| Highlights
- Department
of Energy (DOE): Natural gas
and petroleum research accounts are slated for elimination in the President’s
request. Geoscience research within the Basic Energy Sciences account
would decrease slightly.
- U.S. Geological Survey
(USGS):
The President has requested a 0.2
percent cut for the agency. Similar to the President’s FY 2005 request,
the minerals program is poised to take a major cut.
- National Science
Foundation (NSF): The Geosciences
Directorate is funded at a 2.2 percent increase over FY 2005. The Major
Research Equipment and Facilities Construction (MREFC) account includes
$50.6 million for the fourth installment of the EarthScope initiative.
- National Aeronautics
and Space Administration (NASA): The total Science budget request is $5.5 billion, dropping $51 million
from the FY 2005 enacted level. Among Earth science programs, the Earth
Systematic Missions program is slated for a 40 percent cut, stalling the
Glory Mission, which was planned to address climate change.
Introduction
The
earth sciences cover a broad range of the R&D spectrum, running the
gamut from fundamental research into the internal processes of Earth’s
interior to highly applied, interdisciplinary investigations that address
environmental contamination, natural hazards, and sustainable resource
development. Although this chapter focuses on earth science programs in
four key departments and agencies, earth science activities can be found
in 16 other departments and agencies spanning nearly 300 separate programs.
Taken
as a whole, the President’s budget favors fundamental earth science research
programs over more applied R&D. The success of the EarthScope initiative
at NSF -- the first-ever Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction
project for the earth sciences -- contrasts with stagnant or decreasing
support in the President’s request for applied programs, with the hardest
hit being those related to oil and natural gas in the Department of Energy.
Table 1: Budget request for
principal agencies and programs supporting earth-science R&D (budget
authority in millions of dollars).
Agency
/ Program FY
2004 FY 2005 FY 2006 % Change
Enacted Enacted Request FY 05-06
Department of Energy
Basic Energy
Sciences
--Chemical
Sciences, Geosciences,
& Energy Biosciences 219 239 222
-7%
Fossil Energy R&D
--Natural
Gas Research 43 45 10 -77%
--Petroleum
Research 35 34 10 -71%
Solar &
Renewable Energy
--Geothermal 26 25 23
-8%
Yucca Mountain Site Characterization
--Core
Science
-- -- --
--
Department of the Interior
U.S. Geological Survey* 944 936
934 -0.2%
--Geologic
Division* 234 229 208
-9%
--Water
Resources Div.* 216 142 140
-1%
NASA
Earth-Sun
System
-- 2,156 2,063 -4%
National Science Foundation
Geosciences
Directorate 715 694 709 +2%
--
Earth Sciences Division
144 149 154 +4%
Major Research Equip. EarthScope 43 47 51
+7%
Source:
Agency budget materials, Office of Management and Budget.
*
- Includes non-R&D components.
As
was the case last year, increased need for science in support of homeland
security has not translated into increased support for relevant earth
science programs. Although the U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) water-quality
monitoring, geospatial information and hazard-related capabilities are
in heavy demand at the new Department of Homeland Security (DHS), there
are no increases associated with this theme in the USGS request or that
for other earth science programs.
Department of
Energy (DOE)
Fossil
Energy R&D: Historically,
a majority of the earth science research funded through the Office of
Fossil Energy is related to petroleum and natural gas exploration and
production (E&P). Petroleum, natural gas, and gas hydrates research
programs are eliminated in this year’s request. Some, but not all, of
the cuts requested last year were restored in the final FY 2005 appropriations.
Funding for oil and natural gas R&D combined now make up only 2.6
percent of the total Fossil Energy R&D budget, most of which funds
coal-related technologies. That percentage has continued to drop with
each new request. Natural gas E&P would receive $10 million, to wrap
up and phase out the program. The petroleum E&P account would receive
a 71 percent cut, leaving the program at $10 million. This minimal funding
would also be used to phase out the program. Although most of the coal-related
research is concerned with the President’s Clean Coal Research Initiative
and the Clean Coal Power Initiative, there is $67.2 million for carbon
sequestration research, which is 32 percent higher than FY 2005 appropriations.
Basic
Energy Sciences: To align
budget accounts with the Basic Energy Sciences (BES) working structure,
DOE has placed earth science research within the combined Chemical Science,
Geosciences, and Energy Biosciences Research program. This program provides
peer-reviewed grants to universities and DOE national laboratories for
fundamental earth science research in geochemistry, hydrology, rock mechanics,
and geophysical imaging -- areas with broad application to multiple DOE
mission areas including oil and gas exploration and development, geothermal
energy, and environmental remediation. The FY 2006 request for this program
is $222 million.
Geothermal: The geothermal research program within the Renewable Energy
account funds earth-science research in materials, geofluids, geochemistry,
geophysics, rock properties, reservoir modeling, and seismic mapping.
Like many accounts within the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable
Energy, geothermal research was cut to make way for an increase in hydrogen
research in response to the President’s hydrogen economy initiative. In
total, the geothermal account has requested $23 million, an 8 percent
decrease from last year’s allocation.
Yucca Mountain Site Characterization: Yucca Mountain was approved for development in
2002 but DOE had to delay its request for a site license for construction
in 2004. Submission of a license application was delayed for several reasons;
however, two primary and persistent problems are a court ruling that invalidates
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) compliance period for waste
disposal and underfunding of the Yucca Mountain project by about $1 billion over
the past 10 years. In FY 2006, spending will focus on getting a license
application prepared for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, awarding a
design/build contract for the 300 mile long Nevada rail line and upgrading the utilities
in the exploratory tunnel system that serves as a test bed for scientific
studies and experiments. Overall, the Yucca Mountain project would receive an increase
of 3.4 percent from $413 million last year to $427 million. (For more
on the DOE budget, see Chapter 9.)
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)
Looking
at the USGS as a whole, this year’s request is much more favorable to
the agency than last year’s request but still represents a decrease from
the final FY 2005 appropriations. The
total request is $934 million, a decrease of $1.9 million from last year’s
level. This year the USGS budget focuses on natural hazards. One area
that received a major cut is a $29.8 million decrease in the Mineral Resources
Program, which is the sole federal provider of scientific information
for objective mineral resource assessments and unbiased research results
on mineral potential, production, consumption, and environmental effects.
Geologic
programs would receive a total of $208 million, a 9 percent decrease from
last year. The biggest hit goes to the Mineral Resources Program, which
would receive a 53 percent cut for selected individual projects and lower
priority mineral resource efforts. This reduction will terminate the collection
of nation-wide basic geologic and mineral deposit data, the internationally
coordinated global mineral resource assessment, many mineral commodity
reports, and will eliminate approximately 240 full-time employee positions
within the USGS. The $25 million remaining in the program will continue
funding for minerals surveys and studies relevant to ongoing federal land
management, regulatory, and remediation activities.
Overall,
water programs would receive $140.4 million, a 1.4 percent decrease from
last year’s allocation. The National Water-Quality Assessment program
requested $63 million, which is almost a $1.5 million increase from last
year’s funding level. The Toxic Substances Hydrology program would receive
$13 million, a decrease of 19 percent from FY 2005. (For more on USGS,
see Chapter 13.)
National Science
Foundation (NSF)
Funding
for the Geosciences Directorate (GEO) would receive a small boost from
the FY 2005 appropriation, with a budget request of $709.1 million. The
majority of the solid earth science research within GEO is funded through
the Earth Science Division (EAR) that has requested $154.1 million.
The
EarthScope initiative, comprised of the U.S. Seismic Array (USArray),
the San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth (SAFOD), and the Plate Boundary
Observatory (PBO), is again included in the NSF’s Major Research Equipment
and Facilities Construction (MREFC) account, having received $47 million
in funding for FY 2005. This year’s request is for $50.6 million and is
the fourth installment of the five-year, $187 million project. (For more
on the NSF budget, see Chapter 7.) National Aeronautics
and Space Administration (NASA)
Internal reorganization at NASA has left three major accounts
– Science, Aeronautics and Exploration; Exploration Capabilities; and
Inspector General – unchanged. However, within the Science, Aeronautics
and Exploration Account, NASA has eliminated the Space Science, Earth
Science and Biological & Physical Research Enterprises and combined
them into one Science account. Within this new Science “Mission Directorate”
are three divisions: Solar System Exploration, The Universe, and The Earth-Sun
System, which houses the agency’s earth science programs. Just as NASA’s
Earth Science Enterprise worked to develop a scientific understanding
of the Earth and its response to natural and human-induced changes, so
will the programs within The Earth-Sun System account.
The Administration requested a total of $16.5 billion for
NASA in FY 2006, an increase of 2.4 percent over the $16.1 billion provided
in FY 2005. The total Science budget request is $5.5 billion, dropping
$51 million from the FY 2005 enacted level. There is also a $92 million
cut slated for the Earth-Sun System division. Among earth science programs,
the Earth Systematic Missions program is slated for a 40 percent cut,
stalling the Glory Mission, which was planned to address climate change.
Earth System Science Pathfinder Projects would, on the other hand, receive
a 25 percent increase. (For more on the NASA reorganization and the NASA
budget, please see Chapter 10.)
|
