HOUSE BILL DISSES NEW ENERGY

House Bill Would Cut Clean Energy and Efficiency Programs by 40 Percent; Appropriations bill puts renewable energy and efficiency funding about $1 billion below current levels, roughly equaling dollars doled out in 2005
Elizabeth McGowan, June 21, 2011 (SolveClimate News via Reuters)

"Even though Republicans have vowed an 'all-of-the-above' approach to America's energy future, Democrats are accusing them of clinging to a narrow, antiquated, hydrocarbon-heavy past…[in] the House Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition…2012 energy and water appropriations bill…[T]hey claim [it] shortchanges President Obama's efforts at innovation and competition in favor of an addiction to oil, coal and natural gas…

"Rep. Jeff Flake of Arizona was the sole Republican who joined 19 Democrats in opposing the bill that passed on a 26-20 vote. The full House will be considering the measure, one of a dozen sweeping federal spending bills, after Independence Day…[T]his version of the bill snips $1.9 billion [ – 40 percent of current funding – ] from the White House request for investments in energy efficiency research, renewables such as solar, wind and geothermal, fuel-conserving vehicles, weatherization, biomass and other programs…[Energy insiders] doubt the Senate will approve such draconian paring of clean energy enterprise…"

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"Overall, this appropriations legislation is designed to provide annual funding for the various agencies and programs under the Department of Energy, including the National Nuclear Security Administration, as well as the Army Corps of Engineers, the Bureau of Reclamation, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and various regional water and power authorities…Coalition members are most alarmed that the GOP engineered a bill…slashes close to $500 million from DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)…

"…[T]he White House 2012 budget request for EERE programs is the largest ever. It rings in at a total of $3.2 billion, which is bordering on 11 percent of the total DOE budget. That's significant because it's a jump of $983 million — or 44 percent — above 2010 appropriations…[T]he legislation increases funding for DOE's Fossil Energy Office by $32 million while decreasing designated dollars for Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) by $80 million…"

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"Obama had asked that the chronically underfunded ARPA-E receive about $650 million next year. The GOP House bill would jeopardize the relatively new initiative designed to fund early-stage innovation projects that are deemed riskiest and most transformative…Savings for the president's budget figure of $520 million would have come from peeling away money for fossil energy research and development, as well as the Strategic Petroleum Reserve…

"The last actual appropriation for ARPA-E was $389 million for fiscal year 2009. DARPA, the military program Chu is mimicking…allows an idea to morph into a prototype that is deployed throughout branches of the military before spilling over into the civilian marketplace…"