Vilsack Announces $500 Million in Grants for Increased Biofuel Production

This week U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced plans to invest $500 million from the Inflation Reduction Act for biofuel production and promotion. He says the funds will go toward 59 infrastructure projects totaling $25 million. The USDA will accept applications for the remaining investment in July.

Current projects awarded are located in Iowa, Minnesota and New York and will help increase higher-blend ethanol and biodiesel through funding shared costs of building or retrofitting biofuel infrastructure. The Higher Blends Infrastructure Incentive Program (HBIIP) grants will cover up to 75% or $5 million of total project costs for higher-blend fuels. The announcement comes one week after the EPA announced final blending obligations, toward which ag interests expressed disappointment.

Read more on biofuel-boosting efforts here.