President Unveils FY 2009 Budget Request

On Feb. 4, President Bush unveiled his fiscal year 2009 budget request totaling $3.1 trillion, a 6 percent increase over his FY 2008 request. Among the highlights of the FY 2009 budget request of interest to the engineering community are these:

• Department of Commerce: $634 million has been requested for the American Competitiveness Initiative for investments in quantum and neutron research, nanotechnology, and other scientific efforts at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), a 20 percent increase over FY08 enacted levels.

• Department of Defense (DOD): $79.6 billion for research and development, a 4 percent increase over the current year's budget, is contained in the president's request.

• Department of Education: Under the president's American Competitiveness Initiative, the proposed budget would give $175 million to train math and science teachers in FY 2009, an increase over the estimated $44 million for FY 2008.

• Department of Energy (DOE): The overall budget request of $25 billion is $1.13 billion above the FY08 appropriated amount. Research in the physical sciences would get a boost of $4.7 billion, or 19 percent. The request for the nuclear energy office is $1.4 billion, an increase of $386 million. The Yucca Mountain project would receive an increase of $108 million to $495 million, while the advanced coal technology research, development, and demonstration program would see a 25 percent increase to $648 million.

• National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA): An overall budget request of $17.6 billion for the FY 2009 budget would provide increases for space operations and exploration. A request of $4.4 billion for science, $447 million for aeronautics, and $115.6 million for education would cut programs highly popular in Congress.

• National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI): $1.527 billion across more than 10 departments and agencies, an increase of $200 million over FY07 (the last year for which NNI funding information is available), is included in the request. Of the total amount, $431 million would go to DOD; $379 million to the National Science Foundation (NSF); and, $311 million to DOE.

• Science and Technology: $12.2 billion, an overall increase of 15 percent for the DOE's Office of Science, the NSF, and NIST is being requested. DOE's science programs would receive $4.7 billion, a $300 million increase over the FY08 request; NSF's budget would climb $425 million over the FY08 request, to $6.85 billion, and NIST would get a $40 million bump to $634 million for its core research missions.

The full FY2009 budget request is available for review at www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2009.

 

NSF FY 2009 Budget Request Seeks 13 Percent Increase Over FY08 Budget

The NSF is seeking an additional $6.85 billion, or a 13 percent increase, in its FY 2009 budget. NSF Director Arden L. Bennett, Jr., characterized the requested increase as follows:

"More than a dozen major studies have now concluded that a substantial increase in federal funding for basic scientific research is critical to ensure the preeminence of America's scientific and technological enterprise. Increased federal investments in research and education are imperative now to sustain our comparative advantages in a flattening world."

The NSF Engineering Directorate (ENG), not including the Small Business programs, would receive $632.3 million in FY 2009, which is a 19.9 percent increase over the FY 2008 estimate. The request also includes four major cross-foundation investments focusing on national priorities such as
manufacturing, computing, energy, cybersecurity, sensors and materials, as well as increases in the following areas:

• Support for Research Grants: With a proposed 16 percent growth in research and related activities, NSF anticipates supporting an additional 1,370 research grants, which would increase the funding rate from 21 percent to 23 percent.

• New Faculty and Young Investigators: The Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program would increase by $14 million to $181.9 million.

• Graduate Research Fellowships: Funding would increase by $28.6 million to $124.8 million, supporting an estimated 3,075 fellows - an increase of 700 over the FY 2008 level.

• Science and Technology Centers: The $15 million request would support a competition to add five to seven new Science and Technology Centers.

• International Science and Engineering: Funding for this office would increase by nearly 15 percent to $47.4 million. Partnerships for International Research and Education would increase by $3 million to $15 million.

• Enriching the Education of STEM Teachers: The Math and Science Partnership Program would increase by $2.5 million to $51 million, while the Robert Noyce Scholarship Program would be funded at $11.6 million, or an $800,000 increase.

For additional details on the NSF FY 2009 budget request, go to www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=111084&org-
NSF&from=news.

 

Nuclear Energy Institute: 2007 Is a Record Year of Nuclear Power Generation and Low Costs

According to figures released last month by the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), U.S. nuclear power plants produced electricity at an all-time high: approximately 807 billion kilowatt-hours (kwh) in 2007, which is some two percent above the previous record-high of 788.5 billion kwh of electricity produced in 2004.

"At a time when consumers are confronted with rising oil and gas prices and an increased reliance on foreign energy sources, nuclear energy provides reliable, affordable, and clean electricity," said Frank L. (Skip) Bowman, NEI president and chief executive officer.

The 104 nuclear power plants in the U.S. achieved a record-setting average capacity factor of 91.8 percent, surpassing the 2004 record of 90.1 percent. Capacity factor is the ratio of electricity actually produced compared to the theoretical maximum electricity a power plant can produce
operating at full power year-round. The industry's average electricity production cost was 1.68 cents/kwh in 2007, compared to the previous low of 1.72 cents/kwh set in 2005.

The statistics released earlier this month are preliminary in nature. Final figures on the industry's 2007 performance will be released in the spring. For additional information, see www.nei.org/newsandevents/newsreleases/setrecordhighs.

 

Advisory Panel Releases Report on Advanced Coal Technology

The EPA's Advanced Coal Technology Work Group, a subgroup of its Clean Air Act Advisory Committee (CAAAC), has released a 10-page report containing 13 consensus-based recommendations to guide stakeholders in accelerating the development and use of advanced coal technologies (ACTs). For the report's purposes, the definition of advanced coal technologies "encompasses a broad and evolving suite of innovative processes and technologies that are designed to reduce substantially the overall environmental footprint of coal-based processes."

Among the Work Group's recommendations are the following:

• Widespread commercial development of ACTs will not occur without legislation that establishes a significant long-term market driver.

• Government agencies should use a variety of regulatory, financial, and other incentives to accelerate early commercial projects that utilize ACTs.

• Congress should immediately create a CCS Early Deployment Fund, whether through comprehensive climate change legislation or separate legislation, to fund the additional costs and risks of CCS to developers.

The entire report is available at www.epa.gov/air/caaac/coaltech/2008_01_
final_report.pdf.

A listing of the members of the Advanced Coal Technology Work Group may be found at www.epa.gov/air/caaac/coaltech/act_workgroup_
members.pdf.

 

EPA Awards $7.34 Million for Nanotechnology Safety Research

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), through its Science to Achieve Results (STAR) research grants program, has awarded 21 grants totaling $7.34 million to universities to investigate potential adverse health and environmental effects of manufactured nanomaterials. EPA's STAR program partners with the NSF, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIESH), and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) in promoting research focusing on the potential toxicity and fate and transport of nanomaterials in the environment.

"Nanotechnology is an exciting new field with the potential to transform environmental protection," said George Gray, assistant administrator of the EPA's Office of Research and Development. "But it is critical to know whether nanomaterials could negatively impact health or the environment."

For additional information, please visit www.epa.gov and click on the press release from Jan. 28 entitled "Nanotechnology: The Big News is Small." A complete list of university recipients of the STAR grants can be found at: http://es.epa.gov/ncer/nano/2008recipients.html.

 

Contact ASME Government Relations for more information:

Kathryn Holmes, director, ASME Government Relations: (202) 785-7390; e-mail holmesk@asme.org.

Melissa Carl, government relations representative: (202) 785-7380; e-mail carlm@asme.org.

Anthony Quinn, government relations representative: (202) 785-7392; e-mail quinna@asme.org.

Robert Rains, government relations associate: (202) 785-7483; e-mail rainsr@asme.org.

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