“Essential agricultural use” defined
15 U.S.C. § 3391a
in effectFor the purposes of section 3391 of this title, the term “essential agricultural use” shall—
(1) include use of natural gas in sugar refining for production of alcohol;
(2) include use of natural gas for agricultural production on set-aside acreage or acreage diverted from the production of a commodity (as provided under the Agricultural Act of 1949 [7 U.S.C. 1421 et seq.]) to be devoted to the production of any commodity for conversion into alcohol or hydrocarbons for use as motor fuel or other fuels; and
(3) for the 5-year period beginning on June 30, 1980, include use of natural gas in the distillation of fuel-grade alcohol from food grains or other biomass by facilities in existence on June 30, 1980, which do not have the installed capability to burn coal lawfully.
Source: OLRC USLMURL: https://uscode.house.gov/download/releasepoints/us/pl/119/95/xml_usc15@119-95.zipFetched: 6/3/2026
