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Alliance for Green Heat, President John Ackerly, speaks during the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Wood Energy Memorandum of Understanding, and awarded wood energy grants announcements event, at the USDA Headquarters, in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, September 11, 2013. Signing the MOU are partnership leaders Biomass Thermal Energy Council, Executive Director Joseph Seymour; Alliance for Green Heat, President John Ackerly, USDA Agriculture Deputy Secretary Krysta Harden; Pellet Fuels Institute Executive, Director Jennifer Hedrick; Biomass Power Association, President and CEO Bob Cleaves, and Secretary Thomas Vilsack who signed it earlier. Moderating the event is Under Secretary for Rural Development Doug O’Brien.
The partnership agreement focuses on promoting wood energy nationwide as a means to address fire risks, bolster rural economic development, improve air quality, and help meet the Obama Administration’s renewable energy and energy efficiency goals. These organizations support the use of wood energy across the scale of users – from residential users, to commercial and intuitional facilities, to industrial production of heat and or electricity to drive businesses and feed the electrical grid.

Under the terms of the five grants announced by Deputy Secretary Harden, private, state and federal organizations will work together to stimulate the development of additional wood energy projects in their states. Collectively, $2.9 million will be spent o this effort -- $1.1 million on federal funds and $1.8 million in non federal funds. For more information o0n the cooperative agreement program, visit na.fs.fed.us.werc/wood-energy/ USDA Photo by Lance Cheung.