[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3248 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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114th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 3248
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to make qualified biogas
property and qualified manure resource recovery property eligible for
the energy credit and to permit new clean renewable energy bonds to
finance qualified biogas property, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
July 14, 2016
Mr. Brown (for himself and Mr. Roberts) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to make qualified biogas
property and qualified manure resource recovery property eligible for
the energy credit and to permit new clean renewable energy bonds to
finance qualified biogas property, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Agriculture Environmental
Stewardship Act of 2016''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Incentives and encouragement for the conservation and
appropriate handling of nutrients contained in organic matter
are necessary.
(2) Biogas systems will save Federal, State, and local
taxpayers money by converting waste into useful products, such
as fuel, fertilizer, thermal heat, feedstock for hydrogen fuel
cells, and renewable chemicals.
(3) Manure resource recovery systems will save Federal,
State, and local taxpayers money by recovering the nutrients
contained in organic matter from their source, rather than
recovering the nutrients after they have entered landfills or
waterways.
SEC. 3. ENERGY CREDIT FOR QUALIFIED BIOGAS PROPERTY AND QUALIFIED
MANURE RESOURCE RECOVERY PROPERTY.
(a) In General.--Section 48(a)(3)(A) of the Internal Revenue Code
of 1986 is amended by striking ``or'' at the end of clause (vi) and by
adding at the end the following new clauses:
``(viii) qualified biogas property, or
``(ix) qualified manure resource recovery
property,''.
(b) 30-Percent Credit.--Section 48(a)(2)(A)(i) of such Code is
amended by striking ``and'' at the end of subclause (III), by striking
``and'' at the end of subclause (IV), and by adding at the end the
following new subclauses:
``(V) qualified biogas property,
and
``(VI) qualified manure resource
recovery property, and''.
(c) Definitions.--Section 48(c) of such Code is amended by adding
at the end the following new paragraphs:
``(5) Qualified biogas property.--
``(A) In general.--The term `qualified biogas
property' means property comprising a system which--
``(i) uses anaerobic digesters, or other
biological, chemical, thermal, or mechanical
processes (alone or in combination), to convert
biomass (as defined in section 45K(c)(3)) into
a gas which consists of not less than 52
percent methane, and
``(ii) captures such gas for use as a fuel.
``(B) Inclusion of certain cleaning and
conditioning equipment.--Such term shall include any
property which cleans and conditions the gas referred
to in subparagraph (A) for use as a fuel.
``(C) Termination.--No credit shall be determined
under this section with respect to any qualified biogas
property for any period after December 31, 2020.
``(6) Qualified manure resource recovery property.--
``(A) In general.--The term `qualified manure
resource recovery property' means property comprising a
system which uses physical, biological, chemical,
thermal, or mechanical processes to recover the
nutrients nitrogen and phosphorus from a non-treated
digestate or animal manure by reducing or separating at
least 50 percent of the concentration of such
nutrients, excluding any reductions during the
incineration, storage, composting, or field application
of the non-treated digestate or animal manure.
``(B) Inclusion of certain processing equipment.--
Such term shall include--
``(i) any property which is used to recover
the nutrients referred to in subparagraph (A),
such as--
``(I) biological reactors,
``(II) crystallizers,
``(III) reverse osmosis membranes
and other water purifiers,
``(IV) evaporators,
``(V) distillers,
``(VI) decanter centrifuges, and
``(VII) equipment that facilitates
the process of dissolved air flotation,
ammonia stripping, gasification, or
ozonation, and
``(ii) any thermal drier which treats the
nutrients recovered by the processes referred
to in subparagraph (A).
``(C) Termination.--No credit shall be determined
under this section with respect to any qualified manure
resource recovery property for any period after
December 31, 2020.''.
(d) Denial of Double Benefit for Qualified Biogas Property.--
Section 45(e) of such Code is amended by adding at the end the
following new paragraph:
``(12) Coordination with energy credit for qualified biogas
property.--The term `qualified facility' shall not include any
facility which produces electricity from gas produced by
qualified biogas property (as defined in section 48(c)(5)) if a
credit is determined under section 48 with respect to such
property for the taxable year or any prior taxable year.''.
(e) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall
apply to periods after December 31, 2015, in taxable years ending after
such date, under rules similar to the rules of section 48(m) of such
Code (as in effect on the day before the date of the enactment of the
Revenue Reconciliation Act of 1990).
SEC. 4. NEW CLEAN RENEWABLE ENERGY BONDS FOR QUALIFIED BIOGAS PROPERTY
AND QUALIFIED MANURE RESOURCE RECOVERY PROPERTY.
(a) In General.--Section 54C(d)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code of
1986 is amended by inserting ``, a qualified biogas property (as
defined in section 48(c)(5)), or a qualified manure resource recovery
property (as defined in section 48(c)(6))'' before ``owned by''.
(b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by this section shall apply
to obligations issued after the date of the enactment of this Act.
SEC. 5. STUDY OF BIOGAS.
(a) In General.--The Secretary of the Treasury shall enter into an
agreement with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory to undertake a
study of biogas that addresses the following:
(1) The quality of biogas, including a comparison of biogas
to natural gas and the identification of any components of
biogas which make biogas unsuitable for injection into existing
natural gas pipelines.
(2) Methods for obtaining the highest energy content in
biogas, including the use of co-digestion and identifying the
optimal feed mixture.
(3) Recommendations for the expansion of biogas production,
including an analysis of the extent to which increasing the
methane content of biogas would result in the greater use of
biogas and an analysis of how the expanded use of biogas could
help meet the growing energy needs of the United States.
(b) Report.--Not later than 2 years after the date of the enactment
of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a report on the
study conducted under subsection (a).
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