7 CFR § 4288.111 - Biofuel eligibility.
To be eligible for this Program, a biofuel must meet the requirements specified in paragraph (a) of this section, and must not be listed in paragraph (b) of this section, and the biofuel's producer must provide additional information as may be requested by the Agency under paragraph (c) of this section.
(a) Eligible advanced biofuel. For an advanced biofuel to be eligible, each of the following conditions must be met, as applicable:
(1) The advanced biofuel must meet the definition of advanced biofuel and be produced in a State;
(2) The advanced biofuel must be a solid, liquid, or gaseous advanced biofuel;
(3) The advanced biofuel must be a Final Product; and
(4) The advanced biofuel must be sold as an advanced biofuel through an arm's length transaction to a third party.
(b) Ineligible fuels. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (a) of this section, for the purposes of this Program, the following fuels, and as may be supplemented by the Agency through the publication of documents in the Federal Register, are not eligible for payment:
(1) Flared gases;
(2) Fuels derived from paper milling and other processes commonly ascribed to wood products manufacturing and generically referred to as “liquor” (e.g., black liquor, red liquor, brown liquor, white liquor, green liquor, etc.), which typically are blended with diesel and burned as boiler fuel;
(3) Biofuels produced from solid eligible renewable biomass primarily by mechanical means, whether by hand or by machine, such as collecting, baling, bundling, chopping, screening, and chipping of the renewable biomass. Examples of ineligible biofuels that are not eligible advanced biofuels for the purposes of this subpart include, but are not limited to, baled energy grasses, chipped or chunked woody biomass, and chopped or split firewood; and
(4) Any advanced biofuel produced under bailment or third-party production contract and/or any variation thereof.
(c) Eligibility determination. The Agency will determine a biofuel's eligibility for payment under this Program. If an applicant's original submittal is not sufficient to verify a biofuel's eligibility, the Agency will notify the applicant, in writing, as soon as practicable after receipt of the application. This notification will identify, at a minimum, the additional information being requested to enable the Agency to determine the biofuel's eligibility and a timeframe in which to supply the information.
(1) If the applicant provides the requested information to the Agency within the specified timeframe, the Agency will determine the biofuel's eligibility for the upcoming fiscal year.
(2) If the applicant does not provide the requested information to the Agency within the specified timeframe, the biofuel will not be eligible for payment under this Program in the upcoming fiscal year. Applicants may elect to include such biofuels in the application form submitted during the next sign-up period.