Abby L. Harvey
GHG Monitor
2/13/2015
Although funding for the Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy received a slight boost in the Department’s Fiscal Year 2016 budget request, House and Senate lawmakers questioned the proposed funding level when compared to the much larger increases proposed for DOE’s renewable energy and energy efficiency programs during two committee hearings on the Department’s request this week. “The budget request you have that’s before us right now. I think it has $2.7 billion request for energy efficiency and renewable energy … but only 560 million for Fossil Energy and Research and Development. And the only thing I’m saying is [that is] about a 5-to-1 ratio of what you’re spending on the different forms of energy,” Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) told Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz during a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing. Manchin added, “I’m not asking for [the] reverse — I’m asking for a level playing field. If you want us to do the job, help us fund that technology [so] that we’re able to continue to produce the energy depended upon.”
Similar concerns were raised during a hearing the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy and Power held on DOE’s request. “The President of the United States goes around the country and world talking about an all-of-the-above energy policy, but when you look at the budget of his Department of Energy you see that his policy is about renewables and nothing else primarily,” Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.) said during the hearing.
Moniz Questions Comparison
DOE’s request includes $117 million for carbon capture R&D, up $29 million from current funding levels; and $109 million for carbon storage, up $9 million from current levels. DOE’s FY16 request represents a significant shift from last year, when the Department had proposed deep funding cuts for CCS research efforts. Overall, DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy is seeking $560 million next year, a slight increase over current funding.
During this week’s Senate hearing, Moniz questioned comparing the requests made for fossil energy and energy efficiency and renewable energy, saying the latter represented three programs combined. “The renewables budget is about $600 million, I believe something like that, transportation around $800 [million], and efficiency around the billions, roughly speaking I think,” Moniz said.
Several Funding Opportunities Available in Request
Moniz also noted during the Senate hearing that funding is available elsewhere in the Administration’s budget that could support fossil energy research and development. “For coal in particular, we have other parts of the agenda, but for coal, the number one focus is around carbon capture, utilization [and] sequestration. The budget for that, as I’ve already indicated, has many features beyond that R&D budget. Secondly, the results of the [Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy] budget, which contributes to this, third, there is the loan guarantee program, fourth, there is the new tax incentive program proposed for Treasury, et cetera,” Moniz said. Aspects of the White House’s budget request cited by Moniz included $2 billion worth of new refundable investment tax credits for new-build and retrofit projects, as well as a new refundable sequestration tax credit totaling $50 per metric ton of CO2 for non-utilization storage and $10 per metric ton for utilization-based storage such as enhanced oil recovery which is included in the Department of the Treasury request.
