To require the Secretary of Agriculture to provide information and education tools to farmers on the cost savings, energy savings, water conservation, and carbon emissions reductions that can be realized through the use of energy-efficient pumping systems, and for other purposes.
Sponsors
Michael Lawler
R-NY | Primary Sponsor
Legislative Progress
IntroducedMr. Lawler (for himself and Mr. Riley of New York) …
Summary
What This Bill Does
The Leveraging Efficiency Awareness for Pumping Systems Act (LEAPS Act) requires the Department of Agriculture to educate farmers about the benefits of upgrading to energy-efficient irrigation pumping systems. The bill addresses the fact that many of the over 600,000 agricultural pumping systems in the U.S. still rely on fossil fuels and are inefficient, wasting energy and money.
Who Benefits and How
Farmers and ranchers are the primary beneficiaries. They will receive free information, educational materials, and a self-assessment tool to evaluate their current pumping systems and estimate potential savings from upgrades. The bill estimates that improving pumping system efficiency could save up to 22 billion kilowatt hours of energy annually and reduce farmers' energy costs by up to $2.8 billion per year.
Who Bears the Burden and How
The Department of Agriculture must develop educational materials, create an online pre-assessment tool, and train energy auditors—all within 180 days. Energy auditors working with USDA programs will need to complete new training on pumping system efficiency. The bill does not include new appropriations, so existing USDA resources will be redirected to implement these requirements.
Key Provisions
- Requires USDA to publish information on energy savings, cost savings, water conservation, and carbon emission reductions from efficient pumping systems
- Creates a user-friendly online tool for farmers to assess their current systems and estimate upgrade benefits
- Establishes training programs for energy auditors on pumping system efficiency
- Amends the Conservation Stewardship Program to explicitly include energy-efficient pumping systems as an eligible conservation activity
Evidence Chain:
This summary is derived from the structured analysis below. See "Detailed Analysis" for per-title beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
Primary Purpose
The bill aims to promote energy efficiency in agricultural pumping systems by providing farmers with information, tools, and education on the benefits of adopting energy-efficient practices.
Policy Domains
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of Agriculture
- "the_administrator"
- → None
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
Requires the Secretary to develop and publish information on energy savings, cost savings, water conservation, and carbon emissions reductions through energy-efficient pumping systems.
Congressional findings on the importance of energy-efficient pumping systems in agriculture.
Mandates the development of a user-friendly tool to assess existing pumping systems' energy efficiency and estimate potential savings.
The official name of the bill: Leveraging Efficiency Awareness for Pumping Systems Act or LEAPS Act.
Establishes a process to educate energy auditors on pumping system efficiency.
Defines key terms used throughout the bill, including 'Secretary' and 'pumping system'.
Amends the Food Security Act of 1985 to include energy-efficient pumping systems as a consideration in conservation activities.
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology