7 U.S.C. § 2669: Pilot projects for production and marketing of industrial hydrocarbons and alcohols from agricultural commodities and forest products

The Secretary is authorized and directed to formulate and carry out a pilot program for the production and marketing of industrial hydrocarbons derived from agricultural commodities and forest products for the purpose of stabilizing and expanding the market for such commodities and products and expanding the Nation’s supply of industrial hydrocarbons. The Secretary shall provide for four pilot projects for the production of industrial hydrocarbons and alcohols from agricultural commodities and forest products by guaranteeing loans, not to exceed $15,000,000 per each such project, to public, private, or cooperative organizations organized for profit or nonprofit, or to individuals for a term not to exceed twenty years at a rate of interest agreed upon by the borrower and lender. No loan may be guaranteed under this section unless (1) research indicates the total energy content of the products and byproducts to be manufactured by the loan applicant will exceed the total energy input from fossil fuels used in the manufacture of such products and byproducts, and (2) such other conditions as the Secretary deems appropriate to achieve the purposes of this section are met. In order to assure that the recipients of loans made under this section have a dependable supply of agricultural commodities at a stable price for use in the pilot projects provided for in this section, the Secretary is authorized to enter into long-term contracts, not exceeding five years, with the recipients of such loans. Such contracts shall guarantee the recipients of such loans a specified quantity of agricultural commodities annually at mutually agreed upon prices, but the agricultural commodities shall not be sold under any such contracts at less than the price support level prescribed for the commodity concerned unless the commodities are out of condition, unstorable, or sample-grade or lower, as prescribed in Department of Agriculture standards. The Secretary shall supply from Commodity Credit Corporation stocks or, to such extent or in such amounts as are provided in appropriation Acts, purchase such quantities of agricultural commodities as may be necessary to comply with the terms of agreements entered into under this section. The provisions of this section shall be carried out through the Commodity Credit Corporation.