In this issue:
HOUSE PASSES DOMESTIC ENERGY AND JOBS ACT
On June 21st, the U.S. House of Representatives approved the Domestic Energy and Jobs Act, H.R. 4480, by a largely party-line vote of 248 to 163; just 19 Democrats joined Republicans in voting in favor of the bill. The legislation is a compilation of seven measures previously approved by the Energy and Commerce Committee. The Senate has not announced plans to take up the legislation.
Title I of the bill, the Strategic Energy and Production Act, stipulates that the President cannot tap the Strategic Petroleum Reserve without developing a plan to open more public lands to energy development. Title III of the bill, the Planning for American Energy Act, requires the Secretary of the Interior to conduct similar studies on opening federal lands to energy production.
Title II of the bill, the Gasoline Regulations Act, aims to achieve a better understanding of the impact of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) policies on gas prices, jobs, and the economy. The legislation requires an interagency committee to study how certain EPA regulations will affect American businesses and consumers and puts a pause on several of EPA's rules and actions. Affected rules include Tier 3 fuel standards, which mandate reductions in the sulfur content of gasoline and diesel, refinery New Source Performance Standards, and ozone standards under the Clean Air Act. Affected policies would be suspended until six months after the interagency report is submitted to Congress.
The Domestic Energy and Jobs Act also includes: the Providing Leasing Certainty for American Energy Act, the Streamlining Permitting of American Energy Act, the National Petroleum Reserve Alaska Access Act, and the Bureau of Land Management Live Internet Auctions Act.
A short summary of H.R. 4480 is available at: http://www.majoritywhip.gov/energy#energy3
The full text of H.R.4480 is available at: http://docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/20120618/CPRT-112-HPRT-RU00-HR4480.pdf
For additional information on H.R. 4480, go to http://thomas.loc.gov, and search by bill number.
Paul Fakes covers public policy-related energy issues for ASME. He can be reached at fakesp@asme.org
SENATE COMMITTEE HOLDS HEARING TO REVIEW NRC'S "INDUCED SEISMICITY POTENTIAL IN ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES" REPORT
On June 19th, the full Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee held a hearing to receive testimony on the potential for induced seismicity from energy technologies, including carbon capture and storage, enhanced geothermal systems, production from gas shales, and enhanced oil recovery. The hearing focused on a recent report from the National Research Council (NRC), entitled "Induced Seismicity Potential in Energy Technologies." Committee Chair Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) requested the report two years ago, specifically requesting that Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Steven Chu initiate a comprehensive and independent study by the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering to examine the possible scale, scope and consequences of seismicity induced by energy technologies.
"Induced Seismicity Potential in Energy Technologies" identifies gaps in knowledge and research needed to advance the understanding of induced seismicity; identifies gaps in induced seismic hazard assessment methodologies and the research to close those gaps; and, assesses options for steps toward best practices with regard to energy development and induced seismicity potential.
The report found that of all the energy-related injection and extraction activities conducted in the United States, only a small percentage have created earthquakes at levels noticeable to humans. None has caused significant damage to life or property. The report also determined that, because hydraulic fracturing for natural gas development typically involves the injection of relatively small amounts of fluid into localized areas, hydraulic fracturing itself rarely triggers earthquakes large enough to be felt.
Activities that inject greater amounts of fluid over longer periods of time however, such as the injection of drilling wastewater, pose a greater risk for causing noticeable earthquakes, according to the report, noting that recent data from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) suggest that the rate of earthquakes in the U.S. midcontinent has increased significantly in the past decade. The locations of these earthquakes are near many oil and gas extraction operations and as a result have raised public concern that they are the result of underground injection of drilling wastewater. The study also indicated that injecting and storing vast amounts of carbon dioxide in the subsurface may pose a risk for seismicity that needs to be better understood and quantified through research.
A summary of the study is available at: http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=13355
Links to the archived web cast of the hearing, as well as the prepared statements of the witnesses, may be found at: http://www.energy.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/hearings-and-business-meetings?ID=2c908340-a9bb-40b4-bf7f-8308b272893d
Paul Fakes covers public policy-related energy issues for ASME. He can be reached at fakesp@asme.org
SUBCOMMITTEE ON RESEARCH AND SCIENCE EDUCATION HEARING – "THE ROLE OF RESEARCH UNIVERSITIES IN SECURING AMERICA'S FUTURE PROSPERITY: CHALLENGES AND EXPECTATIONS"
On June 27th, the House Committee on Science, Space, And Technology's Subcommittee on Research and Science Education held a hearing to examine the challenges faced by the Nation's research universities. The hearing provided an opportunity to discuss the future outlook for these universities and to discuss the recently released National Academies study, "Research Universities and the Future of America", which details ten recommendations for key stakeholders to ensure U.S. research universities maintain their capabilities and grow their strengths.
In his opening statement, Subcommittee Chair Mo Brooks (R-AL) observed, "Innovation has remained a part of the fabric of this Nation since its founding. Particularly in today's tough economic times, research universities play a vital role in America's ability to maintain its competitiveness in an increasingly technologically developed world, and the knowledge and skills produced by our Nation's research graduates provide the fuel for these endeavors."
Testifying on behalf of the National Academies, Mr. Charles Holliday, Chair of the Committee on Research Universities, said that America must "position itself in a competitive world transformed by technology, global competitiveness, and geopolitical change." Mr. Holliday said that our nation's research universities "represent a key asset—perhaps even our most potent national asset—for the 21st century."
According to the report, the nation's research universities provide the backbone for the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) workforce essential for U.S. prosperity. These universities not only contribute to the academic researchers who work to move basic scientific research forward but also those who comprise the STEM-related workforce in the country.
The "Research Universities and the Future of America" report is available at: http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=13396&page=R1
Written statements of the various witnesses as well as an archived webcast of the hearing may be found at: http://science.house.gov/hearing/subcommittee-research-and-science-educatoin-hearing-role-research-universities-securing
Paul Fakes covers public policy-related research and development issues for ASME. He can be reached at fakesp@asme.org
E&C LEADERS REQUEST GAO REVIEW OF NNSA PROCEDURES FOR EVALUATING INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS AND LOS ALAMOS RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT STRATEGY
House Energy and Commerce Committee leaders have requested the Government Accountability Office (GAO) evaluate the National Nuclear Security Administration's (NNSA) procedures for evaluating independent contractors charged with operations and management. Full Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI), Ranking Member Henry A. Waxman (D-CA), Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Chairman Cliff Stearns (R-FL), and Subcommittee Ranking Member Diana DeGette (D-CO) requested GAO evaluate NNSA's governance model, in particular because NNSA relies on contractors evaluating their own safety performance, with those evaluations often self-determining significant performance incentives. The Committee will continue to closely monitor the activities at DOE and NNSA and will conduct a hearing next month to examine the state of oversight of the nation's most sensitive nuclear facilities.
In the letter to the GAO on NNSA's evaluation of contractors, the committee leaders wrote, "The Committee on Energy and Commerce has focused significant time and attention overseeing the correction of significant safety and security problems experienced in recent years at several of NNSA's nuclear sites. In reports requested by this Committee on safety and security problems at Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories, for example, GAO has repeatedly documented weaknesses in those sites' performance self-assessment programs. These GAO findings call into question the basis for CAS implementation: that contractors conduct self-assessments that provide the objective performance information on which the government should rely to make performance determinations worth hundreds of millions of dollars annually."
To review the committee letter to the GAO on the NNSA contractor assurance system, please visit: http://energycommerce.house.gov/Media/file/Letters/112th/062612GAONNSA.pdf
In a second letter, the leaders also requested that GAO conduct a study of the Los Alamos National Laboratory's efforts to upgrade radioactive waste management capabilities, critical to maintaining its nuclear weapons stockpile. The committee leaders wrote, "DOE's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has for a number of years planned to upgrade or replace both radioactive waste capabilities at LANL [Los Alamos National Laboratory]. Unfortunately, the associated projects to accomplish this have experienced problems with cost and schedule estimates. For example, a project to upgrade the 50-year-old RLWTF [Radioactive Liquid Waste Treatment Facility], which handles radioactive liquid waste including waste generated through the process of manufacturing nuclear weapons components, was started in 2007 to be completed in 2010 to meet mission requirements for the next 50 years. However, safety-related questions about design scope have stalled the project indefinitely. At the same time, plans to commence replacement for the 55-year-old TRU [Transuranic] facilities began in 2007 to meet a deadline of December 2015. That project is already delayed until 2017, with a cost range of $71 million to $124 million and with additional potential taxpayer liabilities for delays related to environmental cleanup on the site of the existing facility."
The committee letter to the GAO on the Los Alamos National Laboratory can be found at: http://energycommerce.house.gov/Media/file/Letters/112th/062612GAOLANL.pdf
Paul Fakes covers public policy-related energy issues for ASME. He can be reached at fakesp@asme.org
EPW COMMITTEE APPROVES NRC NOMINEES
On June 21st, the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee approved the nomination of Allison M. Macfarlane to be a Member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and President Obama's designee as Chair, and the re-nomination of Kristine L. Svinicki to be a Member of the NRC.
Allison Macfarlane is currently an Associate Professor of Environmental Science and Policy at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA. She received her PhD in geology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1992. She has held fellowships at the Bunting Institute at Radcliffe College, the Center for International Security and Arms Control at Stanford University, and the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University. From 1998-2000, she was a Social Science Research Council-MacArthur Foundation fellow in International Peace and Security. She has served on National Academy of Sciences panels on nuclear energy and nuclear weapons issues. She is currently a member of the White House's Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future. She is also presently chair of the Science and Security Board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and serves on the Keystone Center's Energy Board. Her research focuses on environmental policy and international security issues associated with nuclear energy, especially the back-end of the nuclear fuel cycle. In 2006 MIT Press published her book, “Uncertainty Underground: Yucca Mountain and the Nation's High-Level Nuclear Waste,” which explores the unresolved technical issues for nuclear waste disposal at Yucca Mountain, Nevada.
The Honorable Kristine L. Svinicki was sworn in as a Commissioner of NRC on March 28, 2008, to a term ending on June 30, 2012. Ms. Svinicki has a distinguished career as a nuclear engineer and policy advisor, working at the state and federal levels of government, and in both the legislative and executive branches. Before joining the NRC, she spent over a decade as a staff member in the United States Senate advancing a wide range of policies and initiatives related to national security, science and technology, and energy and the environment. Previously, Ms. Svinicki worked as a nuclear engineer in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Washington, D.C. Offices of Nuclear Energy, Science and Technology, and Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, as well as in its Idaho Operations Office, in Idaho Falls, Idaho.
The nominees will now go to the full Senate for consideration.
Paul Fakes covers public policy-related energy issues for ASME. He can be reached at fakesp@asme.org
STUDY: RENEWABLES COULD PROVIDE 80 PERCENT OF U.S. ENERGY BY 2050
A report recently published by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the "Renewable Electricity Futures Study" (RE Futures), examines the extent to which renewable energy supply can meet the electricity demands of the continental United States over the next several decades. The report explores the implications and challenges of very high renewable electricity generation levels—from 30 percent up to 90 percent, focusing on 80 percent, of all U.S. electricity generation from renewable technologies-in 2050. At such high levels of renewable electricity generation, the unique characteristics of some renewable resources, specifically geographical distribution and variability and uncertainty in output, pose challenges to the operability of the nation's electric system.
Among the key findings of the report are the following:
- Renewable electricity generation from technologies that are commercially available today, in combination with a more flexible electric system, is more than adequate to supply 80 percent of total U.S. electricity generation in 2050 while meeting electricity demand on an hourly basis in every region of the country;
- Increased electric system flexibility, needed to enable electricity supply-demand balance with high levels of renewable generation, can come from a portfolio of supply- and demand-side options, including flexible conventional generation, grid storage, new transmission, more responsive loads, and changes in power system operations;
- The abundance and diversity of U.S. renewable energy resources can support multiple combinations of renewable technologies that result in deep reductions in electric sector greenhouse gas emissions and water use; and,
- The direct incremental cost associated with high renewable generation is comparable to published cost estimates of other clean energy scenarios. Improvement in the cost and performance of renewable technologies is the most impactful lever for reducing this incremental cost.
RE Futures, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, is a collaborative effort with more than 110 contributors from 35 organizations including national laboratories, industry, universities, and non-governmental organizations.
Links to each portion of the report are available at:
Paul Fakes covers public policy-related research and development issues for ASME. He can be reached at fakesp@asme.org
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