Martin Schneider
GHG Monitor
5/2/2014
Rep. David McKinley (R-W.Va.) introduced legislation May 1 that seeks to boost funding for the Department of Energy’s Fossil Energy program’s in FY 2015, proposing an authorization of $435 million for coal research and development, an increase of more than $132 million over the Obama Administration’s $302.4 million request. “It is important that the Department of Energy continue to develop these technologies and have sufficient funds to ensure that a diverse portfolio of options are available to ensure that the United States can compete in a clean energy future, one which will include significant fossil fuel resources,” the bill states. Overall, the bill authorizes $734 million for fossil energy research and development, including $435 million for coal R&D, $171 million for program direction, $100 million for natural gas and oil R&D, $17 million for plant and capital equipment and $11 million for environmental restoration.
The Obama Administration slashed funding for the Department of Energy’s coal research budget in its Fiscal Year 2015 request to Congress this week, proposing $302.4 million for the program, a 23 percent decrease from 2014 enacted levels. Despite the proposal of a new program for natural gas carbon capture and storage demonstration projects, which was listed in the budget along with clean coal programs, every other coal program received cuts—with the budget for Carbon Capture trimmed 16 percent to $77 million and the budget for Carbon Storage cut 26 percent to $80 million. Funding for the Advanced Energy Systems program took the largest hit, with the request proposing a 49 percent decrease in funding to $51 million, followed by the NETL Coal Research and Development program, which was slashed 32 percent to $34 million. Funding for Cross Cutting Research was trimmed 16 percent to $35.3 million.
Notably, the bill states that none of the authorized funds “may be used to transform any element of the National Energy Technology Laboratory into a government-owned, contractor-operated laboratory, or to consider or plan for any such transformation; consolidate or close any element of the National Energy Technology Laboratory; or transfer National Energy Technology Laboratory human resources functions from any laboratory.”
