Highlights
- Congress has finalized a comprehensive energy policy bill that establishes
U.S. energy policy for the remainder of the decade. The bill includes
authorizations for science and energy R&D programs in the Department
of Energy (DOE) and creates a new program for ultra-deepwater oil and
gas R&D.
- The energy bill authorizes $14.5 billion in funding for DOE’s Office of Science between FY 2007 and 2009, but funding
is highly unlikely to match the authorization (see Table).
The FY 2006 request for the Office of Science falls nearly $1 billion
short of the authorization for 2007.
After more than four years of debate
and numerous stops and starts, Congress has finally approved a comprehensive
energy authorization bill (HR 6) that sets U.S.
energy policy for the remainder of the decade. On July 29, Congress
gave final approval to the 1725-page conference report (final version)
of the bill, which provides tax incentives for U.S. energy production,
sets federal standards for energy use and energy efficiency, changes
federal regulations on extracting energy from public lands, extends
daylight savings time by a month, and authorizes programs in the Department
of Energy (DOE). The bill includes authorizations for DOE’s
energy and science R&D programs which provide both policy guidance
and suggested funding levels for the years 2007 through 2009, with authorizations
extending through 2015 for some programs.
The energy bill authorizes $14.5 billion in funding for DOE’s Office of Science (OS) between 2007 and 2009 on
a funding trajectory that could see the OS budget double over the next
decade, from $3.6 billion this year (see Table).
The bill authorizes $4.4 billion in 2007, rising to $5.3 billion in
2009, a gain of 48 percent over this year’s
funding level. The bill authorizes similar increases in funding for
DOE’s energy R&D programs in the areas
of energy efficiency, fossil energy, renewable energy, distributed energy
and electricity transmission, and nuclear energy. In all, the bill authorizes
$24.2 billion over the three-year period between 2007 and 2009 for primarily
R&D programs in energy and science.
Authorization bills, however,
only contain suggested funding levels and do not actually provide funding.
Unlike the billions of dollars in tax cuts over
the next decade that are included in the bill and would take effect
without further action, funding for these DOE programs and others will
continue to be provided year by year in annual appropriations bills
and could fall well short of the authorized funding levels. Authorizations
are intended as guides for future Congresses as they make budget decisions
one year at a time, and are intended to set policy guidelines for how
programs operate.
Actual appropriations are likely to fall well short of the authorized
levels in the energy bill. Of the six key energy programs authorized
to receive large increases in coming years, five would actually see
their funding fall in the FY 2006 request. Although Congress has generally
reversed the proposed cuts in FY 2006 appropriations action so far,
even the congressional funding levels would require enormous increases
in FY 2007 for the appropriations to meet authorizations. For the Office
of Science, for example, the FY 2006 request would cut the total OS
budget from $3.6 billion down to $3.5 billion; although the House and
the Senate would boost it to $3.7 billion in their pending appropriations,
they would still require a highly unlikely 21 percent increase the next
year to reach the $4.4 billion FY 2007 authorization. The experience
of the National Science Foundation (NSF) authorization bill may be instructive:
like OS, in 2002 Congress authorized a doubling trajectory for the NSF
budget, but appropriations have fallen far behind the authorizations;
in FY 2006, the NSF budget is likely to be $3 billion lower than the
authorized level. (The June 20 AAAS R&D Funding
Update on the AAAS R&D
web site provides details of DOE appropriations so far in the FY
2006 budget process).
Only one R&D program received
guaranteed funding: the energy bill creates a new federal R&D program
in ultra-deepwater oil and unconventional natural gas research funded
at $50 million a year between FY 2007 and 2017 out of federal royalties
on oil and gas leases. The program would explore new technologies to
extract underwater oil at depths greater than 1500 meters and to extract
natural gas from sources that are uneconomical with current technologies.
The bill also authorizes up to $100 million a year in additional funding
through the usual appropriations process. In an unusual move, the bill
funnels most of the money through an unnamed consortium of institutions
that will administer the program instead of DOE managers; although DOE
staff at the National Energy Technology Center in West Virginia will
select the consortium and administer a quarter of the funds, the bill
language appears to have been crafted to favor a Texas-based energy
nonprofit.
Office of Science programs in the Energy bill
The energy bill legally authorizes
the activities of DOE’s Office of Science (OS) through 2009, and
authorizes $14.5 billion between 2007 and 2009 on a budget path that
would see its budget grow from $3.6 billion this year to $5.3 billion
by FY 2009. 93 percent of the OS budget goes to R&D activities,
with the remainder for overhead costs and infrastructure support.
Only a few OS programs receive specific
authorized funding levels, leaving DOE with greater flexibility to determine
the shape of future budgets. The
Fusion Energy Sciences program is authorized at $356 million for
domestic fusion research in FY 2007, increasing to $385 million in FY
2009 for a 43 percent increase over this year. The authorization covers
only U.S.-based fusion research, and excludes the U.S.
share of costs for the International
Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) program, a multi-national
multi-billion dollar fusion research facility that will begin construction
shortly in Europe. Separately, the energy bill
authorizes DOE to negotiate U.S. participation in ITER, calls on DOE
to create a written plan to fully document the U.S. role in ITER, and
calls on DOE to prepare a plan to ensure that ITER funding will not
reduce funding for other OS programs, especially domestic fusion research.
The ITER request for FY 2006 is $55 million, and the U.S.
contribution is expected to increase in future years. The Advanced Scientific
Computing Research (ASCR) program would grow from $233 million this
year to $375 million in 2009 if appropriations follow the authorization,
a gain of 61 percent. Other major OS programs do not receive specific
authorizations.
The energy bill also authorizes
the construction of another major science facility, the Rare Isotope
Accelerator (RIA), and instructs DOE to begin construction no later
than September 2008 for this nuclear physics facility. The bill also
authorizes $397 million for the finishing touches on the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) under construction in Tennessee
as part of the OS Basic Energy Sciences program.
The energy bill authorizes several
R&D efforts within the OS portfolio. The bill authorizes continuing
efforts in catalysis research and development. Catalysis R&D in
the OS Basic Energy Sciences program funds R&D on catalyst design,
catalyst synthesis, and basic molecular research to better synthesize
catalyst compounds. The bill also authorizes a new program in R&D
for energy-related issues associated with water resources, including
desalination research, arsenic treatment research, water supply technology
development, and some water management demonstration projects, at an
authorization of $40 million a year. The program does not exist now,
but the FY 2006 Senate appropriation would initiate the program.
Included in the final Energy bill,
after being left out of an early version, is the creation of a post
of Under Secretary for Science in the DOE to provide a high-visibility
science figure in the Department with direct responsibility to the Energy
Secretary. Many advocates for DOE’s science
activities have called for this step. The new position is a promotion
for the Director of DOE OS, currently several steps lower than an Under
Secretary in the DOE hierarchy. The bill also creates a new Assistant
Secretary for Nuclear Energy to raise the profile of DOE’s
nuclear energy programs.
Energy R&D Programs in the Energy Bill
In addition to the Office of Science,
DOE funds energy-related R&D
programs through programs in Energy Efficiency, Fossil Energy, Renewable
Energy, Distributed Energy, and Nuclear Energy, all of which are
authorized in the final energy bill. The bill envisions steadily increasing
budgets for all of these programs (see Table), including a more-than-doubling
of the Renewable Energy budget from $380 million in FY 2005 to $852
million in FY 2009. The Energy Efficiency program funds R&D on energy
efficiency technologies in energy-using industries, buildings, transportation,
and the energy distribution network, in addition to non-R&D activities
to encourage greater use of energy-efficient technologies in housing.
The Fossil Energy program funds R&D on new technologies to reduce
the use of coal, oil, and natural gas or to reduce their environmental
impacts. The Renewable Energy program funds R&D on solar, geothermal,
wind, hydrogen, biomass, and other renewable energy technologies, and
also funds efforts to deploy these technologies on a wider scale. Elsewhere
in the energy bill is a comprehensive authorization for a hydrogen program
to develop, deploy, and encourage the use of hydrogen in vehicles, energy
production, and fuel cells. The Distributed Energy and Electricity Transmission
is a program that funds R&D on more efficient electricity transmission
and distributed energy generation technologies. The Nuclear Energy program
funds a variety of programs related to nuclear power, including a Nuclear
Energy R&D Initiative to develop next-generation nuclear power technologies
and university programs to encourage nuclear R&D. All told, these
energy R&D programs are authorized to receive $9.7 billion over
three years, of which roughly two-thirds would go to R&D activities.
But again, the FY 2006 request and appropriations for these programs
will fall far short of the authorized levels, making large increases
in appropriations in FY 2007 to reach these targets highly unlikely.
Other Provisions in the Energy Bill
There are several miscellaneous
provisions in the energy bill that could affect the management of DOE’s R&D portfolio. The
bill calls on DOE to contract with the National Academy of Sciences
for several studies, including a study on the short-term and long-term
availability of skilled workers in energy and mineral industries, a
study on the feasibility of procuring medical istopes
from sources other than enriched uranium, a study on DOE progress toward
scientific and technical milestones in its hydrogen program, a study
on fuel cell technologies, and others. In a nod to the future workforce
needs of DOE, the bill also authorizes the creation of a DOE scholarship
program that will prepare students for careers at DOE and its national
laboratories and an energy research fellowship to encourage postdoctoral
researchers as well as more senior scientists in energy-related fields.
Finally, there are also earmarks (congressionally designated performer
specific R&D projects) in the bill. The bill instructs DOE to build
an Arctic Engineering
Research Center
at the University of Alaska
Fairbanks and provides $3 million a year
for six years out of DOE funds for that purpose. Another facility, the
Barrow Geophysical Research Facility, is authorized as a multi-agency
$61 million facility, but funds are only authorized and not appropriated.
The bill also directs DOE to award a grant to a consortium of southeastern
U.S.
universities for a pilot program to enhance scientific, engineering,
and mathematical literacy in students.
Next Steps
The President
is expected to sign the energy bill into law this week.
- August 3, 2005
AAAS R&D Budget and Policy Program
1200 New York Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20005
(202) 326-6607; -6600
AAAS R&D
Web site: www.aaas.org/spp/rd
