Conference Report On H.R. 3183, Energy And Water development And RElated Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present to the House today the conference report on H.R. 3183, the Energy and Water Development Appropriation Act for fiscal year 2010.

The conference agreement before us is a good one, and it merits the support of all of the Members of the House.

The agencies and the programs under the jurisdiction of energy and water development contribute to solving many of the most pressing challenges facing our country, including strengthening and maintaining our water infrastructure, advancing U.S. scientific leadership, combating global climate change with renewable and cleaner energy technologies, and providing security against nuclear threats. I believe the conference agreement provides strong support for these agencies and programs.

The total amount of funding included in the energy and water conference agreement is $35.5 billion. This constitutes an increase of $204 million from the enacted level for fiscal year 2009. While the conference agreement is below the budget request, the primary reason for this difference is the Congressional Budget Office score of the Department of Energy's budget. The conference agreement provides $571 million above the budget request in program scope to further critical energy, water development and related goals.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my Senate counterpart, Chairman BYRON DORGAN, and his ranking member, ROBERT BENNETT, for their hard work during this conference. I especially want to extend my appreciation to my ranking member, the Honorable RODNEY FRELINGHUYSEN of New Jersey, for his extraordinary cooperation and insight. I truly value his support and advice and that of all of the members of our Energy and Water Subcommittee. I believe we are all proud of this bipartisan product.

Mr. Speaker, before I conclude, I would also like to thank the staff for their help in shepherding this bill through the House and through conference with the Senate. The subcommittee staff includes Taunja Berquam, Robert Sherman, Joseph Levin, James Windle, Casey Pearce, and our detailee from the Corps of Engineers, Lauren Minto.

I also want to thank Richard Patrick of my staff and Rob Blair and Kevin Jones of the minority staff, and Nancy Fox and Kathleen Hazlett of Mr. Frelinghuysen's staff.

Mr. Speaker, I urge unanimous support in the House for the adoption of this conference report.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present to the House today the conference report on H.R. 3183, the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2010. The agencies and programs under the jurisdiction of Energy and Water Development contribute to solving many of the most pressing challenges facing our country, including strengthening and maintaining our water infrastructure, advancing U.S. scientific leadership, combating global climate change with renewable and cleaner energy technologies, and providing security against nuclear threats. I believe the conference agreement provides strong support for these agencies and programs.

The total amount of funding included in the Energy and Water conference agreement is $33.5 billion. This constitutes an increase of $204 million from the enacted level for fiscal year 2009, and is approximately $929 million below the budget request. While the conference agreement is below the budget request, the primary reason for this difference is a Congressional Budget Office score of $1.5 billion for the Department of Energy's budget request for the Innovative Technology Loan Guarantee Program. The conference agreement provides $571 million above the budget request in program scope.

Title I of this conference report provides funding for the Civil Works program of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, including the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program. The conference agreement provides the Corps with $5.4 billion in fiscal year 2010, slightly above fiscal year 2009, and $320 million over the budget request. These investments will provide increased transportation efficiency on our nation's waterways, job creation, clean water, and, most importantly, will ensure the safety of our citizens. The conference agreement also recognizes the increasing cost of aging infrastructure through significantly increased funding for the operation and maintenance of existing projects.

The conference agreement continues to limit new contract obligations that require funding from the Inland Waterways Trust Fund due to the insolvency of the Fund. If the revenue stream is not addressed, the level of investment must be adjusted to the available resources--resulting in increased costs to existing projects as they are suspended, as well as the deferral of new projects in need of recapitalization. I would urge the administration and interested parties to pursue this issue with the relevant authorizing committees.

Funding for title II, which includes the Central Utah Project Completion Account and the programs of the Bureau of Reclamation, is $1.13 billion, $12 million above the amount appropriated last year and $67 million above the budget request. The conferees support funding for two projects to alleviate water supply and conservation issues in the California Bay-Delta, as proposed by the House. The conference agreement provides $133 million, $69 million above the request, for rural water projects to bring clean water to tribal and rural communities in Arizona, California, Montana, New Mexico, and South Dakota.

Total funding for title III, the Department of Energy, is $27.1 billion, $318 million above fiscal year 2009 and $1.3 billion below the budget request due to a score by the Congressional Budget Office of $1.5 billion for the Department of Energy's budget request for the Innovative Technology Loan Guarantee Program. This conference agreement, when combined with the $36.6 billion of American Reinvestment and Recovery Act funding, represents a historic investment into energy and science technology, as well as the cleanup of the nation's nuclear legacy. The conference agreement also supports the national security missions of the National Nuclear Security Administration.

Our nation's ongoing energy crisis affects our economy, security, and environment, and the conferees have taken. action with this agreement to develop lasting solutions for our energy challenges. Americans today face rising electricity prices, a transportation system still dependent on foreign oil, and the looming uncertainty of global climate change. A broad portfolio of approaches across energy technologies at the Department of Energy will be required to transform our energy economy and address this energy crisis. To further diversify this portfolio, the conferees provide a prudent level of funding for Energy Innovation Hubs, Hubs, a new research model that will gather a broad array of researchers around critical energy challenges. The conference agreement provides the Department of Energy with the opportunity to establish three Hubs to research the next generation of clean and safe nuclear power, cutting-edge science and technology to convert sunlight to transportation fuels, and systems to reduce energy use in buildings.

The conference agreement provides a record investment of $2.24 billion in renewable energy and efficient energy technologies, $314 million above the fiscal year 2009, to develop and deploy long-term solutions to our energy challenges. By investing in ways to harness energy from solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, and water sources, the conference agreement takes steps to advance technologies that will provide affordable, clean energy from domestic, renewable sources. Although they offer vast, untapped renewable energy resources in the United States, these technologies currently account for less than 3 percent of our electricity generation. Applied research and development for these renewable energy technologies is funded at $620 million, an increase of 17 percent over the fiscal year 2009, to launch our nation into the next generation of clean and secure electricity generation.

To bring electrical power from these new renewable resources to the population centers that use it, and to reduce energy losses during power transmission, the conference agreement boosts funding by 26 percent over 2009 for electricity delivery and energy reliability. In addition to funding research and development for smart grids, energy storage, and other ways to modernize the nation's power transmission and distribution system, the conference agreement more than triples funding over the fiscal year 2009 for cyber security research and development to secure the nation's electric power system as cyber attacks increase worldwide while the grid is becoming increasingly network-connected.

Chronically high fuel prices and dependence on foreign oil continue to hinder our nation's economy and transportation sector. The conference agreement invests nearly $950 million in activities at the Department of Energy to permanently reduce our dependence on petroleum fuels. The agreement provides $311 million for vehicle technologies, $38 million above the fiscal year 2009, to increase vehicle efficiency, advance alternative fuel technologies for next-generation biofuels, and develop electrified vehicles that can run petroleum-free. Further, the conference agreement provides $174 million for hydrogen and fuel cell technologies, to continue the work at the Department of Energy, in conjunction with private industry and research institutions, furthering one of a small handful of pathways that may reduce the need for imported petroleum fuels.

The conference agreement invests $570 million in programs that cost-effectively cut energy consumption now and in the future by developing and deploying efficient energy technologies. Americans will save money and energy in the near-term through $210 million in funding for weatherization assistance grants, a 5 percent increase over the fiscal year 2009. Further, the conference agreement increases funding for Industrial Technologies and Building Technologies to develop innovative technologies that will help our homes, businesses and industries save energy and money while reducing harmful emissions.

The conference agreement is a measured commitment to positioning nuclear energy to play a role in the nation's energy future. The conference agreement provides $787 million for nuclear energy, $5 million below fiscal year 2009 and $10 million above the request. This funding supports the licensing, research, and development of nuclear reactor technologies.

In addition, the conference agreement supports fossil energy funding to emphasize carbon capture and sequestration--the key to enabling the use of our extensive reserves of coal while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Fossil Energy research and development programs are funded at $672 million, $55 million above the request, of which $404 million is for fuels and power systems and $37.8 million focuses on natural gas and unconventional petroleum research.

There is a legacy of contamination from the past 60 years of nuclear weapons manufacturing and research. This conference agreement is a major investment in mitigating the environmental effects of the nation's nuclear legacy and, for the first time, meets virtually all of the cleanup regulatory compliance milestones at sites around the country. The conference agreement provides $6.4 billion for environmental cleanup, which includes national defense and non-defense sites, as well as Uranium Enrichment Decontamination and Decommissioning (UED&D). Defense sites are funded at $5.6 billion, $147 million above the request. The conference agreement provides non-defense sites with $245 million, $7 million above the request, and $574 million for UED&D, $14 million above the request. The clean-up projects and activities take place around the country, in places like Hanford, Washington; Savannah River, South Carolina; Los Alamos, New Mexico; Oak Ridge, Tennessee; Portsmouth, Ohio; Idaho; and Paducah, Kentucky, among others.

The conference agreement increases funding for the Office of Science 3 percent from fiscal year 2009, progress in these constrained times. The conference agreement provides $394 million for advanced scientific computing research, $25 million above fiscal year 2009. The Office of Science conducts world-leading scientific research and development, both in exploring the fundamental nature of matter and energy, and in laying the technological foundations upon

which are found our best prospects of building energy independence and control of climate change.

While the administration is determining national policy regarding how to dispose of high-level radioactive waste and nuclear spent fuel, it is prudent to continue to learn from the investment that has been made to the Yucca Mountain waste repository. For nuclear waste disposal activities, the conference agreement provides a total of $197 million to continue the licensing process at Yucca Mountain. Within these funds, the conference agreement provides $5 million to create a Blue Ribbon Commission to evaluate all alternatives for nuclear waste disposal.

The programs of the National Nuclear Security Administration, NNSA, reduce the threat of nuclear proliferation overseas, maintain the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile, and provide reliable nuclear propulsion for the U.S. Navy. The conference agreement provides a total of $9.9 billion for the NNSA, which includes $666 million of construction activities for the Mixed-Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility not funded in the NNSA in fiscal year 2009. Adjusting for the new activities, the conference agreement for the NNSA is $9.2 billion, the same as fiscal year 2009.

Nuclear weapons or material with nuclear weapons potential, in the hands of terrorists are a priority national security threat to the United States and our allies. The NNSA programs address the full spectrum of the proliferation threat by supporting multilateral agreements, securing nuclear materials overseas, detecting illicit trafficking, and researching and developing the leading-edge technology to support nonproliferation. Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation activities are funded at $2.1 billion. The International Nuclear Material Protection and Cooperation program that works in Russia and elsewhere to secure nuclear material and enhance border and port security receives $572 million, $20 million above the request and $172 million above fiscal year 2009. The conference agreement includes funds for the Mixed-Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility, Waste Solidification Building, and supporting activities at Savannah River, South Carolina.

Given the serious international and domestic consequences of the U.S. initiating a new nuclear weapons production activity, it is critical that the administration lay out a comprehensive course of action before funding is appropriated. Major transformation of the weapons complex can only be produced with significant bipartisan support, lasting over multiple sessions of Congress and multiple Administrations.

The Nuclear Posture Review should inform an enduring strategy and provide the basis of the underlying complex necessary to ensure the nation's nuclear weapons continue to keep our nuclear weapons safe and reliable. The conference agreement provides $32.5 million for a limited study of how to improve the non-nuclear components of the B61 bomb. The agreement also includes direction for the NNSA to commission two independent studies to ensure that the B61-12 is both necessary and technically sound. In particular, the second study will examine whether the B61-12 has sufficient technical advantages to constitute a long-term 21st century weapon, or whether it is likely to need near-term replacement or retirement. Should the Nuclear Posture Review confirm the B61-12 as a national security requirement, the agreement includes a provision allowing the NNSA to reprogram funds from other, limited, activities to address technical issues associated with the non-nuclear portion of this program. In the interim, this agreement maintains B61-related technical expertise while evaluating whether the program is essential for national security.

For Naval Reactors, the conference agreement provides $945 million, $117 million above fiscal year 2009, in order to support the next-generation nuclear reactor for the U.S. Navy.

Funding for title IV, Independent Agencies, is $292 million, a decrease of $16 million from the previous fiscal year and $27 million below the budget request. The conference agreement funded the Appalachian Regional Commission at $76 million and the Delta Regional Authority at $13 million, the same as the request. The conference agreement also provides $12 million for the Denali Commission, the same as the request. Two new commissions have been funded by conference agreement: the Northern Border Regional Commission at $1.5 million and the Southeast Crescent Regional Commission at $250,000. The Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board is funded at $3.9 million, the same as the request, and the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board is funded at $26 million, the same as the request. The Federal Coordinator for the Alaska Natural Gas Transportation Projects is also funded at the budget request level of $4.5 million. Finally, the conference agreement provides $154.7 million for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, NRC, $29 million below the budget request.

We have a responsibility to do everything possible to address our current energy crisis and the state of our infrastructure. This conference agreement invests in the energy areas that will put us on the long-term path to increased energy independence, reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases, and lead global efforts to confront global climate change. Further, it provides funding to build and maintain our nation's navigation, flood damage reduction projects and water supply facilities to strengthen our economy, protect our citizens and provide those who do not have it, clean water.

I want to thank my Senate counterpart, Chairman Byron Dorgan, and his Ranking Member, Senator Robert Bennett, for their hard work during this conference. I especially want to extend my appreciation to my Ranking Member, the Honorable Rodney Frelinghuysen of New Jersey, for his extraordinary cooperation and insight. I truly value his support and advice, and that of all the members of our Energy and Water Subcommittee. I believe we are all proud of this bipartisan product.

Mr. Speaker, before I conclude I would also like to thank the staff for their help in shepherding this bill through the House and through conference with the Senate. The Subcommittee staff includes Taunja Berquam, Robert Sherman, Joseph Levin, James Windle, Casey Pearce, and our detailee from the Corps of Engineers, Lauren Minto. I also want to thank Richard Patrick of my staff, and Rob Blair and Kevin Jones of the minority staff, and Nancy Fox and Kathleen Hazlett of Mr. Frelinghuysen's staff.

I urge the unanimous support of the House for adoption of this conference report.
I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. PASTOR of Arizona. Mr. Chairman, this is the first time I've done this bill, and I have to tell you that one of the lessons I learned is that the inland waterway is of great value to our country, and we have not paid enough attention to it. So I would agree with my colleague that it's a problem that we need to solve.

The Inland Waterway Trust Fund is the vehicle which would construct and maintain these locks. But at this point, we haven't been able to solve that problem. And the gentleman is right. We did help him here in the House when we passed this bill, but I have to tell him with great regret that in the conference we found very little support from the Senate in this particular lock, and in working out the conference bill, we had to go back to the $1 million.

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Mr. PASTOR of Arizona. Mr. Speaker, when we were doing this bill, and in fact, when this bill was on the floor, we assisted, to the best of our ability, in terms of providing authorization and also money, and in some cases we waived matching restrictions so that we would have both the authority and the financial resources to deal with the problem.

What the previous speaker had asked us to do was to waive the environmental impact statements that were required, and we did not have the ability to do it, and the authorizing committee would not allow us to do it. So we did not have that ability to do it. But we did try, and it was kept in the conference to provide the authorization and the financial resources to continue to, in the short term, deal with the water shortages in central California.

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