3February 2002
On Feb. 4, Secretary of EnergySpencer Abraham released theDepartment of Energy’s (DOE) FiscalYear (FY) 2003 budget request toCongress. The $21.9 billion request isan increase of over $580 million, or2.7 percent, from the FY 2002 budget.“The 2003 budget is forward-looking and fiscally responsible,”Secretary Abraham said. “It willboost the Department’s ability tocontribute to the war on terrorism,enhance deterrence, build a strongerfoundation for energy security in the21st century, and allow us to invest inscience and technology that will in-crease today’s sources of energy anddiscover the fuels of tomorrow.”The funding priorities for the FY2003 budget focus on the NationalNuclear Security Administration(NNSA), energy, environment, andscience.The total FY 2003 funding requestfor NNSA is $8 billion, an increase of $433 million, or 5.7 percent, over theFY 2002 appropriations. The requestincludes about $5.9 billion for weap-ons activities to support the stockpilestewardship program, a comprehen-sive weapons certification program,and a robust infrastructure for nuclearweapons production. Also included is
Secretary releases FY 2003 budget request
$358 million for activities in responseto the events of Sept. 11, 2001. The$1.1 billion request for defense nuclearnonproliferation includes an additional$223 million for activities related to thewar on terrorism.The FY 2003 request of about$2.4 billion for energy is a decreaseof $78 million, or 3.2 percent, fromthe FY 2002 appropriations. If ap-proved by Congress, the $1.3 billionrequested for energy efficiencyand renewable energy will be thelargest amount of funding for theseprograms in over 20 years. The$277.1 million requested for theWeatherization Assistance Programsupports the President’s commitmentto double funding for the programover the next 10 years. Approxi-mately $150 million is included inthe budget for the new FreedomCAR initiative (see article, page 5).The energy portion of the requestalso includes funding to implementthe 10-year clean coal technologyinitiative and increased researchinto carbon sequestration. About$38.5 million is allocated to launchNuclear Power 2010, a cooperative,cost-shared initiative with industrythat will lead to the startup of newnuclear plants by 2010.A total of $7.4 billion is re-quested in FY 2003 for environment,a $169 million increase, or 2.3 per-cent, over the FY 2002 budget. In-cluded is $6.7 billion to support thegoals of the new acceleratedcleanup plan developed as part of the Department’s top-to-bottom re-view of the Environmental Manage-ment Program (see related story,below). The request also includes$527 million for the Office of Civil-ian Radioactive Waste Managementto move forward with a permanentdisposal site for nuclear waste.The FY 2003 funding request forscience programs is $3.3 billion, anincrease of 0.1 percent over theFY 2002 appropriations. The re-quest supports increased fundingfor operations and instrumentationat the Office of Science user facili-ties, construction of the SpallationNeutron Source, and funding boostsin the areas of nanotechnology,high energy physics, and basicenergy sciences.Additional information on thebudget request is available at
http: //www.energy.gov
and
http:// www.mbe.doe.gov/budget/ 03budget/index.htm
.
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Last year, Secretary of EnergySpencer Abraham ordered a top-to-bottom review of the Department of Energy’s (DOE) environmental man-agement program. The review wascompleted, and Secretary Abrahampreviewed DOE’s new acceleratedcleanup plan at the Department’sFernald Environmental ManagementProject in Ohio on Jan. 31, 2002,and released additional details withthe budget request on Feb. 4.On the basis of the review, theDepartment is seeking $6.7 billionin its Fiscal Year 2003 request. Thisbudget will have two categories:one for basic funding at everycleanup site, and an $800 millionExpedited Cleanup Account, out of which those sites that agree to
Accelerated cleanup a funding priority
participate in the new plan will re-ceive additional funds to fast-track cleanup. DOE is ready to expandthe account with more money asadditional sites agree to move toexpedited schedules.To have access to the account, asite and DOE must reach agreementon an expedited schedule thatshows measurable gains and thatcan be held accountable. Once anagreement is reached, there will bea roadmap for activity and budgetsthrough Fiscal Year 2008.
A Review of the Environmental Management Program
is available at
http://www.energy.gov/HQPress/ releases02/febpr/ttbr.pdf
. Thereview and transmittal and actionmemorandums between AssistantSecretary for Environmental Manage-ment Jessie Roberson and SecretaryAbraham are available at
http:// www.em.doe.gov/ttbr.html
.
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Secretary Abraham previewed DOE’s new accelerated cleanup plan during a visit to the Fernald Site on Jan. 31, 2002.
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