| CHARLOTTE,
North Carolina, January 11, 2005 (ENS): Secretary
Ann Veneman has announced that the U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA) has adopted a final rule establishing
a policy of preferred procurement for biobased products.
The preferred products - such as biobased greases, biodiesel
and ethanol when used as additives, hydraulic fluids,
biobased polymers, industrial solvents, biobased fertilizers
and cutting oils - would be used instead of petroleum
products.
During remarks Sunday at the 2005 American Farm Bureau
Federation Annual Meeting, Veneman said, "This
rule promotes energy independence and the use of environmentally
sustainable energy from biological sources, while at
the same time creating new demand for agricultural commodities
and new business investment and job growth in rural
America."
The final rule outlines provisions for the Federal
Biobased Products Preferred Procurement Program under
the 2002 Farm Bill, which requires all federal agencies
to preferentially purchase biobased products that have
been designated by the USDA as eligible.
"The Federal Biobased Products Preferred Procurement
Program creates a preference across the entire federal
government to purchase biobased products, when practical,
based on price, availability and performance,"
Veneman said.
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| For
More Information... |
| To date,
USDA has identified 83 items on which it is
developing test information to support designation
by rulemaking and are available for viewing
at: http://www.biobased.oce.usda.gov.
Obtain further information on the Federal
Biobased Products Preferred Procurement Program
at the website above or contact Marvin Duncan,
Office of Energy Policy and New Uses, at 202-401-0532,
or at: mduncan@oce.usda.gov.
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The new rule establishes the process by which the Department of Agriculture
will designate "items" for preferred procurement
by federal agencies.
Federal agencies must assure within one year after
the publication of this final rule that their procurement
specifications require the preference of biobased products
consistent with this rule.
The rule is scheduled to be in the January 11, 2005,
issue of the Federal Register and will be posted at:
www.biobased.oce.usda.gov.
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