Has anyone heard or seen anything about
this?? Maybe time for some action if it is in fact true.
David
Sent: Wednesday, November 16, 2005 7:50 AM
Subject: Fwd: Important, Congress set to gut renewable energy
programs
>Congress is getting ready this week to terminate the National Bioenergy >Research Center and gut the Wind Research Program at the National Renewable >Energy Laboratory (NREL). NREL researchers who are CRES members sounded the >alarm over the weekend after finding out on Friday that many of them may be >out of work next month. > >Here is what I can piece together about what happened last week. On Tuesday >the House of Representatives passed the House and Senate Conference >Committee markup of the Energy Water and Development Appropriation Bill for >2006. The bill keeps federal funding for renewable energy research level >with last year's spending. > >Unfortunately, it more than doubled the earmarks that take money out of the >Wind Energy and Bioenergy Research Programs and direct it elsewhere. >Earmarks are when individual representatives direct funding to particular >projects in their districts. With passage of the Energy Bill earlier this >year, these earmarks have been in the forefront of the news. In fact, the >American Solar Energy Society said the Energy Bill was so full of pork >barrel spending that ASES did not endorse it. > >Congressional leaders usually wait until the conference committee is meeting >behind closed doors to introduce earmarks. They emerge as part of a much >larger bill that is hundreds of pages long. > >It appears that in this case, the House of Representatives voted on this >bill without many of >its members having had time to read it. > >It took NREL staff a couple of days of read through the pile of paper and >figure out what it will mean for the research programs. Some of the earmarks >were listed together to support state initiatives, and others were buried in >different portions of the massive spending bill. This year these added to >$62 million in total, more than two thirds of the entire "research and >development" budget for bioenergy. Then the staff had to calculate DOE's >contractual obligations to its industry partnerships and the 10% cut that >the agency takes from all programs to pay the salaries of its staff. > >Staff of the National Bioenergy Center, which number more than 90 people, >were told Friday afternoon that all that the funding that would be left was >sufficient only to cover their severance checks. The National Wind >Technology Center is facing similar, severe cutbacks. It seems incredible, >but Congress is getting ready to gut the two research programs in renewable >energy technologies that have enjoyed the most success and commercial >development just at a time when fossil fuel prices are their highest level >in history. In the case of creating transportation fuels from biomass, these >technologies represent our greatest near-term hope of >reducing imports or fossil fuels. > >The Senate is scheduled to take up the appropriations bill today or >tomorrow. Please call Senators Allard and Salazar today and ask them to vote >no on the appropriations bill from the Energy and Water Committee. Tell them >that renewable energy R&D is one of this country's best investments. > >- Wayne Allard: call the Colorado office at 303-220-7414 or the Washington >office at 202-224-5941, or send an email message at: >http://allard.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContactHome > >- Ken Salazar: call the Colorado office at 303-455-7600 or the Washington >office at 202-224-5852, or send an email message at: >http://salazar.senate.gov/contact/email.cfm > >Russ Doty, CEO >New World WindPower LLC >PO Box 1734 >Billings, MT 59103-1734 >406-656-2763 >email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >web site: http://www.newworldwindpower.com > -- -- Patrick Judge, Energy Program Director Montana Environmental Information Center P.O. Box 1184 Helena, MT 59624 406/443-2520 406/443-2507 fax |
_______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org
Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/