or grants may require new spending or reallocation away from other priorities.
Based on analysis of 5 sections of legislative text.
Defines and incorporates sustainable aviation fuel into USDA bioenergy programs, sets ASTM and lifecycle GHG requirements, and directs USDA to coordinate a Farm to Fly initiative.
Creates a USDA-led “Farm to Fly” initiative and updates federal bioenergy law to explicitly include sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) as an eligible advanced biofuel. The bill defines SAF, sets quality and lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction requirements, excludes certain feedstocks and co-processing approaches, and directs USDA to coordinate across agencies and programs to support SAF development, commercialization, and agricultural market opportunities. The changes also add SAF into an existing USDA bioenergy program’s purposes and eligible technologies so producers, farmers, and rural economies can access program support, research coordination, and public–private partnerships aimed at scaling domestic SAF supply and meeting GHG reduction goals.