42 U.S.C. § 8802 — Definitions

As used in this chapter— (1) “Alcohol” means alcohol, including methanol and ethanol, made from biomass and suitable for use alone or mixed with other substances as fuel or as a replacement for petroleum or petrochemical feedstocks. (2)(A) “Biomass” means renewable organic matter, including farm crops and farm wastes and residues, wood and wood wastes and residues, animal wastes, municipal wastes, and aquatic plants. (B) For subchapter I, “biomass” does not include municipal wastes. For subchapter III, it does not include aquatic plants or municipal wastes. (3) “Biomass fuel” means a gas, liquid, or solid fuel made by converting biomass. (4) “Biomass energy” means either— (A) biomass fuel; or (B) energy or steam made by directly burning biomass to generate electricity, mechanical power, or heat for an industrial process. (5) “Biomass energy project^*” means a facility, or part of a facility, in the United States whose main purpose is either— (A) producing biomass fuel and its byproducts; or (B) burning biomass to generate industrial-process heat, mechanical power, or electricity, including cogeneration. (6) “Btu” means British thermal unit. (7) “Cogeneration” means a facility’s combined generation of— (A) electrical or mechanical power; and (B) steam or another useful form of energy, such as heat, used for industrial, commercial, heating, or cooling purposes. (8) “Cooperative” means an agricultural association, as “agricultural association” is defined in section 1141j(a) of title 12. (9)(A) “Construction” means— (i) constructing or acquiring a biomass-energy project; (ii) converting a facility into a biomass-energy project; or (iii) expanding or improving a biomass-energy project in a way that increases the facility’s capacity or efficiency to produce biomass energy. (B) It includes— (i) acquiring equipment and machinery for use in or at the project site; and (ii) acquiring land and improvements on the land for constructing, expanding, or improving the project, or converting a facility into the project. (C) It does not include acquiring a facility that operated as a biomass-energy project before the acquisition. (10) “Federal agency” means an “Executive agency,” as defined in section 105 of title 5. (11)(A) “Financial assistance” means any of these forms of assistance provided under this chapter, alone or in combination: (i) loans; (ii) loan guarantees; (iii) price guarantees; and (iv) purchase agreements. (B) It also includes any commitment to provide that assistance. (12) “Indian tribe” means an Indian tribe, band, nation, or other organized group or community. This includes an Alaska Native village or a regional or village corporation defined in or established under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.) if the group is recognized as eligible for special United States programs and services for Indians because of its status as Indian. (13) “Motor fuel” means gasoline, kerosene, and middle distillates, including diesel fuel. (14)(A) “Municipal waste” means organic matter, including sewage, sewage sludge, and industrial or commercial waste, together with mixtures of that matter and inorganic refuse, from— (i) a publicly or privately operated municipal-waste collection or similar disposal system; or (ii) similar waste flows, except agricultural wastes or residues and wood wastes or residues from wood-harvesting or forest-products activities. (B) It does not include hazardous waste, as the Secretary^* of Energy determines for this chapter. (15)(A) “Municipal waste energy project” means a facility, or part of a facility, in the United States whose main purpose is either— (i) producing biomass fuel and byproducts from municipal waste; or (ii) burning municipal waste to generate steam or useful energy, including industrial-process heat, mechanical power, or electricity, including cogeneration. (B) It includes necessary transportation, preparation, and disposal equipment and machinery for use in or at the facility. (16) “Office of Alcohol Fuels” means the Office of Alcohol Fuels established under section 8820 of this title. (17) “Person” means an individual, company, cooperative, partnership, corporation, association, consortium^*, unincorporated organization, trust, estate, entity organized for a common business purpose, State or local government (including a special-purpose district or similar governmental unit), agency or instrumentality of such a government, or Indian tribe or tribal organization. (18) “State” means any of the 50 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, or the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. (19) “Small-scale biomass energy project” means a biomass-energy project expected to produce no more than 1,000,000 gallons of ethanol per year, or the energy equivalent in another form of biomass energy. This section does not define the Secretaries involved; it refers to the Secretary of Energy in paragraph (14)(B).