Chu Testifies Before Senate E&NR Committe On DOE Budget

Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Stephen Chu, left, testified before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on the FY 2011 budget for the agency at a hearing on Feb 4, 2010. Senator Jeff Bingaman, right, chairs the committee.

FULL STATEMENT

Excerpts:

The President’s FY 2011 budget request of $28.4 billion...builds on the investments in the American Recovery andReinvestment Act. Through the $36.7 billion...

Nuclear energy must also be a part of our clean energy mix.

The budget request also supports the Department’s three new, complementary approaches to marshalling the nation’s brightest minds to accelerate energy breakthroughs. The first approach is the Energy Innovation Hubs. The second approach is the Energy Frontier Research Centers. The third funding approach is the Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E).

Security: The President has also made clear that, as long as nuclear weapons continue to exist, it is essential that we ensure the safety, security and effectiveness of our nuclear stockpile. With the $7 billion in funds we have requested, we can upgrade our infrastructure that has been allowed to decay in the past decade, support the cutting-edge work of our National Labs, and recruit the skilled workforce we need today and in the future.

$2 million to establish a new Management Reform initiative to provide strategic direction, coordination and oversight of reform initiatives. For example, we eliminated more than $2.7 billion in tax subsidies for oil, coal and gas industries. This step is estimated to generate more than $38.8 billion in revenue for the federal government over the next 10 years.

The Department will also promote nuclear energy through the Loan Guarantee Program, which is requesting an additional $36 billion in loan authority for nuclear power in FY 2011 (for a total of $54.5 billion).

The FY 2011 budget includes $6 billion for the Office of Environmental Management to protect public health and safety by cleaning up hazardous, radioactive legacy waste from the Manhattan Project and the Cold War.

The Administration has determined that the Yucca Mountain repository is not a workable option and has decided to terminate the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management. The core functions and staff to support efforts under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act to meet the obligation of the Government will transfer to the Office of Nuclear Energy by the end of FY 2010.

The FY 2011 budget request continues to work to transform the Nation’s energy infrastructure by investing over $650 million in a variety of renewable sources of electrical generation such as solar ($302 million, a 22 percent increase over FY 2010), and wind ($123 million, a 53 percent increase over FY 2010), as well as deploy clean technologies to reduce our dependence on oil.

The FY 2011 budget requests $758 million to accelerate deployment of clean, cost-effective, and rapidly deployable energy conservation measures inorder to reduce energy consumption in residential and commercial buildings, and the industrial and Federal sectors. The Department will invest $231 million in the Building Technologies program, a 16 percent increase over FY 2010 for built environment R&D. Federal assistance for state-level programs such as State Energy Program grants ($75 million) and Weatherization Assistance Program ($300 million), will continue to help citizens implement energy conservation measures, lower energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions, and build a technical workforce. The FY 2011 request also includes $545 million to accelerate research, development and deployment of advanced fuels and vehicles to reduce the use of petroleum and greenhouse gas emissions. The FY 2011 budget complements the Recovery Act funding for these programs ($3.1 billion for State Energy Programs, $5 billion for Weatherization Assistance, $2 billion for Advanced Battery Manufacturing and $400 million for Transportation Electrification).

The mission of the Office of Environmental Management (EM) is to complete the safe cleanup of the environmental legacy brought about from over six decades of nuclear weapons development, production, and Government-sponsored nuclear energy research. This cleanup effort is the largest in the world, originally involving two million acres at 107 sites in 35 states, dealing with some of the most dangerous materials known to man. The FY 2011 budget request for $6.0 billion will fund activities to maintain a safe and secure posture in the EM complex and make progress against program goals and compliance commitments, including reduction of highest risks to the environment and public health, use of science and technology to reduce life cycle costs, and reduction of EM’s geographic footprint by 40 percent by 2011.

The FY 2011 budget request of $7.01 billion for the Weapons Activities appropriation provides funding for a wide range of programs. Some activities provide direct support for maintaining the nuclear weapon stockpile, including stockpile surveillance, annual assessments, life extension programs, and warhead dismantlement.

The FY 2011 request for Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation is $2.7 billion, an increase of 25.8 percent over the FY 2010 appropriation...to protect our national security by preventing the spread of nuclear weapons and nuclear materials to terrorist organizations and rogue states.