Geoscience Policy Monthly Review
april 2018
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congress
Senate Appropriations Committee changes leadership after retirement of Mississippi Senator Cochran
April 10, 2018
On April 10, the Senate ratified the selection of Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL) to chair the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, following the resignation of former Senator Thad Cochran (R-MS) on April 1. First elected to the Senate in 1978, Senator Cochran had been the Republican leader of the Senate Appropriations Committee since 2005 and announced his resignation on March 5 due to medical complications. Before he officially retired, Congress passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018, significantly increasing both defense and non-defense spending caps.
Now the senior Republican member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Senator Shelby replaced Senator Cochran as Chair of the Subcommittee on Defense and handed over his previous chairmanship of the Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies to Senator Jerry Moran (R-KS). Senator Moran will lead the charge in crafting the Senate Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies appropriations bill for fiscal year (FY) 2019, which includes funding for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP).
Membership of various appropriations subcommittees also shifted with Senator James Lankford (R-OK) joining the Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development and Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) joining the Subcommittee on the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, appointed by Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant to fill the seat vacated by former Senator Cochran, was sworn in as the state’s first female senator on April 9 and joins the Subcommittee on the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies and the Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies.
Sources: E&E News, U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee
House Science Committee advances NASA Reauthorization and STEM education and research bills
April 17, 2018
The House Science Committee held a full committee markup of two bills, the Innovations in Mentoring, Training, and Apprenticeships Act (H.R.5509) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Authorization Act of 2018 (H.R.5503), both of which were ultimately reported favorably and passed out of committee to await a full chamber vote on the House floor.
The Innovations in Mentoring, Training, and Apprenticeships Act directs the National Science Foundation (NSF) to provide grants for research about STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education approaches and the STEM-related workforce. The bill would establish three areas for competitive STEM Innovation and Apprenticeship grants, all of which would come from funds within NSF’s Education and Human Resources Directorate. The three grant areas direct NSF to focus on: community colleges who are developing or improving associate degree and certificate programs in STEM fields in which there is significant workforce demand in their region; universities partnering with employers who commit to offering apprenticeships, internships, or other applied learning experiences to students enrolled in a four-year STEM degree; and institutions of higher learning or nonprofits conducting research on the best practices of computer-based and online courses for technical skills and training. The bill would also direct the Directorate of Social, Behavioral & Economic Sciences at NSF to commission research on skilled technical workforce development in the U.S. compared to other developed countries.
The NASA Authorization Act, which would reauthorize the agency for FY 2018 through FY 2019, was intensely debated during the markup due to disagreements about the language slashing the FY 2019 authorized funds for Earth Science. The original bill as introduced would cut Earth Science funding for FY 2019 by $471 million – roughly a quarter of the total Earth Science budget that was provided for FY 2018. Ranking Member Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX-30) stated that such deep cuts to NASA Earth Science would harm a variety of programs, from climate science to natural disaster response programs, while Chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX-21) defended the cuts based on his position that Earth science research is not a core mission of NASA. Representative Ed Perlmutter (D-CO-7) offered an amendment to restore the $471 million in Earth Science funding, bringing the total amount authorized for NASA in FY2019 to $21.2 billion. With that amendment approved by a vote of 27-5, there was enough Democratic support for the bill to be pulled out of the apparent partisan gridlock and pass through committee by a vote of 26-7.
Other amendments that were adopted for the NASA Authorization Act included one directing NASA to continue efforts to send human explorers to Mars by 2033, and another affirming the National Space Council Policy Directive 1 that provides for returning humans to the moon. The Innovations in Mentoring, Training, and Apprenticeships Act was approved by the committee with the adoption of only one amendment that was offered by Representative Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR-1) to include industry or private sector partnerships as priorities in considering applications for grants.
Sources: Library of Congress, Space Policy Online, U.S. House of Representatives
April 11, 2018
On April 11, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee held a hearing to discuss the bipartisan Utilizing Significant Emissions with Innovative Technologies Act, or the USE IT Act (S.2602). Introduced by Committee Chairman John Barrasso (R-WY) and cosponsored by Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), and Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), the USE IT Act supports research and development of carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS) technologies and facilitates a new permitting process for CCUS projects and carbon dioxide pipelines.
The USE IT Act builds on the similarly bipartisan Furthering carbon capture, Utilization, Technology, Underground storage, and Reduced Emissions (FUTURE) Act (S.1535), which was enacted in February as part of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018. The FUTURE Act expanded the tax credits for carbon dioxide sequestration to provide financial incentives encouraging the development and implementation of CCUS technologies, thereby reducing carbon emissions. Complementing this strategy, Title I of the USE IT Act directs the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) – under its existing authority from the Clean Air Act – to provide technical and financial assistance to CCUS projects focused on reusing and storing carbon generated by industrial facilities. The USE IT Act also directs the EPA to offer a $25 million competitive prize program for developing direct air capture technologies, and establishes the Direct Air Capture Technology Advisory Board, which will draw on expertise from across the sciences for its membership.
Title II of the USE IT Act would amend the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act (PL.114-94) to include CCUS facilities and transportation infrastructure, such as carbon dioxide pipelines, on a list of projects that can receive expedited review and permitting processes. This provision has drawn concern from several environmental groups, as well as Ranking Member of the Committee Tom Carper (D-DE), that the limited permitting review could undermine the environmental laws and regulations established under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Clean Air Act, and other legislative measures. Critics of the bill argue that the language on regulatory efficiencies could be used to undo environmental protections based on political motivations rather than informed assessments. During the hearing, however, the bill’s four sponsors – including Senator Heitkamp, who is not a member of the committee and was called in to testify as a witness – defended the provision for regulatory streamlining of CCUS projects, with Senator Whitehouse saying that he would not support the bill if the regulatory efficiencies became code for undoing environmental protections.
Witnesses on the panel largely praised the bill, agreeing that current support for CCUS research and development is insufficient and that the USE IT Act would help CCUS technologies move towards commercial viability more quickly. Two of the witnesses also suggested that the committee look into amending the bill to include opportunities to partner with the Department of Energy (DOE), not just the EPA, to encourage CCUS research. The DOE currently provides the most federal funding for CCUS projects of any agency, including funding awarded through their Carbon Storage Assurance Facility Enterprise (CarbonSAFE) program, which supports the gathering of geological and geophysical data in areas across the nation that could act as geological storage sites.
Sources: E&E News, Government Publishing Office, Library of Congress, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Senate