Signed Legislation Begins to Define Federal R&D and TBED Appropriations for FY10

SSTI Weekly Digest (11/4) - Exactly six weeks into the federal government's fiscal year which commenced on Oct 1, five of the 12 appropriations bills for FY10 have been signed into law by President Obama. The remaining seven bills are at various places in the appropriations process, none of which have emerged from conference committee for a final vote by each chamber.

This means the final appropriations for departments such as Defense, Commerce, Labor, Education, HHS and the NIH, and agencies such as NSF and NASA still need to be resolved. However, the budget bills that have become law, including the Energy and Water bill, the Interior and Environment bill, and the Agriculture bill, contain specific line-items which can be reported for various research, development, and TBED content.

The Department of Energy(DoE) is set to receive $27.11 billion in FY10, a 1.2 percent increase from the previous fiscal year. DoE allocations include funding for the Department's Office of Science, energy efficiency programs, and various energy-related research grants. The Department also received a significant boost earlier in the year with $38.7 billion in funding from the Recovery Act (see the Feb 19, 2009 special issue of the Digest).
The new Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy (ARPA-E), which two weeks ago awarded $151 million in its first round of grants, received no funding for FY10. However, a transfer of $15 million from previous appropriation acts was specified.

While the DoE requested funds to create eight "Energy Innovation Hubs" in various topics, only three were chosen to be funded: one in solar energy, one in the design of efficient buildings, and one in nuclear energy modeling and simulation.

About $2.24 billion is allocated for various research initiatives under the heading of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), including the following:

• $311 million for R&D in vehicle technologies;
• $225 million for solar energy systems;
• $210 million for the Weatherization Assistance Program;
• $220 million for biomass and biorefinery R&D with $35 million specifically for algae biofuels;
• $200 million for building technologies;
• $174 million for hydrogen technologies;
• $96 million for efficiencies within industry;
• $80 million for wind energy systems;
• $50 million for the State Energy Program (SEP);
• $50 million for water power and hydroelectric systems; and,
• $44 million for geothermal systems.

Research and development programs concentrating on fossil fuels will receive $672 million. Of that, $404 million will go to power systems research, including $154 million for carbon sequestration, $158 million for program direction, and $18 million for natural gas R&D.

The Innovative Technology Loan Guarantee Program, a newer loan program with origins in the Recovery Act to support renewable energy and transmission technologies, is slated to receive $43 million in FY10. The Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program will receive $20 million in FY10..

The EPA is set to receive $10.3 billion in FY10, with $846 million going towards its science and R&D activities. This includes $248 million for human health and ecosystems research, $122 million for air toxins research, $110 million for clean water research, $104 million for clean air research, and $19 million for its climate protection program.