President Signs FY06 Department of Energy Appropriations Bill

At the end of November, President Bush signed the fiscal year 2006 Appropriations Bill for the Department of Energy & Water, H.R. 2419. A summary of the Administration's budget request for DOE is available in the Feb. 14 issue of the Digest. Highlights of the bill include:

Department of Energy

The Office of Science is funded at $3.63 billion, an increase of $33 million from the FY05 appropriations and $170 million beyond the Administration's request. Within the Office of Science, $290.6 million is slated for fusion sciences research, the same as the Administration's request. Other Office of Science initiatives include:

• Advanced Scientific Computing Research - $237 million, $29.9 million more than the Administration's request;
• Basic Energy Sciences Program - $1.15 billion, the same as the Administration's request;
• Biological and Environmental Research - $585.7 million, $130 million more than the Administration's request;
• High Energy Physics - $724 million, $10.1 million more than the Administration's request; and,
• Nuclear Physics - $370.7 million, the same as the Administration's request.

Additional DOE programs of interest include:

• Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative - $80 million, $10 million more than the Administration's request.
• Biomass and Biorefinery Systems R&D program - $91.6 million, $19.4 million more than the Administration's request.
• Building Technologies - $69.7 million, $11.7 million more than the Administration's request.
• Clean Coal Power Initiative - $50 million, $18 million less than the Administration's request.
• Natural Gas Technologies - $33 million, $23 million more than the Administration's request.
• Petroleum/Oil Technology - $32 million, $22 million more than the Administration's request.

The Generation IV Nuclear Energy Systems Initiative received $55 million, which is $10 million more than the Administration's request. Hydrogen Technology received $157 million, of which $76 million is designated for fuel cell technologies. Nuclear Energy R&D received $226 million and Fossil Energy R&D received $598 million.