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Session 10: Biofuels: A Self-Sustaining Alternative?
Conference attendees will learn about the overall U.S. market for energy and the major issues, USDA's role in promoting production and use of biofuels, and the role of ethanol as a biofuel.
Links of Interest
Energy Information Administration
Presentations
Howard Gruenspecht : Biofuels
William Hagy: Biofuels- A Self-Sustaining Alternative
Samantha Slater: Today's US Ethanol Industry
Speakers
William Janis
Agricultural Economist
U.S. Department of Agriculture, moderator
Samantha M. Slater
Director, Congressional and Regulatory Affairs
Renewable Fuels Association
Samantha Slater is the Director of Congressional and Regulatory Affairs. Slater most recently served as Director of Public Policy for the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) and before that as Manager of State & Regional Affairs for the Electric Power Supply Association.
Slater has a bachelor’s degree in international studies from the American University in Washington, D.C.
Howard Gruenspecht
Deputy Administrator
Energy Information Administration
Over the past 25 years, Dr. Gruenspecht has worked extensively on electricity policy issues, including restructuring and reliability, regulations affecting motor fuels and vehicles, energy-related environmental issues, and economy-wide energy modeling. Before joining EIA, he was a Resident Scholar at Resources for the Future. From 1993 to 2000, Dr. Gruenspecht served as Director of Economic, Electricity and Natural Gas Analysis in the Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Policy, having originally come to DOE in 1991 as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Economic and Environmental Policy. His accomplishments as a career senior executive at DOE have been recognized with two Presidential Rank Awards.
Prior to his service at DOE, Dr. Gruenspecht was Senior Staff Economist at the Council of Economic Advisers (1989-1991), with primary responsibilities in the areas of environment, energy, regulation, and international trade. His other professional experience includes service as a faculty member at the Graduate School of Industrial Administration, Carnegie-Mellon University (1981-1988), Economic Adviser to the Chairman of the U.S. International Trade Commission (1988-1989), and Assistant Director, Economics and Business, on the White House Domestic Policy Staff (1978-1979).
Dr. Gruenspecht received his B.A. from McGill University in 1975 and his Ph.D. in Economics from Yale University in 1982.
William F. Hagy III
Rural Development Deputy Administrator, Business Programs
U.S. Department of Agriculture
As the Rural Development Business Programs, Deputy Administrator since July 1996, Mr. Hagy administers a combined loan and grant portfolio of over $6.5 billion and budget appropriations for fiscal year 2007 of $1.6 billion. This is done through the organizational structure of two National Office Divisions with 34 employees and a nationwide field organization serving the 50 States, the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and the Western Pacific Territories.
Under his direction, Business Programs are administered for the Rural Development mission area including the Business and Industry Guaranteed/Direct Loan, Rural Business Opportunity Grant, Rural Business Enterprise Grant, Rural Economic Development Loan/Grant, Renewable Energy Systems/Energy Efficiency Improvements Program, Biomass Research and Development Grant, and the Intermediary Relending Programs. Mr. Hagy has received extensive financial management training and is a recipient of the Vice President Gore’s National Performance Review Hammer Award for his efforts in streamlining the Business and Industry Guaranteed Loan Program regulation, which reduced the number of application forms and automated the application process. Mr. Hagy was the recipient of the Secretary of Agriculture Honor Award in Fiscal Year 2003 for Superior Service to the Department in the delivery of Business Programs.
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