Financing. At the federal level as a staffer in the u. S. House of representatives on a farm in kentucky and received her bs in economics from university of kentucky. The university of kentucky. She currently lives on a small farm in murphy county wher counr husband and two children, welcome. Second general manager in the association has been critical to the development and facilitation of many training venues public water systems. Its been responsible for the construction of nearly 90 Community Facilities using the local volunteer Labor Services from the louisville campus im glad you are here to join us today. Next is mr. Christopher stephe stephens. The Membership Corporation headquartered in georgia graduated from high school in 1987 and attended the Georgia Institute of technology where he graduated with an engineering degree. Then the utility consultants with the department of engineering and in georgia where he lives with wife and two children we look forward to the testimony, senator senator thune has already given a marvelous introduction to you so we will let that stand for the record. Welcome. We appreciate you coming and look forward to your testimony. The next witnesses the director of the Engineering Research center for the bio renewable chemicals from ohio state university. Hehe is the director of the National Science foundation and Engineering Research centeenginr the vital renewable chemicals and distinguished professor of engineering has been on the faculty since 1999 where he has focused on converting biomass stocks into chemicals and fuels. We welcome you i was going to turn to the Ranking Member to introduce the final witness but in the spirit of bipartisanship and delighted to introduce you. The last witness is the chief executive officer of the Harvest Energy solutions and one of the cofounders responsible for developing the operating strategies and old external advisory relationships. He holds a degree from Michigan State university. The distinguished Ranking Member had me decorated in green and white when we had our hearing up there so just want you to know that when you come you can wear purple. And from the university of michigan thank you for joining us today. If you could start off with your testimony. Thank you for the opportunity to testify here today on the Rural Development issues and thank you for having the hearing. The programs being discussed at a touch every person living in or go america. The center for agriculture and a lot of it provided Technical Assistance services for producers, organizations and businesses for 16 years in the commonwealth oand thecommonweale see firsthand the conditions facing producers as they start new businesses seeking to add value to the commodities to capture move to becom co more oe food dollar. In kentucky this means we help businesses develop at all stages of development. This would be possible without the grant program. This program authorized in the farm bill provides support to be the resource in the development of the coop in kentucky. By forming cooperatives farmers were able to choose games that would be out of research if they were facing the market alone. In kentucky in the past few years theyve worked with an organic seed al coop, a Grain Elevator coop and a couple Farmers Market and right now we are working with a group of producers seeking to portion a large bit of the business creating continuity i and a way for the producers serving them. As the senators have delivered over 350 businesses and saved over 10,000 jobs in just the documented eight year time span it deserves to be reauthorized through the combined resources of the fund, editors is complicated situations everyday. We see the experiences with federal grant and loan programs and worked with a majority of the producer recipients in the past five years so weve seen the paperwork challenges in this program is important because the funds go to producers to advance the goal of securing a greater percentage of the food dollar. Its a good investment for the federal government and accomplishes this through financial projections and estimates of the growth and pricing calculations. Ive seen a lot of native ways to improve the program but to summarize they are important they should consider the application process. Its to run due to the axis they have on the ground. To Development Programs important to foster job creation and its critical to the success providing the support of the eligible businesses need to launch and thrive. They respond to the need driven that they are harder to achieve in the areas that the services are harder to apply and People Living in these areas deserve the same access to services and opportunities as those living in the metro areas. The staff works with farmers and businesses every day to survive and thrive. I live in a rural area and Rural Broadband with a Telecom Company to do my work and buy my electricity anby myelectricity y unequivocally they are critical to the health of the areas if we want them to be strong for you to deliver and provide a high quality of life for the citizens. We appreciate your testimony. I am the general manager of the kansas Water Association and appreciate the opportunity to speak today. My experience goes back to the early 1970s when i was elected to a Steering Committee and subsequently served on the board of directors as we formed, developed and constructed a water supply that went on to serve some 700 rural residents and farmsteads in the two communities. The first project was from the administration and about ten years later we needed to expand the capacity due to the needs of the water system so we obtained a second loan from them and begin another loan only. Im here today to ask for your support to continue the funding for the program operate n. Theye both development. The public water supply systems are 60,000. I represent the kansas and other think of the National Association and the membership of some 31,002 utilities. 92 of the public water supply systems serve populations less than 10080 of the wastewater utilities some 16,000 serve populations less than 10,000 in kansas than the 786 of the 855 that serve fewer than 3,000. The issue of affordability is a major concern for the public water supply systems across the united states. The mobile Development Program is critical to addressing the effort and the Program Provides help to citizens to have more affordable rates because of the provision for longerterm financing then the state Revolving Loan funds reviewing the costs incurred by the public wholesale district and Cottonwood Falls we are proud of the grants from the Community Development block grant. The citizens would have had their water rates quadrupled to 25. 40 to 50 minimum and roughly 25,000 per total for 5,000 gallons that is absolutely not affordable and in most communities. Strictly relying on commercial credit which addresses compliance the program varies from that because it takes affordability as a primary effect their to the consideration of the loans and we complement the agency for developing an Online Program for the application process. Its hoped the borrowers and the agency. Thank you for the opportunity we would be happy to take any questions later. Thank you to the members of the committee for inviting me to testify. The president and ceo of the cooperation and notforprofit cooperative in georgia they provide electricity to 70,000 members and operates 60,000 miles of line. The farm bill is essential because it contains tools we use to keep the lights on in america to generate electricity from renewable sources, modernized grid, promote Economic Development to the communities we serve. The program has been the foundation providing lowcost financing for installing and maintaining good. They are adapting to changes and accommodating the generation mix of protecting against cyber threats. It helps fund essential projects to make their systems more modern, efficient and secure. Weve enjoyed the support because we are such a good investment for the federal government providing valuable service to the communities and reliably paying back the loans we ask that you help us maintain that support in the bill and in the 21st century the Robust Communications infrastructure is just as important to the business as the traditional assets mike love is conducting an economic study to determine the feasibility of building a broadband network. The main motivation is to take care of internal operational needs to make the system more efficient and secure. Once the foundation is in place there are lots of things we can do with it. One to facilitate the connection of the members homes and businesses to Broadband Internet. Some people dont have access to the reliable internet and that puts consumers, schools and, hospitals, employers at a disadvantage. Another part of modernizing the grid is deploying the forces for helping the customers save money and managing their own energy better. A Founding Member sources Renewable Energy from the plant and at the end of last year the projects were generating 270 megawatts of electricity enough to serve over 200,000 homes and that would nearly double by the year 2020. 2020. We also sponsor the efforts to bring solar installations to schools and help the customers finance moneysaving Home Energy Efficiency projects we urge the committee to reauthorize programbring officeprograms likr America Program and the Savings Program to ensure that the electric coops continue to meet the demands of the member owners. In addition it plays a vital Economic Growth and Economic Development will of the communities we serve. Since 2009 coops funded around 10 million through the Economic Development loan and Grant Programs also known as red flag. These include the renovation of the hospital and construction of new cattle feed operation to support local business we believe that it is a valuable tool in offsetting the population job losses around the country. We urge the committee to work with us to ensure funding throughout the next billy and beyond. Last of the army to mention an issue of importance to the health. A Nuclear Power plant for our generation cope complete construction is underway. The unforeseen bankruptcy at the general contractothegeneral cone contract in jeopardy. Congress must extend existing tax credits to make the projects completion viable. Most of the food, minerals, manufactured goods come from rural areas thats why this whole should be of interest to all americans. You have a great opportunity to make needed investments that will address the unique challenges. Again, thank you for the time to testify. Thank you chairman roberts and members of the committee thank you for this opportunity to testify. Im promoting the deployment of sustainability of broadband in Rural America. Im the ceo of Golden West Telecommunications in south dakota and my remarks today are on behalf of the Broadband Association which represents approximately 850 communitybased providers with advanced Telecommunication Services in the rural parts of the country. We began operations in 1960 and today we provide Broadband Internet service, Cable Television and voice telecommunications services. Serving customers across 24,500 square miles in south dakot soun area larger than the states of maryland, new jersey, connecticut and delaware combined. Weve been in our u. S. Borrowers since the early 1950s and just last week we received approval for the most recent one. Usta Telecom Program stimulated billions of dollars in private Capital Investment and Rural Telecommunications infrastructure around this country. Despite the tremendous success of the Telecom Programs to broadband deployment wouldnt be possible without the universal service fund highcost program as well. The Program Helps carriers meet the Business Case for Network Deployment through the use of private capital and were securing loans from the Security Service and other blunders committed to willing to finance broadband capable plants in Rural America. Unfortunately while the usda programs promote and assess rules were designed to support Robust Networks the highcost budget is not. A hard cap in regard to decode the shortfall is driving the consumer rates higher deterring the broadband investment and even cutting the support for of investments that have already been made. In fact i in the nearly 40 of e u. S. Landmass served by the carriers, and artificially high cost of the chip is now the greatest barrier to the Rural Broadband investment the carrier space and because of this limits tens of thousands of the lower speeds were no broadband at all precisely what recent reforms were intended to alleviate. We are requesting congress to help press for a fix and we urge the fcc to take action as quickly as possible to address the budget shortfall. The permit in process for the deployment across the golden state and owning agencies must also be addressed in any holistic plan to promote and sustain infrastructure investments. The best funded and best planned networks may never deliver fully on their promise if they are caught in regulatory red tape. Robust broadband must be available, affordable and sustainable for Rural America to realize the economic healthcare education and Public Safety benefits that advance the connectivity offers therefore the broadband industry is eager to close the broadband gap by working with congress and the administration on Public Policy that helps to build and sustain broadband in the rural markets. Golden west and other Member Companies think the committee for its leadership and its interest on all of these issues and we look forward to working with you on behalf of the hundreds of small operator members of the mpca and the millions of libera mobile ameris that we serve. Thank you for your time and i look forward to questions later. Chairman roberts and Committee Members thank you for this opportunity to testify particularly about the utilization. Clearly near and dear to the state of iowa and also to the country i think what is important about this area relative to other testimonials we heard today is this is one that not only impacts security in the Rural Infrastructure but also broad impact on society so it is a case where we can see that it has a strong impact on the Greater Society and i think that is an important thing to always keep front and center. Title ix has an aspirational goal of producing advanced biofuels and this is a wonderful aspirational goal underneath that weve established the concept which would not only produce advanced biofuels but also products of bayoubased chemicals and products into the way the title is constructed as it looks at the challenge of the aspirational goal that includes technological, market challenges and infrastructure challenges and says how do we build overpriced actions underneath it to address those challenges and if it is a very important way to look at the problem but i would argue would suggest there is another way to look at it which is how do we take the advanced via manufacturing and produce renewable chemicals in the products that can actually enable us on the pathway to that grand vision that we have . What do i mean by judiciously. We can develop technologies that in the nearterm can produce renewablnear term can produceres they mature can be leveraged into advanced biofuels. We can develop markets and renewable chemicals doubletime be in place for when we are ready for all of those to make it work. We can do an incremental investment on existing infrastructure to make sure that when we come to the refinery to require a large infrastructure we can lower the hurdle for the capital infrastructure. Its my opinion that if we utilize advanced via manufacturing to produce renewable chemicals what we can do is create successes on the way to the pathway of what we ultimately want in these advanced biofuels. The analogy i think of is when we think of nasa that create division and says we are going to mars and what he does i