House
Appropriators Advance Energy and Water Spending Bill ECA
Staff July 13, 2017 The House Appropriations Committee approved the $37.56B FY2018 energy and water spending bill today by voice
vote.
According to a committee press release, the bill is "$209 million below the fiscal year 2017 enacted level and $3.65 billion
above the President’s budget request. Funding is targeted toward national security efforts – including nuclear weapons activities – and energy and water infrastructure
investments.
During the committee markup of the bill, many lawmakers
expressed concern about cuts to DOE research, particularly the defunding of the ARPA-E program. Energy and Water Chairman Rep. Mike Simpson (R-ID) said that while funding for ARPA-E was not included in the appropriations bill, it could return
later.
"The department should not take action to shut down ARPA-E until Congress directs them to, by law. We'll see how this turns out by the time we get through floor and through final consideration in conference," he
said.
Nuclear Security:
The bill provides a total of $13.9 billion for DOE’s nuclear weapons security programs, including Weapons Activities, Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation, and Naval Reactors – a $976 million increase above the fiscal year 2017 level. This
includes: • $10.24 billion for Weapons Activities – $921 million above the fiscal year 2017 enacted
level; • $1.486 billion for Naval Nuclear Reactors – $66 million above the fiscal year 2017 enacted level;
and • $1.83 billion for Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation – $76.5 million below the fiscal year 2017 enacted level. This includes $340 million in funding to help fulfill the international commitment by the U.S. to construct the Mixed Oxide (MOX) Fuel Fabrication Facility to dispose of surplus
plutonium.
Environmental Cleanup:
Included in the legislation is $6.4 billion for environmental management activities, $24.6 million below the fiscal year 2017 enacted level. This includes $5.4 billion for Defense Environmental Cleanup, the same as fiscal year 2017, to safely clean sites contaminated by previous nuclear weapons
production.
Energy Programs:
Funding for energy programs within DOE is $9.6 billion – a decrease of $1.7 billion below the fiscal year 2017 enacted level and $2.3 billion above the President's request.
Nuclear energy, research, development, and demonstration activities are funded at $969 million – $48 million below the fiscal year 2017 enacted level and $266 million above the
request.
Renewable energy programs are cut by $986 million compared to fiscal year 2017 and increased by $468 million compared to the President’s budget
request.
Yucca Mountain:
The bill continues congressional efforts to support the Yucca Mountain nuclear repository, providing $90 million for the Nuclear Waste Disposal program, $30 million for Defense Nuclear Waste Disposal, and $30 million for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to continue the adjudication of DOE’s Yucca Mountain License
application.
For the text of the bill, click HERE
For the committee report on the bill, click HERE NDAA Advances in the House, Senate publishes bill
text ECA Staff July 13, 2017 On June 28, the House Armed Services Committee approved its version of the NDAA (H.R. 2810) by a 60-1 vote. The bill is now on the House floor and a full vote is expected this week. The Senate Armed Services Committee released its version of the full NDAA bill (S. 1519) and committee report on July 11.
The House NDAA authorizes $688 billion in defense and defense-related spending. That includes $20.8 billion for national security programs at DOE and the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, around $326 million above the President’s budget request. The Senate bill authorizes $700 billion in national defense spending. That includes $21 billion in total discretionary funding for
DOE national security programs, which is $562 million above the President’s budget request.
Overview of Funding Levels:
The President’s budget request contained $13.93 billion for NNSA programs. The House bill authorized $14.18 billion, an increase of $253.2 million above the budget request, and the Senate bill authorized $14.49 billion, an increase of $560 million above the budget request. For defense environmental cleanup, the House bill authorized $5.6
billion, a $70 million increase above the budget request, and the Senate bill authorized the budget request of $5.5 billion. Both bills authorized the requested amount of $30 million for Yucca Mountain and interim storage.
Defense Environmental Cleanup Funding:
The House bill authorizes $759 million for the Hanford site, an increase of $43 million over the budget request, while the Senate bill authorizes DOE’s requested amount of $716 million. The House bill
authorized $1.3 billion for Savannah River Site, a $27 million increase over the DOE’s request, and the Senate authorized the budget request level of $1.28 billion. The House and Senate bills both authorized DOE’s requested funding levels for Idaho National Laboratory ($350 million), NNSA sites and Nevada off-sites ($257 million), Oak Ridge ($207 million), and WIPP ($316 million).
High-Level Waste Classification:
The House bill would “require the Secretary of
Energy to conduct an evaluation of the feasibility, costs, and cost savings of classifying, without decreasing safety requirements, certain defense nuclear waste as other than high-level radioactive waste. The Secretary would be required to submit a report on this evaluation to the appropriate congressional committees by February 1, 2018.”
Competition in Contracting:
The Senate committee report includes language regarding the contracting schedules of DOE and
NNSA. The committee highlighted its concerns about the negative impact on competition due to the unpredictability of these schedules for large contracts related to management and operations (M&O), decontamination and decommissioning (D&D), and remediation. As such, the committee encouraged “both DOE and NNSA to improve the stability and reliability of its schedule for releasing draft requests for proposals, requests for proposals, and awarding contracts.”
MOX
Facility:
Both versions of the bill authorize funding for the continued construction of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility in South Carolina. The House bill recommends a $70 million increase and the Senate bill recommends an $80 million increase in funding for the project. The President's Budget recommended the termination of the MOX
project. Senate panel approves Trump EPA, NRC
nominees The Hill July 12,
2017 A Senate committee on Wednesday cleared three Trump administration nominees to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), sending them to the floor for
consideration.
The
Environment and Public Works Committee approved Annie Caputo and David Wright to serve as members of the NRC on Wednesday. If they are confirmed by the full Senate, the NRC would have a full slate of five
members. >>Continue
readingTrump Announces New DOE
Nominees ECA Staff July 10,
2017 President Donald J. Trump today announced his intent to nominate the following individuals to key positions in his
Administration:
Paul Dabbar of New York to be Under Secretary for Science, Department of Energy. Mr. Dabbar is Managing Director for Mergers & Acquisitions for J.P. Morgan, and has over $400 billion in investment experience across all energy sectors including solar, wind, geothermal, distributed-generation, utility, LNG, pipeline, oil & gas, trading, energy technology, and has also led the majority of all nuclear transactions. Before joining J.P.
Morgan, Mr. Dabbar served as a nuclear submarine officer in Mare Island, California, and Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, including deploying to the North Pole where he conducted environmental research. He also currently serves on the Department of Energy Environmental Management Advisory Board. He has been a lecturer at the U.S. Naval Academy Economics Department, and conducted research at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. Mr. Dabbar received a B.S. degree from the U.S. Naval
Academy, and an M.B.A. degree from Columbia University. Mr. Dabbar and his wife, Andrea, are the parents of two children. They reside in Scarsdale, New York, and Nantucket,
Massachusetts.
Mark Wesley Menezes of Virginia to be Under Secretary of the Department of Energy. Mr. Menezes is Vice President of Federal Relations for Berkshire Hathaway Energy, a diversified energy company. Before joining Berkshire, Mr. Menezes was a partner at Hunton & Williams heading its energy practice group. Prior to Hunton, he was Chief Counsel, U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce, for the House Majority during the enactment of the Energy Policy
Act of 2005. Before joining the committee, he was Vice President with Central and South West Corporation and upon its merger with American Electric Power Company, served as vice president and associate general counsel. Mr. Menezes is a graduate of Louisiana State University receiving both his undergraduate and juris doctor degrees. He is a charter member of the Advisory Council for LSU Energy Law Center. >>Continue
reading
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| July 2017 | | 20 | EM Site-Specific Advisory Board, Paducah |
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| July
2017 | | 24-25 | EM Site-Specific Advisory Board, Savannah River Site |
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| July
2017 | | 26 | EM Site-Specific Advisory Board, Northern New Mexico |
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| August
2017 | | 8-9 | Intermountain Energy Summitt |
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| August
2017 | | 16-17 | INVITATION ONLY ECA Peer Exchange: Implementation of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park Richland, WA |
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| September 2017 | | 5-7 | Radwaste Summitt 2017 Summerlin, NV |
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| September 2017 | | 12-14 | 2017 National Cleanup
Workshop Alexandria,
VA |
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| September 2017 | | 13 | House Nuclear Cleanup Caucus
Event Washington,
DC
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Find the most recent ECA Bulletin here |
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