Issue Brief

Title 9: Energy

December 2018

Authors

Ludovica Brown, Genevieve Byrne, Julia Nitsche, Emma Scott, Alexandra Smith,

The purpose of this backgrounder is to outline the history, context, and content of the farm bill’s Energy Title.

For references and endnotes, please refer to the PDF version of this document.

First, this memo will discuss the history of government support for biofuels in the U.S. Second, it will outline the Title’s programs under the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (“2018 Farm Bill”). Finally, it will conclude with an overview of the questions and controversies surrounding biofuels, including their environmental impact, the addition of algae to the program, and the usage of ethanol as transportation fuel.

Find the complete set of reports from the Farm Bill Law Enterprise at farmbilllaw.org.

Suggested Citation

Genevieve Byrne et al., Energy, Farm Bill Law Enterprise (Dec. 1, 2018), https://www.farmbilllaw.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2018-Update_Title-9-Energy.pdf. 

Ludovica Brown

Ludovica Brown LLM’21 was a Public Policy Fellow with the Institute for Energy and the Environment at Vermont Law and Graduate School.

Genevieve Byrne

Professor of Law, Vermont Law and Graduate School

Genevieve is an assistant professor and staff attorney for the Farm and Energy Initiative in the Institute for Energy and the Environment at Vermont Law and Graduate School. Her experience includes American Farmland Trust, where she worked on agricultural land conservation and legislative research, and the Vermont Office of Legislative Council, where she focused on energy legislation. She holds a JD and a Certificate in Natural Resources Law from Lewis and Clark College of Law.

Julia Nitsche

Julia Nitsche was a clinical student with the Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic.

Emma Scott

Director, Food and Agriculture Clinic, Vermont Law and Graduate School

Emma Scott is an Associate Professor and the Director of the Food and Agriculture Clinic at Vermont Law and Graduate School. Her work focuses on food system workers and food system policy at the federal, state, and local level. Previously she served as the Associate Director of the Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic and a Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School. She received her BS in Social Sciences with a concentration in Cross-Cultural Studies and International Development from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and her JD from Harvard Law School.