Month: October 2009

**Update 10/19** Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) are offering an alternative to the cap and trade portion of the Boxer-Kerry climate bill (described below). The senators are opposed to allowing carbon permits to be traded as commodities. However, they do support proposed caps on carbon emissions.

On October 27th, the US Senate’s Environment and Pulbic Works (EPW) Committee will begin hearings on a companion bill to the American Clean Energy and Securirty (ACES) Act (H.R. 2454) that passed the House over the summer.  The Senate legislation, introduced by EPW Chair Barbara Boxewr (D-CA) and John Kerry (D-MA) on September 30th, is currently being refined by committee staff and is undergoing an analysis by the EPA that should be completed in time for the hearings. Conventional wisdom held that the Senate’s version of a massive climate change mitigation plan would be pushed until next calendar year, due to the already partisan environment created by the current health reform debate. However, Senator Boxer’s team is moving ahead with the legislation now. Further, initial drafts of the Senate bill have drawn bipartisan support. Last weekend, Senator Lindsay Graham (R-SC) and John Kerry co-authored a piece in the New York Times entitled “Yes We Can (Pass Climate Change Legislation).”  In the article, Senator Graham makes the case that a climate change bill that promotes nuclear energy, more offshore oil and natural gas development and carbon sequestration from coal power plants would draw the 60 votes necessary to assure passage. The duo also articulated that climate change legislation should also establish limits on prices for carbon allowances provided under a cap-and-trade system, and a tax on energy-intensive goods from countries with less stringent emissions requirements than the United States.

Research investments were mentioned only briefly in the op-ed. House and Sente bills seem to ignore President Obama’s call for a $15 billion investment in research and development as part of a comprehensive climate change mitigation bill; a point made to Senate Majority Leader Reid (D-NV) this week in a letter from the research community. Continue reading “Climate Legislation Finds Bipartisan Support in Senate”

**10/15 Update: Today, the Senate passed the Energy & Water (E&W) Appropriations Conference Report, sending the legislation to the President’s desk for signature. The E&W Appropriations bill is the third of nine to make it all of the way through the appropriations process. UW projects in the legislation and accounts of interest are noted below**

House and Senate conferees on the fiscal year 2010 Energy and Water Appropriations have approved a conference agreement. The conference agreement reconciles differences in the bills produced by the individual chambers and now must go back for final approval, which is expected. Within the legislation is support for two important University of Washington projects: $880,000 for the Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center, and $1 million for the Washington Biofuels Industry Development project. Additional items of importance in the conference report include:

Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy- $2.2 billion, $314 million above 2009, to increase investments in technologies that use energy more effectively and produce clean, inexpensive energy from domestic sources.

• Solar Energy: $225 million for research, development, and demonstration projects to make solar energy more affordable.
• Biofuels: $220 million for grants to improve production of alternative fuels such as cellulosic ethanol
  and biodiesel.

Office of Science- $4.9 billion, $131 million above 2009, for scientific research critical to addressing long-term energy needs. This funding, in addition to the $4.8 billion appropriated in fiscal year 2009 and $1.6 billion in the Recovery Act, exceeds the goals in the America COMPETES Act.

• Basic Energy Sciences: $1.6 billion for basic research primarily on materials sciences and on chemical
  sciences, energy biosciences and geosciences. This work places heavy emphasis on advancing the frontiers of using ever-faster tools, including $394 million in the Advanced Scientific Computing Research program, to better understand ever-smaller and more detailed phenomena.
• Applied Research: $2.4 billion for Nuclear Physics, High Energy Physics, Biological and Environmental Research, and Fusion Energy Sciences.
• Energy Innovation Hubs: Funding for three of the proposed eight Energy Innovation Hubs (at $22 million each) in the following areas: Fuels from Sunlight; Energy Efficient Building Systems  Design; and Modeling and Simulation.
• RE-ENERGYSE: Funding was not provided for the newly proposed RE-ENERGYSE education program.

Full Energy and Water Conference Report