Budget & Policy

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 1/30/2015 Pilot testing on a new membrane-based carbon capture technology with a potential 90 percent capture rate has begun at the Department of Energy’s Carbon Capture Center in Wilsonville, Ala., DOE announced this week. The project, which will test the Polaris TM Membrane system developed by Membrane Technology and Research […]

NS&D Monitor 1/30/2015 IN CONGRESS There will be a major shakeup on the staff of the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee with two of the top staffers on the panel leaving Capitol Hill for lobbying jobs. NS&D  Monitor has learned that Senate Majority Clerk Tom Craig and Senate Minority Staffer Leland Cogliani are leaving […]

GHG Monitor 1/30/2015 IN THE STATES Virginia state lawmaker Ronald Villanueva (R-Virginia Beach) introduced a bill in the Virginia State House of Delegates last week that would require the state to join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). Under the bill, Virginia would be required to be a full participant in RGGI and all rules […]

RW Monitor 1/30/2015 ON THE INTERNATIONAL FRONT The United Kingdom is examining the role of the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CoRWM) to see if there is a continued need for the committee’s advisory role, the UK government announced this week. The CoRWM operates as an independent advisory committee to the government on issues related […]

There will be a major shakeup on the staff of the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee with two of the top staffers on the panel leaving Capitol Hill for lobbying jobs. NS&D Monitor has learned that Senate Majority Clerk Tom Craig and Senate Minority Staffer Leland Cogliani are leaving the subcommittee Friday. Craig, who […]

While the Navy’s top enlisted official yesterday expressed concern to the Senate Armed Services Committee that sequestration could delay hiring of engineers for projects like the Ohio-Class replacement, he also expressed resolve that the Navy would put substantial effort into keeping the project on schedule, regardless of sequestration. But Adm. Jonathan Greenert, Chief of Naval […]

Like the Navy, the Air Force has a large nuclear modernization bill looming, and the idea of a separate deterrence fund for upgrading the air legs of the nuclear triad is gaining traction, according to Global Strike Command chief Lt. Gen. Stephen Wilson. The Navy has proposed a sea-based deterrence fund to pay for the […]

Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), the new chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said he plans to hold a full committee hearing to review the nation’s strategic nuclear deterrent. Speaking with reporters yesterday, Thornberry emphasized the importance of the nation’s nuclear deterrent and plans to modernize the nation’s weapons complex, nuclear arsenal and fleet of […]

The Congressional Long-Range Strike Caucus gathered on Capitol Hill yesterday to rally support for modernization of the B-52, B-2, and B-1, and for manufacturing the Long-Range Strike Bomber as Air Force experts have recently suggested that the Future Years Defense Plan indicates the LRSB is reaching the end of its research and development phase, according […]

The lifecycle cost estimate for the Department of Energy’s Environmental Management mission at the Savannah River Site has been extended 23 years and increased in cost by $25.2 billion, according to a DOE Savannah River presentation yesterday to the SRS Citizen’s Advisory Board. The estimate developed in 2014 pushed cleanup completion from Fiscal Year 2042 […]

It looks to be an active week for earnings announcements in the defense sector. First, Lockheed Martin at 11 a.m. on Tuesday will conduct an earnings call to discuss Fiscal Year 2014 full-year and Fourth Quarter earnings. General Dynamics at 9 a.m. on Wednesday will webcast its earnings for FY 2014, and Raytheon will announce […]

Emphasizing the uncertainty of Department of Energy’s continued use of uranium transfers to fund cleanup at the Portsmouth site, Ohio lawmakers last week called on the Administration to “fully fund” Portsmouth D&D in the Fiscal Year 2016 budget request due out next week. Cleanup at the site is funded through a combination of the transfers […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 1/23/2015 While five national lawmakers from the Dakotas reacted positively to the Air Force’s Jan. 16 approval of nearly quadrupling the size of the Powder River Training Complex (PRTC) used as a training area for B-52s housed at Minot AFB, N.D., and B-1s stationed at Ellsworth AFB, S.D., Sens. Jon Tester […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 1/23/2015 Leaders from nearly all sectors of the U.S. energy industry spoke in opposition of the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed carbon emissions standards for existing coal fired power plants during the United States Energy Association’s 11th Annual State of the Energy Industry Forum this week. The proposed regulations would set […]

Staff Reports WC Monitor 1/23/2015 New Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.) asked President Barack Obama this week to include a responsible level of funding for Department of Energy environmental management work in his budget request to Congress for Fiscal Year 2016. If DOE cleanup budgets continue to dwindle, more cleanup work will be postponed, leading to […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 1/23/2015 Carbon dioxide injected into saline aquifers for storage may not react with brine within the aquifers as previously thought, raising efficiency questions, according to a study published this week by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The study sought to discover what chemical interactions take place within the […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 1/23/2015 The White House is set to renominate Monica Regalbuto to head the Department of Energy’s cleanup program, though the timing of the move remains unclear, WC Monitor has learned. Along with Regalbuto, the White House is also set to renominate Jonathan Elkind to serve as Assistant Secretary of Energy for […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 1/23/2015 A fourth phase of the CO2 Capture Project (CCP), a research collaboration of several major energy companies, will be a reassessment of work done in the first three phases to discover the most cost effective and efficient means of carbon capture, Nigel Jenvey, manager of Carbon Solutions for BP […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 1/23/2015 President Barack Obama pledged this week to prevent Congress from undoing steps his Administration has taken to combat climate change domestically and internationally. “Over the past six years, we’ve done more than ever to combat climate change, from the way we produce energy, to the way we use it. […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 1/23/2015 If the estimated $100 billion Ohio-Class nuclear submarine replacement program does not receive the funding it requires, the ship’s stealth capability could be among the first elements to get chopped from the program, according to Bryan Clark, Senior Fellow on the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessment’s Strategic Studies team. […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 1/23/2015 New House Armed Services Committee Chairman Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) said this week that he is opposed to one of the biggest recommendations made by the Congressional Advisory Panel on the Governance of the Nuclear Enterprise: moving the semi-autonomous National Nuclear Security Administration back under the Department of Energy. “I […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 1/23/2015 As several of the world’s public and private sector leaders gather this week in Davos, Switzerland, for the 2015 World Economic Forum, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim is calling on those in attendance to take action on the development of a carbon price. “In Davos, pricing carbon will […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 1/23/2015 The Congressional Budget Office on Jan. 22 released its 10-year future nuclear weapons cost estimate, which projects the Obama Administration’s plans for nuclear forces would cost $348 billion from 2015 to 2024, down $7 billion from an estimate released a year ago. “Although the two estimates are close, notable changes […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 1/23/2015 A group of four European utility companies are pulling out of the Zero Emissions Platform (ZEP), an advisory group to the European Commission on carbon capture and storage, because of concerns over the cost of the technology. The utilities, Germany’s RWE AG, France’s Electricite de France, Sweden’s Vattenfall AB […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 1/23/2015 An effort to incorporate carbon capture and storage technology in a set of industrial facilities in the area of Teesside in the United Kingdom officially got underway this week with an event at the British Parliament’s  House of Commons. The project, which has been branded the Teesside Collective, aims […]

WC Monitor 1/23/2015 IN CONGRESS Senate Republicans this week officially named Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) as chairman of the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee. Alexander had been expected to assume the top spot on the panel since Republicans took control of the Senate in November. He served as the ranking member of the subcommittee for […]

Kaptur Named as Ranking Member of House E&W Panel Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 1/23/2015 Senate Republicans officially named Sen. Lamar Alexander (Tenn.) this week to serve as chairman of the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee, which oversees Department of Energy and National Nuclear Security Administration work. Alexander had been expected to assume the top […]

NS&D Monitor 1/23/2015 IN CONGRESS Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) told reporters on Jan. 22 that Defense Secretary nominee Ash Carter will appear before his committee for his confirmation hearing Feb. 4, then will return a month later to testify about the next defense spending plan. McCain was cited in a DefenseNews […]

RW Monitor 1/23/2015 IN THE INDUSTRY A Perma-Fix Medical-led consortium announced this week that it had received a grant totaling $2.7 million from the National Centre for Research and Development in Poland to further develop and commercialize a prototype generator for the production of technetium-99m. With Canada set to stop government spending in 2016 on […]

Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) will remain the ranking member of the House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee, but the panel will have two new Democratic faces. Reps. Mike Honda (D-Calif.) and Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-Calif.) will join the subcommittee, House Appropriations Committee ranking member Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) said in a statement yesterday. Honda and Roybal-Allard […]