In a recent speech on the Obama Administration’s approach to rural poverty, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack focused on the use of biofuels in manufacturing as a way to address persistent high unemployment in rural communities.

Secretary Vilsack said that such communities — defined as areas where 20 percent of the population has been poor for three decades or more — might rebuild their local economies by producing renewable fuels. According to the Agriculture Department’s Economic Research Service, an estimated 353 counties are in this category.

In 2010, the Agriculture Department created five Regional Biomass Research Centers to help establish a bioenergy industry in different parts of the country through the development of feedstock supplies for advanced biofuels production.

One use of biofuels that is being explored is in U.S. military operations. In January, Secretary Vilsack joined Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus in kicking off an initiative called the Great Green Fleet, which demonstrates the Navy’s efforts to transform its energy use. The centerpiece of the program is a Carrier Strike Group that deploys on alternative fuels, including a blend of advanced biofuel made from a combination of beef fat and traditional petroleum.

At the Coronado, California, ceremony, Secretary Vilsack said:

Today’s deployment proves that America is on its way to a secure, clean energy future, where both defense and commercial transportation can be fueled by our own hardworking farmers and ranchers, reduce landfill waste, and bring manufacturing jobs back to rural America.

Some Republicans in Congress have pushed back against such efforts, arguing that it is uneconomical to use biofuels in the military when the price of oil is competitive. In recent years, Senator James Inhofe (OK-R) and Representative Mike Conaway (TX-R) have attached riders to Defense Department authorization bills to limit the military use of renewable fuels if they are more expensive than conventional fuel.

Defending his position, Senator Inhofe said:

“I support the development and use of all sources of alternative fuels. … At the same time, I believe these pursuits within the military must be sensible and affordable solutions. … Instead, it looks like another attempt to put taxpayer money into a bankrupt green energy initiative.”

For more background on this topic, see the June 2008 issue of Congressional Digest on “Biofuels Expansion.”