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news release:
Department of Energy Submits $23.6 Billion Spending Plan to Congress for FY’07
Washington, DC,
6 March 2007: U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)
today submitted the Department’s $23.598 billion
spending plan to Congress for Fiscal Year (FY) 2007, a $45 million (0.2%)
increase over the FY’07 request, as a result of the FY’07 Continuing
Resolution. The spending plan will allow DOE to continue making marked progress
in achieving President Bush’s goal of bringing more clean energy sources to
market to help cut dependence on fossil fuels, increasing our energy and
economic security and boosting competitiveness. The Continuing Resolution,
signed by President Bush on February 15, required that a spending plan be
submitted to Congress within 30 days of enactment.
The FY’07 spending plan emphasizes investment in
alternative fuel technologies, as put forth in President Bush’s American
Competitiveness Initiative (ACI) and Advanced Energy Initiative (AEI), announced
in his 2006 State of the Union Address. The ACI will increase federal
investment in critical research to ensure that the U.S. continues to lead the
world in scientific innovation, and provide American children with a strong
foundation in math and science. The AEI seeks to reduce our reliance on fossil
fuels by changing the way we power our nation.
This plan also allocates resources that will
contribute to President Bush’s Twenty in Ten Initiative, which builds upon the
President’s AEI by seeking to reduce U.S. gasoline consumption by twenty percent
in ten years. This bold proposal - extraordinary because it requests Congress
mandate a fuels standard to require 35 billion gallons of renewable and
alternative fuels in 2017 - will help to more aggressively confront climate
change and leave Americans less reliant on imported energy, particularly nations
that are hostile to the United States.
Highlights
DOE’s spending plan includes $1.5 billion for the
Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. This boost in funding shows
strong support for the AEI, and expands key programs that focus on developing
new energy choices, notably biomass and solar; vehicle technologies and;
building codes and appliance standards. DOE’s National Renewable Energy
Laboratory (NREL), located in Golden, Colorado, should also receive a major
boost. NREL serves as DOE’s primary laboratory for renewable energy and energy
efficiency research and development. Targeted increases at NREL include $20
million for its biorefinery researching ethanol; $16 million for advanced
thin-film photovoltaic manufacturing equipment to reduce the cost of solar
panels; and $63 million to build a research facility on the campus.
This plan also reflects the President’s $2
billion commitment to clean coal technologies. This funding supports the
development and demonstration of a balanced portfolio of key technologies in
strategic coal research programs aimed at near-zero emissions, including carbon
emissions. Research for carbon sequestration, a 55 percent increase to $100
million - lays the foundation for expediting the start of projects involving
large scale CO2 injection field tests. It supports the development and
demonstration of a balanced portfolio of key technologies in strategic coal
research programs aimed at near-zero emissions, including carbon emissions. A
significant increase in carbon sequestration research, laying the foundation to
allow for the environmental sustainability of clean coal in the future in a
carbon constrained economy, while ensuring that coal remains part of the
strategic domestic energy resources.
The Office of Science’s $3.8 billion allocation
incorporates full funding for the President’s initiative on fusion energy, funds
most user facilities at near optimum levels, and permits making awards for three
bioenergy research centers, DOE’s Office of Science is the single largest
supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the nation and helps
ensure U.S. world leadership across a broad range of scientific disciplines.
The Office of Environmental Management will
receive a $358 million increase to further DOE’s commitment to safe cleanup of
our Cold War-era nuclear facilities. Over half of this funding is for the
long-term stewardship of DOE sites safely closed in FY’06 including Rocky Flats,
Fernald, Columbus and Ashtabula sites. This plan will further DOE’s progress in
cleaning up liquid tank waste, solid waste, and special nuclear material, and in
remediating soil and groundwater contamination across the DOE complex.
In pursuit of making nuclear energy a more
integral part of our nation’s energy mix, the Office of Nuclear Energy’s NP 2010
program is fully funded at $80.3 million, allowing the Department to accelerate
the engineering scope associated with the final designs. In addition, $167.5
million will be available for the Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative, enabling
ongoing research and development, technology development, and industry
engagement activities critical to inform a Secretarial decision on the GNEP path
forward in June 2008.
The Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste
Management will spend $445.7 M in FY’07 and will perform the critical path
activities needed to produce a high quality License Application for submittal to
the NRC no later than June 30, 2008. This includes completing certification of
the License Support Network and the draft YM supplemental environmental impact
statement.
Under the full-year Continuing Resolution,
Congress provided DOE with $7 million to fund the operation of its Loan
Guarantee Office, and authority to issue guarantees for up to $4 billion in
loans.
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