The U.S. Department of Energy had its 2022 budget request trimmed down by $1.1 billion during Monday’s markup session at the House Appropriations Committee’s Energy and Water Development Subcommittee.

DOE’s original 2022 budget request was for $46.2 billion, but the bill approved by a subcommittee voice vote would give the department $45.1 billion, still a $3.2 billion increase over its 2021 budget, said Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), subcommittee chair. The bill next goes to the full committee.

“After this past year, where the stable and affordable delivery of fossil fuels to consumers has repeatedly been disrupted, the need to diversify our energy sources has never been more urgent,” Kaptur said in her opening statement. “This legislation takes concrete steps to develop and deploy the infrastructure necessary to ensure a cleaner, greener, affordable and more reliable energy future from all sources, as well as [to] push harder to develop new sources, right here in the U.S.A., for energy independence.”

As outlined in a summary released by the subcommittee, specific line items included in the bill are:

• $600 million for Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy;
• $375 million for weatherization programs, to support energy-efficient upgrades to 50,000 low-income households;
• $820 million for the Office of Fossil Fuels and Carbon Management to advance “carbon reduction and mitigation in sectors and applications that are difficult to decarbonize … while assisting in facilitating the transition toward a net-zero-carbon economy and rebuilding a U.S. critical minerals supply chain”;
• $1.68 billion to develop next-generation nuclear energy and “further improve the safety and economic viability of our current reactor fleet”; and
• $177 million for cybersecurity, energy security and emergency response.

With the current drought and water shortages in the Western U.S. very much in mind, Kaptur also said the bill would provide $8.6 billion to the Army Corps of Engineers and $1.9 billion to the Bureau of Reclamation for water infrastructure projects.

Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), subcommittee ranking member, recognized that Kaptur had worked to incorporate concerns from both sides of the aisle, such as ongoing funding for pilot projects for advanced nuclear reactors and the high-assay, low-enriched uranium they need. But, he said, the bill’s “good items are within an overall framework that House Republicans cannot support.”

“Like the president’s budget request, the majority’s energy and water bill overfunds certain nondefense programs and shortchanges our national security needs. An increase of less than 1% for the weapons activities does not even keep up with inflation,” Simpson said.

He also argued that the bill’s funding priorities would “focus on reducing U.S. [carbon] emissions in a way that almost certainly would result in an increase in global emissions and therefore not reduce the impact of climate change.”

DOE Justifies Full Budget 

Monday’s vote comes after Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm pitched the department’s budget to four different congressional committees — including the Energy and Water Development Subcommittee. (See Granholm Lays Out DOE’s $46.2 Billion Budget.)

At that hearing on May 6, the Biden administration had not yet released its fully detailed 2022 budget request, and the “skinny” budget overview available left plenty of gaps for Granholm to fill on a range of issues, including funding for nuclear projects and cybersecurity.

Responding to a question from Simpson on cybersecurity, Granholm said, “It’s definitely a focus of ours.” DOE is taking steps to “refocus the [Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security and Emergency Response] on being a service to the grid operators, providing them with the tools and the intelligence and cyber response capabilities they need.”

With the 2022 budget still far from its final form, the department on Monday released its 2022 Budget Justification report, a multivolume document of more than 3,000 pages, arguing for full funding. The release announcement focused on the $4.7 billion request for the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, whittled to $3.8 billion in the House subcommittee bill.

For example, the report’s pitch for $386.6 million in funding for the Solar Energy Technologies Office predicts that decarbonizing the grid by 2035 “may require solar to supply 30 to 50% of U.S. electricity” and details an extensive list of priorities.

Funding a “complete roadmap of solar energy implementation,” the report says, will include “advanced R&D; validation of solar technologies to invigorate American technological leadership; supporting industry’s development of a robust American solar manufacturing and supply chain, including demonstration and deployment of photovoltaics; ensuring there is a trained American workforce employed in the industry, creating and sustaining good-paying jobs; contributing to the decarbonization of the energy and industrial sectors; supporting community resilience; and working to ensure the benefits of the transition to clean energy are shared with those most affected by environmental justice inequities.”