Sixty-seven Members of the U.S. House of Representatives are calling upon congressional appropriators to significantly increase funding for the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) energy efficiency and renewable energy (EE/RE) programs above the Fiscal Year 2006 levels being proposed by the White House.
The request comes in the form of a letter initiated by Representatives Greg Walden and Mark Udall and submitted to Representatives David Hobson and Peter Visclosky, Chairman and Ranking Member respectively of the House Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on Energy & Water. It calls for the “restoration of funding to last year’s enacted levels for the DOE’s EE/RE budget, while supporting the President’s recommended levels for wind, fuel cells, and renewably based hydrogen.”
Citing the rising costs for gasoline as well as oil and natural gas plus the corresponding increases in energy imports, the Members wrote that “we believe cutbacks in DOE’s core EE/RE programs are short-sighted.”
“Robust R&D funding for [EE/RE] programs remains important to help further reduce technical, institutional, and economic barriers to enable even faster market penetration. Such funding should not be curtailed when these technologies are just beginning to approach making real inroads into the marketplace.”
The Members noted with concern the cuts being proposed in a number of DOE’s core EE/RE programs and pointed out that “the American people have repeatedly signaled their support for renewable energy and energy efficient technologies. They understand that EE/RE programs can help address the most critical flaw in our nation’s security: our economy’s perilous reliance on foreign sources of energy.”
“We therefore strongly urge you to develop an appropriations bill for FY06 that restores funding for those EE/RE programs being recommended for cuts, while accepting the President’s recommended funding levels for wind, fuel cells, and renewably-based hydrogen.”
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