Budget & Policy

DOE Has Acknowledged Proposed Funding Cut Could Lead to Layoffs Mike Nartker WC Monitor 2/6/2015 The Department of Energy’s proposed Fiscal Year 2016 funding cut for D&D efforts at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, which is set to make workers there worried about the fate of their jobs for another year, is already hurting employee […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 2/6/2015 The National Energy Technology Laboratory is making $38 million funding available for crosscutting projects and nearly $13 million in funding available for advanced combustion systems projects, including oxy-combustion and chemical looping processes, through two funding opportunity announcements (FOAs) issued last week. The purpose of the crosscutting technology FOA “is […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 2/6/2015 Lawmakers and state officials largely saw mixed news this week in the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management Fiscal Year 2016 budget request, which seeks to boost tank waste cleanup funds but proposes cuts to many other cleanup efforts across the complex. Hanford’s Office of River Protection saw the […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 2/6/2015 Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) criticized this week the Department of Energy’s slow progress in expending $8 billion in advanced fossil energy loan guarantees in remarks at the Global CCS Institute’s Americas Forum. The reason for limited interest in the loan program boils down to a lack of confidence in […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 2/6/2015 Assistant Energy Secretary for Fossil Energy Chris Smith late this week stressed the importance of carbon capture and storage R&D activities in the Department of Energy’s new Fiscal Year 2016 budget request. The request, sent to Congress earlier this week, includes $117 million for carbon capture R&D, up $29 […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 2/6/2015 As world leaders prepare for the 21st Conference of the Parties to the U.N. Climate Change Conference being held in Paris in November, nations are watching the actions of the United States carefully, a panel of policy experts said at last week’s National Conference and Global Forum on Science, […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 2/6/2015 Though the Department of Energy’s purchase card program generally follows established guidelines, there were several issues with proper documentation at the Office of Environmental Management’s Consolidated Business Center, according to a DOE Office of Inspector General report released this week. The Department uses the General Services Administration’s SmartPay2 program with […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 2/6/2015 Nearly eight months out from the spending deadline for $1 billion in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds dedicated to the FutureGen 2.0 oxy-combustion carbon capture and storage retrofit project, the FutureGen Alliance announced this week that the Department of Energy has pulled federal funding to the project. Explaining […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 2/6/2015 Budgetary pressure in GOP-controlled Congress could force tough decisions on President Obama’s $12.6 billion request for the National Nuclear Security Administration, including on funding for the Uranium Processing Facility, the top Republican on the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee suggested this week. The Obama Administration requested $430 million for […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 2/6/2015 Southern Co. this week reported an additional $45 million in cost overruns at the Kemper County Energy Facility, being built by subsidiary Mississippi Power, bringing the total cost of the project currently to  $6.17 billion. The latest increase is due to “operational readiness, start-up activities and fuel, and the […]

WC Monitor 2/6/2015 IN CONGRESS Lawmakers are set to begin considering the Department of Energy Fiscal Year 2016 budget request next week with separate hearings planned in the House and Senate. On Feb. 11, Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz is scheduled to testify before the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy and Power beginning […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 2/6/2015 The Obama Administration is seeking $77.1 million in Fiscal Year 2016 for an apparent new classified Air Force facility overseas for the Long-Range Strike Bomber, according to budget documents released this week. The facility is described in the budget request only as “worldwide classified.” Like many other elements of the […]

GHG Monitor 2/6/2015 IN CONGRESS Lawmakers are set to begin considering the Department of Energy Fiscal Year 2016 budget request next week with separate hearings planned in the House and Senate. On Feb. 11, Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz is scheduled to testify before the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy and Power beginning […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 2/6/2015 Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee Chair Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) plans to re-introduce legislation in the coming weeks that would overhaul the nation’s nuclear waste policy and will advocate for both a repository and interim storage sites, Alexander said in remarks at the Nuclear Energy Institute this week. Alexander […]

RW Monitor 2/6/2015 IN CONGRESS Lawmakers are set to begin considering the Department of Energy Fiscal Year 2016 budget request next week with separate hearings planned in the House and Senate. On Feb. 11, Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz is scheduled to testify before the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy and Power beginning […]

Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.) has been named the vice chairman of the House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee, committee Chairman Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) said yesterday. The committee has not operated with vice chairmen for its subcommittees in recent years, but Thornberry said an unprecedented strategic environment necessitated strengthening the panel’s leadership team. Lamborn has […]

Testifying yesterday during his first Senate confirmation hearing to become Defense Secretary, Ashton Carter said he supported plans to ramp up efforts to secure fissile materials around the world while focusing on nuclear weapons modernization and the triad structure. “I think we need to do both and can do more in the way of securing […]

The House Cleanup Caucus is set to hold its first meeting of 2015 next week. The meeting will involve remarks by Co-Chairs Reps. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.) and Ben Lujan (D-N.M.) and acting Assistant Energy Secretary for Environmental Management Mark Whitney, along with remarks from other lawmakers that represent DOE cleanup sites. The meeting is set […]

The Obama Administration’s decision Monday to continue with construction on the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility at the Savannah River Site in Fiscal Year 2016 was met with praise from Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), who was among the lawmakers that fought against the Administration’s decision to put the project into cold standby a year ago. […]

The Obama Administration is requesting $48.05 million for National Nuclear Security Administration warhead dismantlement efforts in Fiscal Year 2016, $1.95 million less than FY 2015 funding levels, but it is planning to level out funding through FY 2020, according to budget documents released Monday. The NNSA said it was still on track to meet its […]

The Senate Armed Services Committee today will consider the nomination of Ashton Carter to be U.S. Defense Secretary, more than two months after current Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced his resignation on Nov. 24. Although Committee Chairman Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said the committee was ready to hear Carter’s testimony immediately after the 114th Congress […]

The Department of Energy’s budget request released this week brought “good news and bad news” for Hanford cleanup, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said as she vowed to fight for more funds for the Richland Operations Office. The largest boost for DOE cleanup funding would go to Hanford’s Office of River Protection in the budget proposal, […]

The Secretary of Energy Advisory Board is considering weighing in on the recent report of the Congressional Advisory Panel on the Governance of the Nuclear Security Enterprise. The Board—which is chaired by former Under Secretary of Energy John Deutch—will hold a teleconference at 11:30 a.m. Feb. 17 to discuss sending a letter to the Department […]

DOE Budget Request Proposes Significant Funding Cut Mike Nartker WC Monitor 2/2/2015 Workers at the Portsmouth D&D project may again face the threat of potential layoffs next year, with the Department of Energy’s Fiscal Year 2016 budget request, released today, proposing a significant funding cut for the site. For next year, DOE is seeking approximately […]

Request Proposes Overall Funding Boost for Savannah River Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 2/2/2015 Several missions at the Savannah River Site’s H-Canyon facility could be significantly impacted next year through the Department of Energy’s Fiscal Year 2016 budget request, released today. For Savannah River cleanup work overall, the request would provide approximately $1.34 billion, an increase […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 2/2/2015 With an overall Fiscal Year 2016 budget request for the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management set at $5.82 billion, roughly matching enacted levels, DOE’s  cleanup program is poised to reach “major achievements” in the coming year, acting Assistant EM Secretary Mark Whitney said in a call with reporters […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 2/2/2015 Outlining the Air Force’s proposed Fiscal Year 2016 budget today, Maj. Gen. James Martin, Air Force Assistant Secretary for Budget, warned that elements of the nuclear enterprise could be jeopardized by sequestration. The Air Force’s budget request includes $272 million for the B-2 defensive management system, up $98.8 million from […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 2/2/2015 The Obama Administration is requesting $430 million for the Uranium Processing Facility planned for the Y-12 National Security Complex in Fiscal Year 2016, preserving the planned funding profile of the multi-billion-dollar facility thanks to a decision last year to shift the project from one “big box” facility to several smaller […]

Questions for the future of Hanford cleanup remain, Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.) said after the Department of Energy yesterday released its Fiscal Year 2015 budget request boosting funding for the Office of River Protection but slashing cleanup funding at Richland. ORP saw the largest increase in DOE’s cleanup program, with a $202 million increase over […]