FY 2010 Senate Appropriations Bill - DOE Office of Science
Yesterday, the full Senate Appropriations Committee passed and sent to the Senate floor its version of the FY 2010 Energy and Water Development Appropriations Bill. The report accompanying S. 1436 has been issued, containing funding and policy recommendations for the Department of Energy’s Office of Science.
The House Appropriations Committee approved its version of this legislation on Wednesday but has not publically released its report.
The full text of Senate Committee Report 111-45 can be read here . Selections from this report pertaining to the Office of Science are excerpted below; comparisons are based on the current budget:
Office of Science:
The current budget is $4,757.6 million.
The Administration requested $4,941.7 million, an increase of 3.9 percent or $184.1 million.
The Senate appropriations bill recommends $4,898.8 million, an increase of 3.0 percent or $141.2 million.
The committee report stated:
“The Committee applauds the successes, which have been achieved when the Department of Energy has collaborated with the National Institutes of Health [NIH]. These successes include the human genome project, advances in bioinformatics, and breakthroughs in atomic resolution structural biology. The Committee strongly encourages the DOE Office of Science and the National Laboratories to reach out to the NIH to institutionalize senior level contacts with the goal of identifying opportunities for sustained collaboration in research and development. The Committee notes that long-lasting relationships are necessary to build the types of integrated collaborative programs that could bring about breakthroughs in biomedical imaging, systems biology, and other key areas of research. The Committee directs the Office of Science, in consultation with the NNSA, to review all radioactive materials held by the Department of Energy and to work with science, medical, industrial and agricultural groups to ascertain if available inventories can be used in industrial or medical applications and how to improve the utilization of existing sources and avoid further production or importation of new sources. Finally, the Office of Science, working with all the relevant offices, is directed to make recommendations for investment in U.S. facilities including research reactors or accelerators that could be upgraded to provide domestic sources for medical and industrial applications.”
High Energy Physics:
The current budget is $795.8 million.
The Administration requested $819.0 million, an increase of 2.9 percent or $23.3 million.
The Senate appropriations bill recommends $813.0 million, an increase of 2.2 percent or $17.2 million.
The committee report stated:
“The Committee questions the increased investment in Large Hadron Collider [LHC] support when the timing of the restart of the LHC is in doubt. The Committee urges the Office of Science and the LHC managers to improve communication on the status of the LHC.”
Nuclear Physics:
The current budget is $512.1 million.
The Administration requested $552.0 million, an increase of 7.8 percent or $39.9 million.
The Senate appropriations bill recommends $540.0 million, an increase of 5.5 percent or $27.9 million.
The committee report stated:
“Within the funds provided, $17,500,000 is for nuclear medicine medical application research. The Committee emphasizes its commitment to nuclear medicine medical application research at the Department of Energy. All of the added funds must be awarded competitively in one or more solicitation that includes all sources--universities, the private sector, and Government laboratories. Funding for nuclear medicine application research was previously within the Biological and Environmental Research program.”
Biological and Environmental Research:
The current budget is $601.5 million.
The Administration requested $604.2 million, an increase of 0.4 percent or $2.6 million.
The Senate appropriations bill recommends $604.2 million, the Administration request.
The committee report stated:
“The Committee recognizes the international communities’ reliance on the NNSA [National Nuclear Security Administration] laboratories expertise in climate change modeling and continues to believe the NNSA laboratories are well equipped to develop and deploy a national system for science-based stewardship that combines advanced modeling, multi-scale monitoring, and impact analysis tools. These laboratories, with their experience in nuclear weapons nonproliferation and their unique capabilities across a wide range of technical resources are able to make a significant contribution in the development and implementation of a comprehensive climate research strategy. The Committee directs the Office of Science to continue to work closely with the NNSA laboratories on climate change modeling.”
Basic Energy Sciences:
The current budget is $1,572.0 million.
The Administration requested $1,685.5 million, an increase of 7.2 percent or $113.5 million.
The Senate appropriations bill recommends $1,653.5 million, an increase of 5.2 percent or $81.5 million.
The committee report stated:
“Of these funds $154,240,000 is provided for construction activities as requested in the budget. The remaining $1,499,260,000 is for research. The Committee does not accept the proposed new break out of subaccounts within Basic Energy Sciences as proposed by the budget.
“Within the research funds provided $35,000,000 is for the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research [EPSCoR]. The EPSCoR program is currently funding energy research that will help reduce our dependence on foreign oil. EPSCoR States have significant energy resources, contain or are near national laboratories and already undertake research in areas of importance to the Department and Nation. In fact, 6 of the top 10 energy-producing States are EPSCoR States. In order to keep up with the increased national focus on energy, the Committee recommends that the limit of one Implementation Grant per EPSCoR State be removed and the cap on the maximum allowable award be increased to $2,500,000.
“Within the funding provided, $15,000,000 is provided to develop a second target station at the Spallation Neutron Source. The Committee strongly encourages the Office of Science to fully fund all major items of equipment requested in the budget and provide full funding of facility operations within this account.”
Fusion Energy Sciences:
The current budget is $402.6 million.
The Administration requested $421.0 million, an increase of 4.6 percent or $18.5 million.
The Senate appropriations bill recommends $416.0 million, an increase of 3.3 percent or $13.4 million.
There was no explanatory report language.
Advanced Scientific Computing:
The current budget is $368.8 million.
The Administration requested $409.0 million, an increase of 10.9 percent or $40.2 million.
The Senate appropriations bill recommends $399.0 million, an increase of 8.2 percent or $30.2 million.
The committee report stated:
“The Committee expects the Office of Science to continue to support joint research with the NNSA laboratories through the Institute for Advanced Architecture and Advanced Algorithms. Within the available funds, $5,000,000 shall be provided to collaborate in a joint program to enhance the production of unconventional fossil energy using advanced simulation and visualization.”
ARPA-E:
The Administration requested $10.0 million for the Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy, the first budget request for ARPA-E.
The Senate appropriations bill provided no funding.
