Copyright 1999 Federal Document Clearing House, Inc.
Federal Document Clearing House Congressional Testimony
March 18, 1999
SECTION: CAPITOL HILL HEARING TESTIMONY
LENGTH: 2417 words
HEADLINE:
TESTIMONY March 18, 1999 BILL RICHARDSON SECRETARY SENATE
APPROPRIATIONS INTERIOR FISCAL 2000 INTERIOR APPROPRIATIONS
BODY:
PREPARED ORAL STATEMENT OF SECRETARY BILL
RICHARDSON U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY BEFORE THE SENATE COMMITTEE ON
APPROPRIATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR AND RELATED
AGENCIES MARCH 18, 1999 Mr. Chairman, and Members of the Subcommittee, it's my
pleasure to be with you to discuss the Department of Energy's budget request for
Fiscal Year 2000. When I took over the Department of Energy, I knew I was facing
a challenge. I won't talk around the issue we have before us: there's a good
deal of work to be done. I've made some tough decisions since I arrived, most of
them regarding programs within the Energy and Water Subcommittee: on tritium
production; on assessing the viability of Yucca Mountain as a
nuclear waste repository; and on our contracting procedures and how we can
improve them, to name just a few. And in the coming year, I will make many more.
I ask for your counsel on how we can make the Department of Energy one of
America's best cabinet agencies. Let me give you an example of how we're trying
to do so. Last December, I appointed an internal Oil Emergency Task Force to
assess the effects of low oil prices on domestic production. I instructed the
Task Force to go out into the Oil Patch to feel-out the industry, and gauge the
perspective of its decisionmakers. The Task Force then gave me a list of
recommendations, which we are pursuing aggressively. To enhance the nation's
energy security, we will shortly be putting 28 million barrels of federal
royalty oil into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. In a related move, we are
offering unutilized space in the Reserve for commercial storage, with storage
fees to be paid in oil. To help see small operators through tough times, the
Administration is also offering various types of federal royalty relief, and is
actively considering additional categories of relief. We recently signed a
Memorandum of Understanding with the Small Business Administration to assist
small, independent, domestic oil producers. And on Tuesday, I arranged a meeting
between senior executives from domestic oil and natural gas companies, trade
associations, and senior White House officials. The discussions were frank and
paid dividends. So we're taking what we learned on Tuesday and creating an
interagency, energyissue working group. The group will be led by the National
Economic Council, and will ensure that heed is paid to this critical national
issue. These are just some of the initiatives I have in place to assist our oil
and gas industry. Now let me briefly address our budget request, and through it
I will explain other program examples of how the Department is working for
America. THE FISCAL YEAR 2000 BUDGET REQUEST The Department of Energy is
requesting a total of $1.229 billion dollars for FY 2000 from the Interior
Subcommittee. This is a bit below the FY 1999 appropriation, yet it represents a
meaningful increase in program terms, after it is adjusted for a deferral of
clean coal technology funds. 1) FOSSIL ENERGY RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT Our FY
2000 request for Fossil Energy Research and Development is $364 million dollars
$375 million offset by $11 million in prioryear balances. While this is a slight
reduction from the $384 million dollars appropriated for FY 1999, the Department
is moving aggressively ahead, including efforts like our initiative on the
Strategic Petroleum Reserve royalty. In this portion of the budget, we continue
to address three primary challenges: Developing new technologies that can
provide the nation with cleaner air at lower costs; Research into affordable
options for greenhouse gas control; and Ways to enhance our energy security. a.
Coal Our request for advanced coal technologies is $122 million dollars, about
the same as was appropriated in FY 1999. At the core of this program is our
research on the Vision 21 energy concept - our goal of a virtually pollutionfree
power plant in the post2010 time frame. This is an energy facility that could be
almost twice as efficient as today's power plants, reduce greenhouse gases by
more than 40 percent, and coproduce fuels and chemicals in addition to
electricity. In our coal program, we also include exploratory research on carbon
sequestration. This is an extremely important research priority, and we have
increased our budget request from $5 million dollars in FY 1999 to $9 million in
FY 2000. If we can develop lowcost ways to capture and permanently dispose of
carbon dioxide, we could make future climate change policies much easier to
implement, both in the U.S. and abroad. In fact, we believe carbon sequestration
if our research pays off could allow this nation and other countries to continue
benefitting from the economic advantages of coal for well into the 21st century,
if not beyond. b. Natural Gas Our natural gas budget request is $105 million
dollars. I should point out that there is another $114 million dollars of
gasrelated R&D conducted by the Department's Offices of Energy Efficiency
and Science. A significant portion of this budget is to assure that we have
affordable gas supplies in the future. This is particularly important given
projections that gas demand could increase by a third in the next decade,
perhaps more if gas is used to meet climate change strategies. Our gas R&D
budget also includes funding for two highpriority power generation technologies:
advanced gas turbines and fuel cells. c. Oil We have also slightly increased our
funding for the Oil Technology Program. Within our $50 million dollar request,
we will continue to fund several highpriority initiatives that I announced in
the last couple of weeks: First, our plan to return to the Nation's most
endangered oil reservoirs with costshared projects to keep these fields from
being abandoned. And Second, work with independent producers to solve specific
oil field problems by applying new technologies. 2) CLEAN COAL TECHNOLOGY In the
Clean Coal Technology budget, we are requesting that $246 million dollars of
prior budget authority be deferred until FY 2001 and later. I want to emphasize
that this will not affect the program nor does it reflect any change in our view
of the positive value of this governmentindustry partnership. Senator Byrd was
right 15 years ago when he led the effort to create the Clean Coal Technology
Program. The clean coal investment is paying off. Let me give you just one
example: In the 1980s, the technology to reduce nitrogen oxides - which cause
smog and acid rain - cost almost $3,000 for every ton of NOx reduced. Today,
because of R&D efforts and the Clean Coal program, power companies have
NOxreduction technology that costs only $200 dollars per ton - more than a
10fold reduction. One half of the coalburning plants in America are now equipped
with this technology. Within the next year or so, that figure will be 75
percent. So Senator Byrd and this committee can be proud that this program is
saving taxpayers money at the same time it is cleaning our air. The reason we
can defer funding is because there are only 2 projects - out of 40 - that still
need the dollars. And both do not need the funding in FY 2000. Clean coal
technology is another way we are working for America. Our investment in the
technology has positioned our industry with coal systems that are superior to
those in use by most countries. We continue to encourage greater use of these
technologies throughout the world. Already, for example, nearly $3 billion
dollars of cleaner, fluidized bed combustors have been sold to overseas
customers. We hope to see more of these U.S. technologies marketed, especially
to those nations that are looking to coal to fuel their economic growth. 3)
ENERGY EFFICIENCY a. Transportation The Department's budget builds on a record
of strong accomplishments. Back in 1992, America had trailed Japan in car
production for 13 consecutive years. But for the past five years, America's
autobuilders have led the world in auto and light truck production. This
turnaround was made possible, in part, by technological breakthroughs by our
nation's scientists and engineers, and by programs which this Subcommittee
funded, including the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles, or PNGV,
which has the goal of developing an 80 milepergallon automobile. Just yesterday,
the President's science adviser, Neal Lane, presented awards to 15 researchers
who are advancing PNGV projects by leaps and bounds. And DaimlerChrysler and
Ford say they will produce hydrogen fuelcell cars in quantity by 2004. These
vehicles will not emit conventional exhaust - instead, they will produce water
vapor. For FY 2000, we are requesting $143 million dollars to focus on key
component technologies to produce the cleanest cars, including: fuel cells;
advanced directinjection engines; exhaust control; advanced batteries; and
electronic power controllers. Our Clean Cities request of a little over $10
million dollars will advance infrastructure development to deploy alternative
fuels to over 65 communities. b. Industries And the Department is working with
nine industries that account for 75 percent of the energy used in manufacturing,
working to remake them as Industries of the Future, including: forest products;
steel; aluminum; metalcasting; chemicals; petroleum refining; agriculture;
mining; and glass. These industries also account for most of the emissions and
waste produced by U.S. manufacturing, so we're developing new efficiency
methods. We're developing innovative technologies to help these industries boost
efficiency and competitiveness, with less pollution. To realize these goals, our
budget requests $171 million dollars for the Industries of the Future program.
c. Buildings America's homes and offices, too, represent significant
opportunities for boosting efficiency and cutting environmental risks. Heating
and lighting our homes and workplaces account for over onethird of U.S. carbon
dioxide emissions. We need to do better and our new buildings need new
energysaving technologies to help us do so. The Department is therefore
requesting about $145 million dollars to bring our R&D resources to bear on
this challenge. These funds will enable us to provide the next generation of
environmentfriendly technologies required by the construction industry. I ask
for your support of the Department's request for the appliance standards
program. The appliance standards rulemakings now underway will result in
billions of dollars of savings for consumers, and represent my highest priority
in the Department's Office of Buildings. We're also requesting $154 million
dollars for the Weatherization Assistance Program, where we are looking to
weatherize nearly 80,000 incomeeligible homes for warmer winters, cooler
summers, and lower utility bills. This is a wise energy investment - yet in
1996, funding was cut in half. We need to pursue it, because America has over 30
million homes that are eligible for this program. To help make this a reality,
the Department of Energy's national labs have developed a highlyregarded, energy
audit system. Through its operations, professionallytrained crews at local
agencies coasttocoast are ready to help incomeeligible people determine where
improvements could leverage real savings in their utility bills. d. Federal
Energy Management Program Buildings like this one offer considerable
opportunities for efficiency and saving of taxpayer dollars. The Federal
Government spends $8 billion dollars each year on energy. That's too much.
Therefore, we are requesting about $32 million dollars to help accelerate the
Federal Energy Management Program, which helps federal agencies identify,
finance, and implement energy efficiency improvements for their facilities. Two
weeks ago, I made a major announcement on new energy savings performance
contracts in the MidAtlantic and the Northeast states. These new contracts could
save billions of dollars in energy costs over their lifetimes, and millions of
metric tons of carbon emissions will be avoided. 4) GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE Global
climate change poses major environmental challenges for the entire world. We are
going to continue the dialogue on the Kyoto Protocol to help improve the
framework it provides. At the same time, we will continue research and
development and push for the accelerated use of energy efficient and clean
energy technologies - all components of the President's Climate Change
Technology Initiative, or CCTI. Even without the Kyoto Protocol, we believe
these investments are wise national policy - boosting national security,
improving air quality, and strengthening our national economic competitiveness
while protecting American jobs. Our budget is looking to increase support for
CCTI programs by about 13 percent. MANAGEMENT CHANGES And while I've talked
about efficiency in so many of our work areas, you'll be pleased to know that
efficiency is very much at home with the Department's workforce itself. Today,
we're functioning smarter and leaner. Working with Congress, we've reduced our
Federal employee workforce by 25 percent in less than four years beating our
goal by almost two years. We've also reduced our contractor employment by 29
percent since its peak in 1992. But this streamlining has left gaps in
Departmental skill areas. a. Workforce 21 To resolve this, in December I
announced a targeted effort to bring specialized skills into the Department as
part of a Workforce 21 initiative. These efforts will bolster the strength of
our skills and our comprehensive expertise, Departmentwide. b. Management Study
And we are taking a comprehensive look at the structure of the Department,
looking for ways to improve efficiency, strengthen management, ensure
accountability, and improve reporting requirements. And we are looking at the
relationship between our field offices and headquarters, to enhance
communications and capability. In summation, I would like to state for the
record that the Department of Energy's proposed budget for FY 2000 will provide
our scientists and engineers with the tools, facilities and talented personnel
necessary to help lead this nation into the new millennium. The technological
breakthroughs which lie ahead will provide improvements to the quality of life
of all Americans. With this Subcommittee's continued support, the Department of
Energy will produce the science, security and energy to power this nation in the
21st Century.
LOAD-DATE: April 8, 1999
