House gives the 'green' light to chemistry, engineering bill

The House of Representatives on April 21 approved legislation, H.R. 3970, designed to promote "green" chemistry and engineering. The bill, known as the Green Chemistry Research and Development Act of 2004, would establish an interagency research and development program to encourage development of safer chemicals and production methods.

"This bill is exactly the kind of thing this committee should be doing — making sure that federal R&D programs give enough attention to important research that could advance national needs," said Sherwood Boehlert, R-N.Y., Science Committee chairman.

Committee Democrats, however, were not so full of praise. Bart Gordon, the Science Committee Ranking Minority Member, lamented that the committee had a "missed opportunity" in passing the bill quickly, while rejecting several Democratic amendments to it. "We will end up passing a bill that won't do nearly as much for health, safety and the environment as it should," Gordon said. However, he voted for the bill on the House floor, as did all of his Democratic colleagues.

Among the amendments rejected by the committee were an amendment by Gordon to provide for federal procurement of environmentally preferable products, an amendment by Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., to utilize green chemistry to reduce vulnerabilities to terrorism, and an amendment by Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas, to restore full funding for the National Science Foundation's green chemistry program.

Following passage, the bill was sent to the Senate, where it was referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.

Alaska Gov. Murkowski to offer offshore oil and gas leases

In what he called an exercise of Alaska's authority as a state, Gov. Frank Murkowski last month announced plans to offer for lease about 350,000 acres of state-owned lands off the coast of Alaska near the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) for oil exploration. Congress has refused several times over the last decade to authorize exploration on those federally owned lands.

The Republican governor pointed to estimates that the area could produce up to 1.6 million barrels per day, while acknowledging that there is no guarantee that amount is recoverable. He said that the Trans-Alaska Pipeline would be used to transport recovered oil for delivery to the lower 48 states.

Murkowski's announcement appeared to garner little attention in Washington, despite the current back-and-forth partisan bickering over high gasoline prices. In a statement, House Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo, R-Calif., said, "Governor Murkowski is to be commended for taking decisive action to lower our dependence on foreign sources of energy."

The Natural Resources Defense Council issued a statement denouncing the move.

Members of Congress create science/math education caucus

Reps. Vernon Ehlers, R-Mich., and Mark Udall, D-Colo., have created a new congressional caucus, which is a policy-oriented group of legislators, to advance science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) instruction at all levels of education.

In a "Dear Colleague" letter to other members of the House, Ehlers and Udall stressed that "Science and technology underpin our economic strength and national security; thus, science and math education and technical training are enormous and pressing needs. We must invest in our children to develop their talent and enable them to compete in the knowledge-based, global economy."

Currently, the letter from Ehlers and Udall added, "a full third of U.S. students perform below basic levels in science and math on assessment tests.

"At the advanced level, only two of every 100 high school graduates will obtain an engineering or advanced degree, while the numbers are even more dismal when examining women and minorities who choose to go on in math and science."

If you would like your representative to join the STEM Caucus, go to www.asme.org/gric to obtain contact information.

— Francis Dietz
ASME Government Relations

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