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Monday, August 18, 2008
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Dear
Colleague,
This is to provide you with an update on the status of the Fiscal Year (FY)
2009 appropriation for the Basic Energy Sciences (BES) program in the Office
of Science of the Department of Energy.
The U.S. Senate Report 110-416 (July 14, 2008) to accompany the Energy and
Water Development (EWD) Appropriations Bill, 2009 (S. 3258) for BES states
that “$59,495,000 of basic solar research is moved to the EERE* solar energy
research and development program.” The U.S. House of Representatives Report
on the 2009 EWD appropriations bill, however, supports the FY 2009 BES
budget request, which includes a $33,369,000 increase in basic research for
effective solar energy utilization.
These Congressional actions and the Office of Science’s plans were discussed
by Patricia Dehmer, Deputy Director for Science Programs, Office of Science,
and me at our Basic Energy Sciences Advisory Committee meeting on July 24,
2008. Our presentations are available at:
http://www.sc.doe.gov/bes/BESAC/Meetings.html#0922.
The BES solar research constitutes the predominant U.S. program of
scientific research in support of our Nation’s solar energy mission, and has
engaged the Nation’s intellectual and creative talents to enable
transformational discoveries to fundamentally alter our approaches to energy
production and use. The proposed transfer of funding indicated in the SEWD
mark would impact up to 65 ongoing projects and 300 researchers in the BES
program.
We have carefully considered the Congressional actions to date regarding the
FY 2009 appropriations. Until the difference between the House mark and the
Senate mark is resolved by joint Congressional action, BES will continue to
support its ongoing basic solar research activities and to work with EERE in
realizing the full potential of solar energy utilization.
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Harriet Kung
Associate Director of Science
for Basic Energy Sciences |
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*EERE is the acronym for
DOE’s Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy program.
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