Energy and Water

The National Security missions of the NNSA are vital to the interests of our country and not only to the nuclear weapons program but also to the nuclear navy and nuclear nonproliferation.

Despite my general agreement with the bill we are considering today, I have tremendous concerns with the outlook for this year's Appropriations process.

Despite my appreciation for the innovative and streamlined project model used by ARPA-E, I have repeatedly shared my concerns regarding your program's potential overlap with other areas of DOE. Many of the activities pursued by ARPA-E are in areas where either DOE's applied programs or the Office of Science are also endeavoring to make progress. I believe that there is a place for competition within the Department, but in an era of scarce funding redundancies must be kept to a minimum.

Reclamation's budget request for Water and Related Resources represents a four percent reduction from that of 2012. And while we are all interested in finding appropriate places to cut, I have some concerns that this reduced request continues the disinvestment in the nation's water resource infrastructure. Therefore, it will be especially important that the Subcommittee understands the specific methodology used to arrive at the Bureau's particular set of projects and activities.

Gas prices are again rising, putting pressure on the wallet of every American. While there is no 'magic bullet' available to the government to immediately drop the price of gasoline, on-going federal research in vehicle technologies is starting to yield dividends with the market introduction of automobiles utilizing technologies that will displace some portion of gasoline for power.

Worker health and safety is one of the most important elements in meeting the Department's mission. In particular, given the materials and facilities under EM's charge, the potential human and financial losses that can come from having an unsafe worksite are mindboggling. I appreciate that you take seriously your charge to ensure the safety of the Department's projects and look forward to discussing in detail your office's progress on this front.

Given the constrained fiscal environment, it is particularly important that we strategically plan each major program area to ensure we are proceeding in a deliberate and thoughtful manner, increasing or maintaining our lead in the areas where we can and limiting our investment where we cannot.