USDA announces $239 million to increase access to biofuels

USDA Deputy Secretary Xochitl Torres Small announced Oct. 29 that the department is awarding $39 million in grants to U.S. business owners to increase the availability of domestic biofuels in 18 states and give Americans cleaner, more affordable fuel options.

Torres Small also announced USDA will make $200 million available through the new Biobased Market Access and Development Grant Program made possible by Commodity Credit Corporation funds.

The awards and funding announced Oct. 29 are made possible through the Higher Blends Infrastructure Incentive Program and the Biobased Market Access and Development Program with funding from CCC and the Inflation Reduction Act.

“By increasing the supply of biofuels made here in the U.S., we are helping to lower costs for American families, strengthening our energy independence, creating new streams of income for agricultural producers and bringing good-paying jobs to people in rural communities,” Torres Small said.

USDA provides HBIIP grants to fueling station and distribution facility owners, including marine, rail and home-heating oil facilities, to help expand access to domestic biofuels.

The projects will help business owners install and upgrade infrastructure such as fuel pumps, dispensers and storage tanks.

For example:

Connor’s Service Station in Webster, Wisconsin, will use a grant of more than $445,000 to install two E15 fuel dispensers, two B20 dispensers, one ethanol storage tank and one biodiesel storage tank. The project is expected to increase the amount of biofuel sold by nearly 224,000 gallons per year.

Fleet Fueling of Michigan LLC will use a $4.2 million grant to install 16 E15 fuel dispensers, 16 E85 dispensers, 30 B20 dispensers, seven ethanol storage tanks and 14 biodiesel storage tanks at seven fueling stations in Eaton, Ingham and Clinton counties. The company expects that the project will increase the amount of biodiesel sold by 2.5 million gallons per year.

NUVU Fuels Florida LLC will use a $150,000 grant to install four E85 dispensers and four E15 dispensers at a fueling station in Sarasota. Through this project, the company expects to increase the amount of ethanol sold by nearly 178,000 gallons per year.

The grants announced today are funding projects in Arkansas, California, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

Since 2021, USDA has invested more than $253 million nationwide through more than 300 awards to increase access to biofuels across the nation.

Almost $192 million of that funding invested in 267 projects comes from the IRA.

For more information, visit the HBIIP webpage.

Biobased Market Development and Access Grant Program

USDA will use previously transferred CCC funds to create the Biobased Product Market Development and Access Grant Program to support innovative biobased technologies and bridge the gap between pilot-scale demonstrations and commercial viability.

The funding will be available to applicants who have been accepted into the Biorefinery, Renewable Chemical and Biobased Product Manufacturing Assistance Program (Section 9003), which is administered by Rural Development.

The $200 million program is being funded through the reallocation of unobligated CCC funds from 2020.

In June 2023, USDA made $450 million available in IRA funding through HBIIP to expand the use and availability of higher-blend biofuels.

That same month, USDA also announced the first round of IRA-funded HBIIP awardees.