The Energy Bill — And Beyond

by Edith T. Carper

Observers are calling the energy bill (S. 14) awaiting congressional action “behemoth” in scope and size. Some say it's possible to separate portions into stand-alone bills, but GOP leaders are holding together in an effort to enact the bill, which the authoritative Congressional Quarterly calls “the most ambitious energy legislation since 1992 (PL 102-486).”

The energy bill is based on recommendations of a 2001 White House energy task force led by Vice President Dick Cheney. The task force focused on seeking ways to reduce dependence on foreign oil by increasing domestic production of oil, natural gas, coal, nuclear power, ethanol and other renewable energies. The result became S.14.

But the legislation has an institutional weakness: it’s susceptible to a budgetary point of order because its $31 billion cost violates the FY 2004 budget resolution. In addition, Sen. Don Nickles (R-Okla.) has criticized the bill’s tax portions that provide “billions of dollars to the oil, gas and coal industries, electric utilities, automakers and railroads.” One White House priority is to get a major energy bill passed; failure to do so will cause embarrassment, since Republicans control both the House and Senate.

It is possible to split the legislation into smaller, more manageable and focused pieces. One example is S. 1754, which seeks to improve the reliability of the electric transmission grid to prevent blackouts. Nevertheless, IEEE-USA has told Congress it supports the reliability language in S.14. In a letter dated 25 July 2003, Michael Gent, president and CEO of the North American Reliability Council, and an IEEE-USA Energy Policy Committee member, said IEEE-USA continues to support reliability provisions in the pending legislation. The letter further states that the language in S.14 meets “the fundamental need for establishment of mandatory enforceable reliability rules applicable to all users, owners and operators of the North American bulk power grid. These provisions build on the existing voluntary reliability system by authorizing an independent, industry-led organization to set and enforce such mandatory reliability rules…”

Energy Department Focus Goes Beyond Energy

As Congress continues to grapple with the energy legislation, the Department of Energy (DOE) continues to shift its sights away from pure energy issues. U.S. Energy Secretary and former U.S. senator Spencer Abraham took the podium at the National Press Club in November to explain the department’s efforts outside the “energy” area. DOE, he said, has chosen 28 research facilities “to keep the U.S. at the scientific forefront.” The new initiatives should lead to breakthroughs in physics, computer science, medicine and material science.

Abraham announced an ambitious 20-year plan for future scientific facilities, whose products “will revolutionize science…and society.” DOE’s Office of Science will lead the effort and has requested more than $3.3 billion for FY 2004.

Abraham shared some of DOE’s past accomplishments with the audience: particularly, it has designed, constructed and operated many of the world’s most advanced large-scale R&D facilities. DOE shares these facilities with the global science community, as they contain technologies and instruments found nowhere else in the world. In fact, some 18,000 researchers from universities, other agencies, private industry and foreign nations use the facilities every year. “We are the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences, accounting for approximately 40 percent of all federal funds in this area over the past decade.”

The Office of Science, he said, will use the 2004 funds to pay for basic research for national and energy security and will seek to advance knowledge and understanding of the physical sciences, as well as biological, environmental and computational sciences.

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Edith T. Carper is a special correspondent to IEEE-USA Today’s Engineer.