House Report 116-449: Energy and Water Development Appropriations Bill, 2021 (July 15, 2020)
Summary
House Report 116-449, dated July 15, 2020, is the Committee on Appropriations report, submitted by Kaptur with minority views, on the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill, 2021. The report states that the bill totals $49,607,300,000, which is $1,264,300,000 above the amount appropriated in fiscal year 2020 and $6,423,959,000 above the budget request. Title I provides $7,628,855,000 for the Civil Works programs of the Army Corps of Engineers, and Title III provides $40,865,178,000 for the Department of Energy. Title VI provides an additional $43,500,000,000 in emergency spending to support the economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.
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“House Report 116-449: Energy and Water Development Appropriations Bill, 2021 (July 15, 2020).”
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116TH CONGRESS REPORT
" HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES !
2d Session 116–449
ENERGY AND WATER DEVELOPMENT AND RELATED
AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS BILL, 2021
JULY 15, 2020.—Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of
the Union and ordered to be printed
Ms. KAPTUR, from the Committee on Appropriations,
submitted the following
R E P O R T
together with
MINORITY VIEWS
[To accompany H.R. 7613]
The Committee on Appropriations submits the following report in
explanation of the accompanying bill making appropriations for en-
ergy and water development for the fiscal year ending September
30, 2021, and for other purposes.
INDEX TO BILL AND REPORT
Page Number
Bill Report
Introduction ................................................................................................ ........ 6
I. Department of Defense—Civil:
Corps of Engineers—Civil .................................................................. 2 11
Investigations ............................................................................... 2 19
Construction ................................................................................. 3 28
Mississippi River and Tributaries .............................................. 4 37
Operation and Maintenance ....................................................... 4 40
Regulatory Program ..................................................................... 6 70
Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program ................... 6 71
Flood Control and Coastal Emergencies .................................... 6 72
Expenses ....................................................................................... 6 73
Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works) 7 73
General Provisions .............................................................................. 8 74
II. Department of the Interior:
Central Utah Project ........................................................................... 13 75
Central Utah Project Completion Account ................................ 13 75
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Bureau of Reclamation:
Water and Related Resources ..................................................... 14 76
40–840
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Page Number
Bill Report
Central Valley Project Restoration Fund ................................... 16 86
California Bay-Delta Restoration ............................................... 16 87
Policy and Administration .......................................................... 17 87
General Provisions .............................................................................. 18 88
III. Department of Energy:
Introduction ......................................................................................... ........ 88
Committee Recommendations ............................................................ ........ 88
Energy Programs:
Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy ................................. 25 97
Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response ..... 26 110
Electricity ..................................................................................... 27 111
Nuclear Energy ............................................................................ 27 113
Fossil Energy Research and Development ................................. 28 116
Naval Petroleum and Oil Shale Reserves .................................. 28 120
Strategic Petroleum Reserve ....................................................... 29 120
SPR Petroleum Account .............................................................. 29 121
Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve ........................................ 29 121
Energy Information Administration ........................................... 30 121
Non-Defense Environmental Cleanup ........................................ 30 122
Uranium Enrichment Decontamination and Decommissioning
Fund .......................................................................................... 31 123
Science .......................................................................................... 31 123
Nuclear Waste Disposal .............................................................. 32 130
Advanced Research Projects Agency—Energy ........................... 32 131
Title 17 Innovative Technology Loan Guarantee Program ...... 32 131
Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program 34 132
Tribal Energy Loan Guarantee Program ................................... 34 132
Office of Indian Energy Policy and Programs ........................... 34 133
Departmental Administration ..................................................... 34 133
Office of the Inspector General ................................................... 35 136
Atomic Energy Defense Activities:
National Nuclear Security Administration:
Weapons Activities ....................................................................... 36 137
Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation .............................................. 36 142
Naval Reactors ............................................................................. 37 144
Federal Salaries and Expenses ................................................... 37 145
Environmental and Other Defense Activities:
Defense Environmental Cleanup ................................................ 38 146
Defense Uranium Enrichment Decontamination and Decom-
missioning ................................................................................. 38 147
Other Defense Activities ............................................................. 39 148
Power Marketing Administrations:
Bonneville Power Administration ............................................... 39 149
Southeastern Power Administration .......................................... 40 150
Southwestern Power Administration ......................................... 41 150
Western Area Power Administration ......................................... 42 150
Falcon and Amistad Operating and Maintenance Fund .......... 44 150
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ........................................... 45 151
Committee Recommendation .............................................................. ........ 151
General Provisions .............................................................................. 46 194
IV. Independent Agencies:
Appalachian Regional Commission ................................................... 54 194
Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board ........................................... 55 195
Delta Regional Authority ................................................................... 55 196
Denali Commission ............................................................................. 55 197
Northern Border Regional Commission ............................................ 56 197
Southeast Crescent Regional Commission ........................................ 57 198
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Southwest Border Regional Commission .......................................... 57 198
Nuclear Regulatory Commission ....................................................... 57 199
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Page Number
Bill Report
Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board ........................................... 59 202
General Provisions .............................................................................. 60 202
V. General Provisions:
VI. Additional Infrastructure Investments: 203
House of Representatives Report Requirements ..................................... ........ 205
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SUMMARY OF ESTIMATES AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The Committee has considered budget estimates, which are con-
tained in the Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year
2021. The following table summarizes appropriations for fiscal year
2020, the budget estimates, and amounts recommended in the bill
for fiscal year 2021.
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INTRODUCTION
The Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Ap-
propriations bill for fiscal year 2021 totals $49,607,300,000,
$1,264,300,000 above the amount appropriated in fiscal year 2020
and $6,423,959,000 above the budget request. Total defense fund-
ing is $26,501,300,000, $2,251,300,000 above the amount appro-
priated in fiscal year 2020 and $525,329,000 above the budget re-
quest. Total non-defense funding is $23,106,000,000, $987,000,000
below the amount appropriated in fiscal year 2020 and
$5,898,630,000 above the budget request.
Title I of the bill provides $7,628,855,000 for the Civil Works pro-
grams of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, $21,145,000 below fis-
cal year 2020 and $1,662,669,000 above the budget request. Total
funding for activities eligible for reimbursement from the Harbor
Maintenance Trust Fund is estimated at $1,680,000,000, which is
an increase of $50,000,000 above fiscal year 2020 and $665,000,000
above the budget request, and represents 92 percent of estimated
revenues compared to the fiscal year 2021 target of 83 percent.
Title II provides $1,655,875,000 for the Department of the Inte-
rior and the Bureau of Reclamation, $24,125,000 below fiscal year
2020 and $518,000,000 above the budget request. The Committee
recommends $1,635,875,000 for the Bureau of Reclamation,
$24,125,000 below fiscal year 2020 and $508,000,000 above the
budget request. The Committee recommends $20,000,000 for the
Central Utah Project, the same as fiscal year 2020 and $10,000,000
above the budget request.
Title III provides $40,865,178,000 for the Department of Energy,
$2,278,862,000 above fiscal year 2020 and $5,136,109,000 above the
budget request. Funding for the National Nuclear Security Admin-
istration (NNSA), which includes Weapons Activities, Defense Nu-
clear Nonproliferation, Naval Reactors, and Federal Salaries and
Expenses, is $18,037,617,000, $1,333,025,000 above fiscal year
2020 and $1,733,383,000 below the budget request.
Funding for energy programs within the Department of Energy,
which includes basic science research and the applied energy pro-
grams, is $14,642,678,000, $9,055,000 above fiscal year 2020 and
$4,822,944,000 above the budget request. The Committee rec-
ommends $7,050,000,000 for the Office of Science, $2,848,000,000
for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, $1,435,800,000 for
Nuclear Energy, $727,500,000 for Fossil Energy, and $435,000,000
for the Advanced Research Projects Agency—Energy.
Environmental Management activities—Non-defense Environ-
mental Cleanup, Uranium Enrichment Decontamination and De-
commissioning, and Defense Environmental Cleanup—are funded
at $7,457,583,000, $2,383,000 above fiscal year 2020 and
$1,391,911,000 above the budget request.
The net amount appropriated for the Power Marketing Adminis-
trations is provided at the requested levels.
Title IV provides $388,850,000 for several Independent Agencies,
$18,496,000 below fiscal year 2020 and $55,764,000 above the
budget request. Net funding for the Nuclear Regulatory Commis-
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sion is $123,000,000, $4,496,000 below fiscal year 2020 and equal
to the budget request.
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Title VI provides an additional $43,500,000,000 in emergency
spending to support the economic recovery from the coronavirus
pandemic. Additional infrastructure investments include
$17,000,000,000 for the Civil Works program of the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers, $3,000,000,000 for the Department of the Inte-
rior and the Bureau of Reclamation, and $23,500,000,000 for the
Department of Energy.
OVERVIEW OF THE RECOMMENDATION
The Committee recommendation prioritizes the most critical in-
herently federal responsibilities of this bill: the national defense;
energy innovation to increase economic prosperity while providing
additional solutions for mitigating and adapting to climate change;
investing in infrastructure, including the maintenance of the na-
tion’s waterways; and the resilience and security of electricity in-
frastructure. Strong support is included for basic science programs,
which provide the foundation for new energy technologies that are
vital to maintaining global competitiveness and ensuring long-term
prosperity but that are often too high-risk to receive the attention
of the private sector. The recommendation provides strong support
and increased parity for applied energy research and development
activities to improve and extend the performance of existing energy
sources and accelerate the adoption of new technologies. The rec-
ommendation also recognizes the importance of the federal govern-
ment’s responsibility to clean up the legacy of five decades of nu-
clear weapons production and government-sponsored nuclear en-
ergy research, and the recommendation takes steps forward to ad-
dress spent nuclear fuel.
NATIONAL ENERGY POLICY
The Department of Energy and its national laboratory system
have helped to lay the foundation for the technological advances
driving the energy market today. Production breakthroughs for
every energy generation source can trace their origins back to re-
search and development supported by the Department. With the in-
creased urgency to address climate change and as the energy mar-
ket continues to transition to cleaner technologies, the Depart-
ment’s support for research and development in all energy sources
remains critical.
The Committee provides funding in support of an energy strategy
designed to enhance energy security, create jobs and increase eco-
nomic prosperity, and mitigate and adapt to climate change. Fund-
ing for renewable energy sources and energy efficiency technologies
supports continued investments in research and development to ad-
vance technological innovations that save consumers money, reduce
carbon pollution, and increase U.S. competitiveness for the energy
sector of the future. Funding for fossil and nuclear sources is tar-
geted to ensure the safe, efficient, and environmentally sound use
of these energy sources. The recommendation provides a balancing
of support to the applied energy research areas to ensure parity to
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the growth in investment over the last several years and to focus
on technologies to address climate change.
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The success of these technologies depends on a reliable and resil-
ient electric grid infrastructure. The nation’s electric grid was built
to handle a different energy reality than the one we face today.
Cyberattacks, frequent extreme weather events caused by climate
change, and an increasing diversity of energy sources must be ad-
dressed to guarantee the continued operation of the electric grid.
The Committee provides strong support to ensure the nation’s elec-
tric grid remains secure, resilient, and ready to incorporate new
technologies, particularly those that mitigate and adapt to climate
change.
The Committee continues its long-standing support for the in-
vestment of taxpayer funds across the spectrum of all energy tech-
nologies. A national energy policy can only be successful if it main-
tains stability while planning for long-term strategic goals of en-
ergy security, building the future through science and clean energy,
and economic prosperity for the nation. The Committee makes stra-
tegic choices, recommending a balanced approach to advance re-
search and development in energy technologies that can address
climate change, save money for consumers, and support a resilient
electric grid.
INVESTMENTS IN INFRASTRUCTURE
America’s ports, inland waterways, locks, and dams serve as eco-
nomic lifelines for many communities across the nation. The water
delivered to municipal, industrial, and agricultural users contrib-
utes to America’s economy. The water resource infrastructure fund-
ed by the recommendation is a critical component of ensuring a ro-
bust national economy and supporting American competitiveness in
international markets.
The agencies funded in this bill are also on the front lines of the
federal response to climate change. A changing climate and in-
creasing variability in weather patterns across the United States is
already impacting water infrastructure, often with catastrophic re-
sults, such as the 2017 and 2018 hurricane seasons and recent an-
nual flood events, including those in the Midwest in 2019. This rec-
ommendation represents a commitment to ensure that the nation’s
water resource infrastructure is resilient and able to meet the chal-
lenges posed by a changing climate.
The Committee believes that more needs to be done to increase
the resiliency of infrastructure funded by this Act, and that every
new construction or major rehabilitation project should be con-
structed to the most current relevant standards. These projects
should address the risk of structural failure or loss of use from nat-
ural hazards or natural disasters throughout the lifetime of each
project. As a measure of responsible fiscal prudence, resilient con-
struction and related project management practices should be inte-
grated into all programs funded by this Act.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) has been instru-
mental in reducing the risk of flooding for public safety, businesses,
and much of this country’s food-producing lands. The Bureau of
Reclamation (Reclamation) supplies reliable water to approximately
10 percent of the country’s population and to much of its fertile ag-
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ricultural lands. Both agencies make significant contributions to
national electricity production through hydropower facilities.
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The U.S. marine transportation industry supports
$2,000,000,000,000 in commerce and creates employment for more
than 13 million people. As the agency responsible for the nation’s
federal waterways, the Corps maintains 1,067 harbors and 25,000
miles of commercial channels serving 40 states. The maintenance
of these commercial waterways is directly tied to the ability of the
nation to ship manufactured and bulk products, as well as to com-
pete with the ports of neighboring countries for the business of
ships arriving from around the world. As a primary supporter of
America’s waterway infrastructure, the Corps ensures that the na-
tion has the tools to maintain a competitive edge in the global mar-
ket. This recommendation makes key changes to the budget re-
quest to ensure that the Corps has the resources to continue to
support America’s navigation infrastructure.
The flood protection infrastructure that the Corps builds or
maintains reduces the risk of flooding to people, businesses, and
other public infrastructure investments. In fact, the average an-
nual damages prevented by Corps projects over fiscal years 2007–
2016 was $67,600,000,000. Between 1928 and 2016, each inflation-
adjusted dollar invested in these projects prevented $8.91 in dam-
ages. This infrastructure protects properties and investments by
preventing the destruction of homes, businesses, and many valu-
able acres of cropland from flooding.
Reclamation’s infrastructure is a critical component of the agri-
cultural productivity of the nation and supplies water to more than
31 million people for municipal, rural, and industrial uses. These
facilities deliver water to one of every five western farmers result-
ing in approximately 10 million acres of irrigated land that pro-
duces 60 percent of the nation’s vegetables and 25 percent of its
fruits and nuts. Without this infrastructure, American municipal
and industrial users would face critical water shortages, and agri-
cultural producers in the west would not be able to access reliable,
safe water for their families and their businesses.
The Corps and Reclamation are the nation’s largest and second
largest producers of hydropower, respectively. Combined, these fed-
eral hydropower facilities generate approximately 115 billion kilo-
watt-hours annually. Gross revenues from the sale of this power
reach nearly $6,000,000,000 annually.
NATIONAL DEFENSE PROGRAMS
The Committee considers the national defense programs of the
National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to be the De-
partment of Energy’s highest national security priority. The rec-
ommendation provides funding to sustain and modernize the nu-
clear weapons stockpile, prevent the proliferation of nuclear mate-
rials, and provide for the needs of the naval nuclear propulsion pro-
gram. Additionally, the recommendation fully supports the environ-
mental cleanup of multiple sites across the country, maintaining
the federal government’s responsibility to clean up the legacy of
over five decades of nuclear weapons production and government-
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sponsored nuclear energy research and development.
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CONGRESSIONAL DIRECTION
Program, Project, or Activity.—The term ‘‘program, project, or ac-
tivity’’ shall include the most specific level of budget items identi-
fied in the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies
Appropriations Act, 2021 and the Committee report accompanying
this Act.
Performance Measures.—The Committee directs each of the agen-
cies funded by this Act to comply with title 31 of the United States
Code, including the development of their organizational priority
goals and outcomes such as performance outcome measures, output
measures, efficiency measures, and customer service measures.
Customer Service Measures.—The Committee directs each of the
agencies funded by this Act to develop standards to improve cus-
tomer service and incorporate the standards into the performance
plans required under title 31 of the United States Code.
Offsetting Collections.—The Committee directs each of the agen-
cies funded by this Act to continue to report any funds derived by
the agency from non-federal sources, including user charges and
fines that are authorized by law, to be retained and used by the
agency or credited as an offset in annual budget submissions.
Regional Councils.—The Committee encourages all federal agen-
cies to consider including regional councils and councils of govern-
ment as eligible entities in competitions for federal funding when
local governments or non-profit agencies are eligible.
Federal Advertising.—The Committee directs each of the agen-
cies funded by this Act to include the following information in its
fiscal year 2022 budget justification: expenditures for fiscal year
2020 and expected expenditures for fiscal year 2021, respectively,
for (1) all contracts for advertising services, and (2) contracts for
the advertising services of all Small Business Administration-recog-
nized socioeconomic subcategory-certified small businesses, as de-
fined in the Small Business Act, and all minority-owned busi-
nesses.
Cost Allocation Studies.—The Committee notes the recent receipt
of the briefing and outline on cost allocation issues for projects
within the Federal Columbia River Power System as required in
the fiscal year 2020 Act. The Committee appreciates the efforts of
the Corps, Reclamation, and Bonneville Power Administration to
provide this information in a timely manner. The Committee en-
courages the agencies to continue to work together on these issues,
including resolving policy discrepancies among the agencies. The
agencies shall brief the Committee not less than quarterly on the
progress on resolving issues.
Salton Sea, California.—The Committee recognizes the impor-
tance of the Salton Sea and the impact that it has on public health
and the health of the environment in surrounding communities, as
well as the potential for clean energy production and critical mate-
rial recovery. Restoring the health of the Salton Sea, thereby less-
ening public health and environmental risks, will involve the co-
operation of all relevant federal agencies, including the Corps and
Reclamation, as well as state and local agencies. The Committee di-
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rects the Corps and Reclamation to partner with federal, state, and
local agencies and coordinate use of all existing authorities to sup-
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port Salton Sea restoration efforts, including the State of Califor-
nia’s Salton Sea Management Program.
Federal Law Enforcement.—The Committee notes that the Com-
merce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act,
2021 directs the Attorney General to establish a training program
to cover the use of force and de-escalation, racial profiling, implicit
bias, and procedural justice, to include training on the duty of fed-
eral law enforcement officers to intervene in cases where another
law enforcement officer is using excessive force, and make such
training a requirement for federal law enforcement officers. The
Committee further notes that certain Departments and agencies
funded by this Act employ federal law enforcement officers and are
Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers partner organizations.
The Committee directs such Departments and agencies to adopt
and follow the training program established by the Attorney Gen-
eral and to make such training a requirement for its federal law
enforcement officers. The Committee further directs such Depart-
ments and agencies to brief the Committee on their efforts relating
to training not later than 90 days after the Attorney General has
established such a training program.
In addition, the Committee directs such Departments and agen-
cies, to the extent that such Departments and agencies have not al-
ready done so, to submit their use of force data to the Federal Bu-
reau of Investigation (FBI)’s National Use of Force Data Collection
database. The Committee further directs such Departments and
agencies to brief the Committee not later than 90 days after enact-
ment of this Act on their current efforts to tabulate and submit its
use of force data to the FBI.
TITLE I—CORPS OF ENGINEERS—CIVIL
DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY
CORPS OF ENGINEERS—CIVIL
INTRODUCTION
The Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Ap-
propriations Act funds the Civil Works missions of the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers (Corps). This program is responsible for activi-
ties in support of coastal and inland navigation, flood and coastal
storm damage reduction, environmental protection and restoration,
hydropower, recreation, water supply, and disaster preparedness
and response. The Corps also performs regulatory oversight of nav-
igable waters. Approximately 22,000 civilians and almost 300 mili-
tary personnel located in eight Division offices and 38 District of-
fices work to carry out the Civil Works program.
Columbia River Treaty.—The Committee notes the ongoing nego-
tiations between the United States and Canada regarding the Co-
lumbia River Treaty and directs the Corps, in coordination with
partner agencies, to provide to the Committee not later than 60
days after enactment of this Act a briefing on the benefits the
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Treaty has facilitated for Canada.
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12
BUDGET STRUCTURE CHANGES
The fiscal year 2021 budget request for the Corps proposed nu-
merous structure changes, including the creation of two new ac-
counts (Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund and Inland Waterways
Trust Fund) and shifting a variety of studies and projects from one
account to another. The Committee rejects all such proposed
changes and instead funds all activities in the accounts in which
funding has traditionally been provided. All projects remain at the
levels proposed in the budget request but may be funded in dif-
ferent accounts. In particular:
• Projects proposed for funding in the Harbor Maintenance
Trust Fund account in the budget request are funded in the
Construction, Mississippi River and Tributaries, and Operation
and Maintenance accounts, as appropriate;
• Dam safety management studies, proposed in the Inves-
tigations account in the budget request, are funded in the Dam
Safety and Seepage/Stability Correction Program within the
Construction account;
• Dam Safety and Seepage/Stability Correction Program
management costs, proposed in the Expenses account in the
budget request, are funded in the program within the Con-
struction account; and
• Sand mitigation projects, proposed in the Harbor Mainte-
nance Trust Fund account in the budget request, are funded in
the Construction account.
Additionally, several national programs were proposed in the
budget request as singular programs under remaining items,
whereas the Committee has traditionally funded these programs by
state. These programs include the Inspection of Completed Works,
Project Condition Surveys, Scheduling of Reservoir Operations, and
Surveillance of Northern Boundary Waters. The Committee rejects
the proposed changes and instead funds all activities in these pro-
grams under the individual states. Further, the budget request pro-
posed several studies as projects listed under states. These studies
include those under the Tribal Partnership Program and Disposi-
tion of Completed Projects. The Committee also rejects these pro-
posed changes and instead funds these studies under the tradi-
tional remaining items. All projects remain at the funding levels in-
cluded in the budget request.
The Poplar Island, Maryland, beneficial use of dredged material
project has been re-categorized as within the environmental res-
toration business line as is appropriate and as was the case in pre-
vious years.
Lastly, the proposed budget request consolidated six remaining
items in the Investigations account under the Technology Applica-
tions Program remaining item. The Committee rejects the proposed
change and instead funds the individual remaining items them-
selves.
For any fiscal year, if the Corps proposes budget structure
changes, the budget proposal shall be accompanied by a display of
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the funding request in the traditional budget structure.
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APPORTIONMENT UNDER A CONTINUING RESOLUTION
For the purposes of continuing resolutions starting in fiscal year
2018, the Office of Management and Budget changed the long-
standing policy by which funding is apportioned to the Civil Works
program of the Corps. Under the new policy, funding within an in-
dividual account was apportioned separately for amounts from the
general fund of the Treasury and from various trust funds.
The Committee has long intended the Corps to have the flexi-
bility to address projects most in need of funding under a con-
tinuing resolution. The creation of artificial accounting distinctions
has the potential to cause serious impediments to the efficient and
effective implementation of the Civil Works program. For example,
work on many navigation projects is limited by environmental or
other regulatory windows. Further limitations imposed by sepa-
rately apportioning Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund monies could
cause serious disruptions to the economic activity that depends on
these navigation channels.
For these reasons, the Committee rejects the change in appor-
tionment policy and directs the Administration to follow the pre-
vious policy during any continuing resolutions that may occur in
this or any future fiscal years.
DEEP-DRAFT NAVIGATION
The Committee remains mindful of the evolving infrastructure
needs of the nation’s ports. Meeting these needs—including deeper
drafts to accommodate the move towards larger ships—will be es-
sential if the nation is to remain competitive in international mar-
kets and to continue advancing economic development and job cre-
ation domestically.
Investigations and construction of port projects, including the
deepening of existing projects, are cost-shared between the federal
government and non-federal sponsors, often local or regional port
authorities. The operation and maintenance of these projects are
federal responsibilities and are funded as reimbursements from the
Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund (HMTF), which is supported by
an ad valorem tax on the value of imported and domestic cargo.
Expenditures from the trust fund are subject to annual appropria-
tions. The balance in the HMTF at the beginning of fiscal year
2021 is estimated to be approximately $10,108,000,000.
The Water Resources Reform and Development Act (WRRDA) of
2014 included target annual appropriations levels for use of HMTF
receipts and the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of
2016 amended those levels. The Committee remains committed to
providing the maximum practicable amount of funding for HMTF-
reimbursable activities consistent with annual allocations and after
evaluating funding requirements for other priority activities within
the Civil Works program.
For fiscal year 2021, the Committee provides an estimated
$1,680,000,000 for HMTF-related activities, $50,000,000 above fis-
cal year 2020, $665,000,000 above the budget request, and meets
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the annual target. This amount represents 92 percent of estimated
revenues compared to the fiscal year 2021 target of 83 percent.
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This funding will enable the Corps to make significant progress on
the backlog of dredging needs.
INLAND WATERWAYS SYSTEM
The nation’s inland waterways system—consisting of approxi-
mately 12,000 miles of commercially navigable channels and 239
lock chambers—is also essential to supporting the national econ-
omy. Freight transported on the inland waterways system includes
a significant portion of the nation’s grain exports, domestic petro-
leum and petroleum products, and coal used in electricity genera-
tion. Much of the physical infrastructure of the system is aging,
however, and in need of improvements. For example, commercial
navigation locks typically have a design life of 50 years, yet nearly
60 percent of these locks in the United States are more than 50
years old, with the average age of almost 60 years old.
Capital improvements to the inland waterways system generally
are funded 50 percent from the general fund of the Treasury and
50 percent from the Inland Waterways Trust Fund (IWTF), while
operation and maintenance costs are funded 100 percent from the
general fund of the Treasury. The IWTF is supported by a tax on
barge fuel.
The Corps is directed to take the preparatory steps necessary to
ensure that new construction projects can be initiated as soon as
can be supported under a robust capital program (i.e., as ongoing
projects approach completion). For fiscal year 2021, the Committee
provides $90,000,000 from the IWTF, $90,000,000 above the budget
request. The final program level will depend on project-specific allo-
cations to be made by the Corps. The Committee recommends
$55,000,000 above the budget request for additional operation and
maintenance activities on the inland waterways.
FORMAT OF FUNDING PRIORITIES
Traditionally, the President requested and the Congress appro-
priated funds for the Civil Works program on a project-level basis.
Taken together, however, these funding decisions indicated pro-
grammatic priorities and policy preferences. As with non-project-
based programs, the Congress at times disagreed with the prior-
ities stated in the budget request and made its priorities known in
appropriations bills. Final federal government priorities were es-
tablished in Acts passed by both chambers of the Congress and
signed by the President.
Since the 112th Congress, congressional earmarks, as defined in
House rule XXI, have been prohibited. That definition encompasses
project-level funding not requested by the President. As a result,
the Committee reviewed the historical format of appropriations for
the Corps to determine if there was a more transparent way to
highlight programmatic priorities without abandoning congres-
sional oversight responsibilities. The fiscal year 2012 Act included
a modification to the format used in previous years, and that for-
mat is continued for fiscal year 2021. As in previous years, the
Committee lists in report tables the studies, projects, and activities
within each account requested by the President along with the
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Committee-recommended funding level. To advance its pro-
grammatic priorities, the Committee has included additional fund-
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ing for certain categories of projects. Project-specific allocations
within these categories will be determined by the Corps based on
further direction provided in this report.
ADDITIONAL FUNDING
The recommendation includes funding in addition to the budget
request to ensure continued improvements to water resources infra-
structure, including resiliency, that benefit our national economy,
public safety, and environmental health. This funding is for addi-
tional work that either was not included in the budget request or
was inadequately budgeted.
The executive branch retains discretion over project-specific allo-
cation decisions within the additional funds provided, subject to
only the direction here and under the heading ‘‘Additional Fund-
ing’’ or ‘‘Additional Funding for Ongoing Work’’ within each of the
Investigations, Construction, Mississippi River and Tributaries,
and Operation and Maintenance accounts. A study or project may
not be excluded from consideration for funding for being ‘‘incon-
sistent with Administration policy.’’ The Administration is re-
minded that these funds are in addition to the budget request, and
Administration budget metrics shall not be a reason to disqualify
a study or project from being funded.
The Committee remains concerned that the Administration has
implied, either implicitly or explicitly, to non-federal sponsors that
chances of being included in a budget request or work plan in-
crease with the amount of funding a non-federal sponsor can bring
to a project. Therefore, the Administration is reminded that vol-
untary funding in excess of legally required cost shares for studies
and projects is acceptable but shall not be used as a criterion for
inclusion in the budget request, for allocating the additional fund-
ing provided, or for the selection of new starts.
It is expected that all the additional funding provided by this Act
will be allocated to specific programs, projects, or activities. The
focus of the allocation process shall favor the obligation, rather
than expenditure, of funds. Additionally, the Administration shall
consider the extent to which the Corps is able to obligate funds as
it allocates the additional funding.
The Corps shall evaluate all studies and projects only within ac-
counts and categories consistent with previous congressional fund-
ing.
A project or study shall be eligible for additional funding within
the Investigations, Construction, and Mississippi River and Tribu-
taries accounts if: (1) it has received funding, other than through
a reprogramming, in at least one of the previous three fiscal years;
(2) it was previously funded and could reach a significant mile-
stone, complete a discrete element of work, or produce significant
outputs in fiscal year 2021; or (3) as appropriate, it is selected as
one of the new starts allowed in accordance with this Act and the
additional direction provided below. None of the additional funding
in any account may be used for any item where funding was spe-
cifically denied or for projects in the Continuing Authorities Pro-
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gram. Funds shall be allocated consistent with statutory cost share
requirements.
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Work Plan.—Not later than 60 days after enactment of this Act,
the Corps shall provide to the Committee a work plan including the
following information: (1) a detailed description of the process and
criteria used to evaluate studies and projects; (2) delineation of how
these funds are to be allocated; (3) a summary of the work to be
accomplished with each allocation, including phase of work; and (4)
a list of all studies and projects that were considered eligible for
funding but did not receive funding, including an explanation of
whether the study or project could have used funds in fiscal year
2021 and the specific reasons each study or project was considered
as being less competitive for an allocation of funds.
New Starts.—The recommendation includes seven new starts in
the Investigations account and seven new starts in the Construc-
tion and Mississippi River and Tributaries accounts to be distrib-
uted across the authorized mission areas of the Corps. Of the new
starts in Investigations, two shall be for navigation studies, two
shall be for flood and storm damage reduction studies, one shall be
for an environmental restoration study, one shall be for a multi-
purpose watershed study to assess coastal resiliency, and one shall
be for an additional flood and storm damage reduction or environ-
mental restoration study. Of the new construction starts, three
shall be for navigation projects, of which one shall be for an inland
waterways lock and dam modernization project, and of which one
shall be for major rehabilitation jetty repair project at a medium
or emerging harbor; one shall be for a flood and storm damage re-
duction project; one shall be for an additional navigation, an addi-
tional flood and storm damage reduction, or a multi-purpose
project; and two shall be for environmental restoration or multi-
purpose projects. The Corps is reminded that public-private part-
nership (P3) pilot projects are eligible to compete for new starts in
Construction. No funding shall be used to initiate new programs,
projects, or activities in the Operation and Maintenance account.
The Corps is directed to propose a single group of new starts as
a part of the work plan. None of the funds may be used for any
item for which the Committee has specifically denied funding. The
Corps may not change or substitute the new starts selected once
the work plan has been provided to the Committee. Each new start
shall be funded from the appropriate additional funding line item.
Any project for which the new start requirements are not met by
the end of fiscal year 2021 shall be treated as if the project had
not been selected as a new start; such a project shall be required
to compete again for new start funding in future years. As all new
starts are to be chosen by the Corps, all shall be considered of
equal importance, and the Administration is reminded that the ex-
pectation is that future budget submissions will include appro-
priate funding for all new starts selected.
There continues to be confusion regarding the executive branch’s
policies and guidelines regarding which studies and projects re-
quire new start designations. Therefore, the Corps is directed to no-
tify the Committee at least seven days prior to execution of an
agreement for construction of any project except environmental in-
frastructure projects and projects under the Continuing Authorities
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Program. Additionally, the Committee reiterates and clarifies pre-
vious congressional direction as follows. Neither study nor con-
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struction activities related to individual projects authorized under
section 1037 of the WRRDA of 2014 shall require a new start or
new investment decision; these activities shall be considered ongo-
ing work. No new start or new investment decision shall be re-
quired when moving from feasibility to preconstruction engineering
and design (PED). The initiation of construction of an individually
authorized project funded within a programmatic line item may not
require a new start designation provided that some amount of con-
struction funding under such programmatic line item was appro-
priated and expended during the previous fiscal year. No new start
or new investment decision shall be required to initiate work on a
separable element of a project when construction of one or more
separable elements of that project was initiated previously; it shall
be considered ongoing work. A new construction start shall not be
required for work undertaken to correct a design deficiency on an
existing federal project; it shall be considered ongoing work.
In addition to the priority factors used to allocate all additional
funding provided in the Investigations account, the Corps should
give careful consideration to the out-year budget impacts of the
studies selected and to whether there appears to be an identifiable
non-federal sponsor that will be ready and able to provide, in a
timely manner, the necessary cost share for the feasibility and PED
phases. The Corps is reminded that the flood and storm damage re-
duction and the environmental restoration mission areas can in-
clude instances where non-federal sponsors are seeking assistance
with flood control and unauthorized discharges from permitted
wastewater treatment facilities and that the navigation mission
area includes work in remote and subsistence harbor areas.
In addition to the priority factors used to allocate all additional
funding provided in the Construction and Mississippi River and
Tributaries accounts, the Corps also shall consider the out-year
budget impacts of the selected new starts and the non-federal spon-
sor’s ability and willingness to promptly provide required cash con-
tributions, if any, as well as required lands, easements, rights-of-
way, relocations, and disposal areas. When considering new con-
struction starts, only those that can execute a project cost sharing
agreement not later than September 30, 2021, shall be chosen.
To ensure that the new construction starts are affordable and
will not unduly delay completion of any ongoing projects, the Sec-
retary is required to submit to the Committee a realistic out-year
budget scenario prior to issuing a work allowance for a new start.
It is understood that specific budget decisions are made on an an-
nual basis and that this scenario is neither a request for nor a
guarantee of future funding for any project. Nonetheless, this sce-
nario shall include an estimate of annual funding for each new
start utilizing a realistic funding scenario through completion of
the project, as well as the specific impacts of that estimated fund-
ing on the ability of the Corps to make continued progress on each
previously funded construction project (including impacts to the op-
timum timeline and funding requirements of the ongoing projects)
and on the ability to consider initiating new projects in the future.
The scenario shall assume Construction and Mississippi River and
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Tributaries account funding levels at the average of the past three
budget requests.
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ASIAN CARP
The Great Lakes and Mississippi River Interbasin Study was au-
thorized by Congress under Section 3061(d) of the Water Resources
Development Act of 2007 (Public Law 110–114). The Committee
notes that the Brandon Road Lock and Dam in Joliet, Illinois, is
critical to keeping Asian carp out of the Chicago Area Waterways
System, which is the only continuous connection between the Great
Lakes and Mississippi River basins. The Committee appreciates
that the project received a positive recommendation in the Report
of the Chief of Engineers.
As the Corps prioritizes projects, it shall consider critical projects
to prevent the spread of invasive species. The Corps is reminded
that this project is eligible to compete for additional funding within
the Investigations account. The Corps shall expeditiously work
with the non-federal sponsor to execute a design agreement to com-
mence preconstruction engineering and design. The Corps is di-
rected to provide to the Committee quarterly updates on the
progress and status of efforts to prevent the further spread of
Asian carp, including the Brandon Road Recommended Plan; de-
sign agreement; the location and density of carp populations; the
use of emergency procedures previously authorized by Congress;
and the development, consideration, and implementation of new
technological and structural countermeasures.
The Corps shall continue to collaborate at levels commensurate
with previous years with the U.S. Coast Guard, the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service, the State of Illinois, and members of the Asian
Carp Regional Coordinating Committee, including identifying navi-
gation protocols that would be beneficial or effective in reducing
the risk of vessels inadvertently carrying aquatic invasive species,
including Asian carp, through the Brandon Road Lock and Dam in
Joliet, Illinois. Any findings of such an evaluation shall be included
in the quarterly briefings to the Committee. The Corps is further
directed to implement navigation protocols shown to be effective at
reducing the risk of entrainment without jeopardizing the safety of
vessels and crews. The Corps and other federal and state agencies
are conducting ongoing research on additional potential Asian Carp
solutions. The Corps shall brief the Committee not later than 30
days after enactment of this Act on such navigation protocols and
potential solutions.
AGING WATERWAY INFRASTRUCTURE
The Committee recognizes the extraordinary implications to the
local, regional, and national economy, as well as national security,
due to aging waterway infrastructure. The Committee urges the
Corps to continue to prioritize ongoing deep draft lock moderniza-
tion or replacement projects.
CONGRESSIONAL DIRECTION AND REPROGRAMMING
To ensure that the expenditure of funds in fiscal year 2021 is
consistent with congressional direction, to minimize the movement
of funds, and to improve overall budget execution, the Act carries
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a legislative provision outlining the circumstances under which the
Corps may reprogram funds.
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COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
The Committee recommends $7,628,855,000 for the Corps,
$21,145,000 below fiscal year 2020 and $1,662,669,000 above the
budget request.
A table summarizing the fiscal year 2020 enacted appropriation,
the fiscal year 2021 budget request, and the Committee-rec-
ommended levels is provided below:
(Dollars in thousands)
Account FY 2020 enacted FY 2021 request Cmte. rec.
Investigations ...................................................................... $151,000 $102,635 $151,000
Construction ........................................................................ 2,681,000 2,173,189 2,619,855
Mississippi River and tributaries ....................................... 375,000 209,863 365,000
Operation and maintenance ............................................... 3,790,000 1,996,499 3,838,000
Regulatory program ............................................................ 210,000 200,000 205,000
FUSRAP ................................................................................ 200,000 ––– 210,000
Flood control and coastal emergencies .............................. 35,000 77,000 35,000
Expenses ............................................................................. 203,000 187,000 200,000
Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil
Works .............................................................................. 5,000 5,000 5,000
Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund ......................................... ––– 1,015,000 –––
Total, Corps of Engineers—Civil ............................... 7,650,000 5,966,186 7,628,855
INVESTIGATIONS
Appropriation, 2020 ............................................................................ $151,000,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ....................................................................... 102,635,000
Recommended, 2021 ........................................................................... 151,000,000
Comparison:
Appropriation, 2020 .................................................................... –––
Budget estimate, 2021 ................................................................ +48,365,000
This appropriation funds studies to determine the need for, the
engineering and economic feasibility of, and the environmental and
social suitability of solutions to water and related land resource
problems; preconstruction engineering and design; data collection;
interagency coordination; and research.
The budget request for this account and the approved Committee
allowance are shown on the following table:
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Insert offset folio 04 here 38851A.002
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Insert offset folio 05 here 38851A.003
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Insert offset folio 06 here 38851A.004
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Additional Funding.—The Corps is expected to allocate the addi-
tional funding provided in this account primarily to specific feasi-
bility and preconstruction engineering and design (PED) phases,
rather than to remaining items line items as has been the case in
previous work plans. When allocating the additional funding pro-
vided in this account, the Corps shall consider giving priority to
completing or accelerating ongoing studies or to initiating new
studies that will enhance the nation’s economic development, job
growth, and international competitiveness; are for projects located
in areas that have suffered recent natural disasters; are for
projects that protect life and property; or are for projects to address
legal requirements. The recommendation includes sufficient addi-
tional funding to undertake a significant amount of feasibility and
PED work. The Administration is reminded that a project study is
not complete until the PED phase is complete and that no new
start or new investment decision shall be required when moving
from feasibility to PED.
Of the additional funding provided in this account for environ-
mental restoration or compliance, the Corps shall allocate not less
than $9,700,000 for ecosystem restoration projects that benefit mul-
tiple states in the PED phase that have been funded within the
last three years.
Of the additional funding provided in this account for flood and
storm damage reduction, the Corps shall allocate not less than
$1,500,000 for PED to projects that are located in economically dis-
advantaged communities where per capita income is less than half
of the state and national averages and that have previously experi-
enced loss of life due to flooding.
Of the additional funding recommended in this account for shore
protection, the Corps shall allocate not less than $1,500,000 for the
PED phase of beach re-nourishment projects that have been au-
thorized by Congress for construction.
Of the additional funding provided in this account for environ-
mental restoration or compliance and other authorized project pur-
poses, the Corps shall allocate not less than $1,500,000 for eco-
system restoration projects that are modifications to flood protec-
tion project authorizations to address degraded conditions due to
prior flood protection work.
Bubbly Creek Ecosystem Restoration Project.—The Committee
notes the importance of restoration of the South Fork of the South
Branch of the Chicago River, also known as Bubbly Creek, and its
significance for economic revitalization, ecosystem restoration, and
water quality improvements. The Committee is concerned that sec-
tion 1110 of the America’s Water Infrastructure Act of 2018 (Public
Law 115–270), requiring the Corps to enter a memorandum of un-
derstanding with the Environmental Protection Agency to facilitate
this restoration, remains unfulfilled. The Committee directs the
Corps to brief the Committee not later than 90 days after enact-
ment of this Act on the status of negotiations.
Chacon Creek, Texas.—The Corps is reminded that flood mitiga-
tion projects like Chacon Creek in Laredo, Texas, are eligible to
compete for additional funding provided within this account.
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Disposition of Completed Projects.—The Committee appreciates
the Corps working to complete disposition studies pursuant to fa-
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24
cilities that closed as a result of Public Law 113–121. The Corps
is directed to provide to the Committee copies of disposition studies
upon completion. For Corps facilities that are deemed as excess,
the Committee supports the disposal of those facilities through the
appropriate General Services Administration process.
Fairview, Texas.—The Committee notes that there is periodic
flooding along Wilson Creek and Sloan Creek in Fairview, Texas,
directly upstream from Lavon Lake. The Corps is directed to sub-
mit to the Committee not later than 180 days after enactment of
this Act a report on the status of its efforts to engage with the City
of Fairview to address this issue.
Great Lakes Remedial Action Plan and Sediment Remediation.—
Section 401 of the Water Resources Development Act of 1990 au-
thorized the Corps to support the development and implementation
of Remedial Action Plans at Areas of Concern in the Great Lakes.
The Corps is reminded that this program is eligible to compete for
additional funding provided in this account.
Great Lakes Coastal Resiliency Study.—The Corps is reminded
that the Great Lakes Coastal Resiliency study is eligible to compete
for a new start as provided in this Act.
Hartford and East Hartford, Connecticut.—The Committee un-
derstands that the Corps is completing initial appraisal reports
under section 216 of the Flood Control Act of 1970 and reminds the
Corps that the Water Resources Development Act of 2018 directed
expedited completion of feasibility studies for flood risk manage-
ment projects in Hartford and East Hartford, Connecticut.
Historic Landmarks.—The Committee appreciates the work done
by the Corps to help preserve threatened historic sites. When
prioritizing feasibility studies for flood control projects, the Com-
mittee encourages the Corps to consider the effects of sea level rise
and storm surge on cultural and historic locations of significance.
Impacts on Oyster Reefs.—The Committee encourages the Corps,
when conducting or reviewing environmental assessments or envi-
ronmental impact statements for navigation or coastal restoration
projects in areas where oyster reefs exist, to consider water quality
and salinity impacts on those reefs and, when appropriate, to miti-
gate any negative impacts.
Lake Cypress, Florida.—The Committee continues to be aware
that high rain totals have created a significant sediment flow
through the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes resulting in a shoal that
has expanded in recent years, located at the end of the C–35 canal
in Lake Cypress, Florida. The Committee is concerned over reports
that the shoal has become a danger to navigation and strongly en-
courages the Corps to coordinate with state and local officials on
this issue.
Management of Contaminated Sites.—The Committee recognizes
that hazardous substances and materials have contaminated wet-
lands throughout several parts of the country, leading to threats to
drinking water and public health. Accordingly, the Committee
urges the Corps, as appropriate, to notify the respective local and
state entities if a hazardous substance or material spills into, or
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contaminates, a wetland that has the potential to harm the public’s
health.
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New Jersey Back Bays Study.—The Committee maintains inter-
est in the New Jersey Back Bays study and notes the economic
costs and risks associated with flood and storm events, as evi-
denced by Hurricane Sandy. The Corps is encouraged to include ap-
propriate funding for this study in future budget submissions and
is directed to brief the Committee not later than 90 days after en-
actment of this Act on the status of this examination.
New York-New Jersey Harbor and Tributaries.—The Committee
maintains interest in the New York-New Jersey Harbor and Tribu-
taries study and notes the economic costs and risks associated with
flood, sea level rise, and storm events, as evidenced by Hurricane
Sandy. The Corps is encouraged to include appropriate funding for
this study in future budget submissions and is directed to brief the
Committee not later than 90 days after enactment of this Act on
the status of this examination.
Nome, Alaska.—The Committee recognizes the importance of en-
hancing the U.S. strategic presence in the Arctic, including the po-
tential establishment of an Arctic deep draft port. The Corps is re-
minded that projects such as the Port of Nome, Alaska, are eligible
to compete for additional funding provided in this account.
North Atlantic Focus Area Studies.—In 2013 Congress directed
the Corps to conduct a comprehensive study of vulnerable coastal
populations that were impacted by Hurricane Sandy. The com-
prehensive study includes smaller individual studies, including the
Baltimore Coastal Storm Risk Management, the Nassau County
Back Bays, Delaware Inland Bays and Delaware Bay Coast, and
other focus area studies. The Committee is disappointed that the
fiscal year 2021 budget request did not include funding for these
critical studies, despite significant capabilities, and encourages the
Corps to include appropriate funding for these studies in future
budget requests.
North Branch Ecorse Creek Watershed, Michigan.—The Com-
mittee is aware that flooding is a consistent, recurring issue in the
project area and the North Branch Ecorse Creek Watershed, which
has flooded four times in the last three years. The repetitive flood-
ing is causing extensive property damage, bank erosion and insta-
bility, sediment and nutrient loading, trash and debris loading, in-
stream habitat degradation, and loss of aesthetic and recreational
value. The Committee urges the Corps to expeditiously complete
the General Reevaluation Report in order to move forward with
PED.
Planning Assistance to States, Vulnerable Coastal Commu-
nities.—The Committee notes the important role the Corps plays in
managing flood risk and threats from coastal hazards and that the
Planning Assistance to States program can assist with comprehen-
sive plans and technical assistance to eligible state, tribal, or U.S.
territory partners. The Committee encourages the Corps to con-
tinue building capacity to provide this assistance to vulnerable
coastal communities, including tribal communities.
Principles, Requirements & Guidelines.—The Committee under-
stands that the Corps is developing Agency Specific Procedures to
implement the Principles, Requirements, and Guidelines for Fed-
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eral Investments in Water Resources (PR&G) released in March
2013 and the Final Interagency Guidelines released in December
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26
2014. The Corps is reminded that Congress, through section 2031
of the Water Resources Development Act of 2007, established a na-
tional policy for water resources projects to maximize sustainable
development; to avoid unwise use of floodplains and flood-prone
areas; and to protect and restore, and where necessary, to mitigate
unavoidable impacts to natural systems. This section also directed
the Secretary to update PR&G to incorporate modern advance-
ments in economic and analytical techniques and to incorporate ef-
forts to address public safety; low-income communities; non-
structural approaches to water resource development and manage-
ment; and integrative, adaptive, and watershed approaches. The
Corps is directed to brief the Committee not later than 45 days
after enactment of this Act on its efforts to develop Agency Specific
Procedures and again prior to finalizing Agency Specific Proce-
dures.
Reporting Requirement.—The Corps is encouraged to work expe-
ditiously towards compliance with sections of Public Law 115–270
that expedited feasibility studies. The Committee directs the Corps
to provide to the Committee not later than 45 days after enactment
of this Act a briefing on the status of implementation of these sec-
tions.
Research and Development.—The Committee notes the impor-
tance of the work carried out by the Corps under the Research and
Development remaining item. The Committee encourages the Corps
to engage in monitored field trials of coastal restoration optimized
for blue carbon CO2 sequestration. The Committee understands
that certain machine learning and artificial intelligence initiatives
are underway, including the Numerical Modeling Modernization
and Data25 initiatives, and urges the Corps to continue this work.
Lastly, the Committee encourages the Corps to collaborate with
university partners to improve the capabilities for improving the
integrity and performance of the nation’s levee systems.
Research and Development, Biopolymers.—The Committee notes
the importance of earthen infrastructure to support water distribu-
tion and regulation and energy systems. To rehabilitate these dete-
riorating structures, reduce costs of rehabilitating and maintaining
these structures, and increase resiliency of these structures against
potential threats, the Committee notes the value of research in the
use of biopolymers and the recommendation provides $6,000,000 for
these activities.
Research and Development, Freshwater Intrusion.—The Com-
mittee recognizes the need to develop tools to assess, forecast, and
proactively manage the hydrodynamic and environmental impacts
of large-scale freshwater intrusion into the Mississippi Sound and
surrounding waters. These consistent freshwater intrusions have
been detrimental to the Mississippi Sound and the U.S. blue econ-
omy. The Corps is encouraged to partner with academia with ex-
pertise in coastal processes and ocean and hydrodynamic modeling
to develop these tools.
Research and Development, Innovative Technologies for Resilient
Infrastructure.—The Committee recognizes that research is needed
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to test and refine use of rapid, repeatable, and remote methods for
long-term monitoring of critical water infrastructure and encour-
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ages the Corps to partner with academia to research and manage
emerging threats to attain resilient flood control structures.
Research and Development, Modeling.—As sea levels rise, climate
change and human activities continue to impact coastlines, rivers,
and related habitats. The recommendation provides $4,000,000 to
support research into predictive models and field-based research
into geochemical, geophysical, and sedimentological analysis and
modeling of diverse field sites on contemporary and historic time
frames.
Research and Development, Oyster Reefs.—The Committee recog-
nizes the importance of sustainable oyster reefs for maintaining
healthy ecosystems, protecting coastal infrastructure, and sup-
porting commercial fisheries. Recent restoration efforts have not
achieved the intended success for U.S. oyster populations, and the
identification of effective restoration strategies remains a critical
gap. Accordingly, the recommendation provides $2,600,000 for the
Corps to partner with research universities to conduct oyster reef
restoration research.
Research and Development, Urban Flood Damage Reduction.—
The Corps is encouraged to collaborate with research partners to
study the special impact of flooding in arid regions of the country,
with a specific focus on flooding impacts in post-wildfire areas.
Rio Guayanilla, Puerto Rico.—The Committee recognizes the im-
portance of the flood control and prevention project in Rio
Guayanilla and understands that the final feasibility report is cur-
rently under review. The Corps is encouraged to include appro-
priate funding for this study in future budget submissions and is
directed to brief the Committee not later than 90 days after enact-
ment of this Act on the status of this examination and future plans
for this project.
Salton Sea, California.—The Committee recognizes the role that
the Corps plays in the restoration of the Salton Sea and encourages
the Corps to be an active participant in restoration efforts involving
federal participation, including the California Natural Resources
Agency’s Salton Sea Management plan. The Committee notes the
Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Resolution
dated April 25, 2016, authorizing the Imperial Stream Salton Sea
study, an aquatic ecosystem restoration study on an inland lake
with associated public health risks, and reminds the Corps that
this study is eligible to compete for a new start as provided in this
Act.
San Diego River Levee System, California.—The Committee notes
that the America’s Water Infrastructure Act of 2018 (Public Law
115–270) authorized the Corps to conduct a feasibility study for
flood risk management, navigation, and ecosystem restoration in
the San Diego River. The Corps is reminded that the San Diego
River Levee System study is eligible to compete for a new start as
provided in this Act.
Upper Mississippi River-Illinois Waterway System.—The Com-
mittee recognizes the importance of advancing the Navigation and
Ecosystem Sustainability Program for the Upper Mississippi region
and our nation’s economy and notes that Congress has already ap-
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propriated significant funding for this program, including funding
for PED. As such, the Committee reminds the Corps that this
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project is eligible to compete for funding to move forward with PED
and advance the projects authorized in Title VIII of the Water Re-
sources and Development Act of 2007 (Public Law 110–114).
Upper Des Plaines River and Tributaries Project, Illinois and
Wisconsin.—The Committee is aware that the project area was
flooded with record high crests overflowing the Des Plaines River,
resulting in damage to more than 3,200 residences. The Committee
urges the Corps to cooperate with the non-federal sponsor as it pre-
pares advance work on a number of flood features under section
204 of the Water Resources Development Act of 1986.
CONSTRUCTION
Appropriation, 2020 ............................................................................ $2,681,000,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ....................................................................... 2,173,189,000
Recommended, 2021 ........................................................................... 2,619,855,000
Comparison:
Appropriation, 2020 .................................................................... ¥61,145,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ................................................................ +446,666,000
This appropriation funds construction, major rehabilitation, and
related activities for water resource projects whose principal pur-
pose is to provide commercial navigation, flood and storm damage
reduction, or aquatic ecosystem restoration benefits to the nation.
Portions of this account are funded from the Harbor Maintenance
Trust Fund and the Inland Waterways Trust Fund.
The budget request for this account and the approved Committee
allowance are shown on the following table:
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Additional Funding.—The recommendation includes additional
funds for projects and activities to enhance the nation’s economic
growth and international competitiveness.
Of the additional funding provided in this account for environ-
mental restoration or compliance and other authorized project pur-
poses, the Corps shall allocate not less than $25,000,000 for
multistate ecosystem restoration programs for which a comprehen-
sive restoration plan is in development or has been completed, of
which not less than $5,000,000 shall be for projects or programs
that restore and rehabilitate native oyster reefs.
Of the additional funds provided in this account, the Corps shall
allocate not less than $40,000,000 to projects with riverfront devel-
opment components.
Of the additional funding provided in this account for navigation
and other authorized project purposes, the Corps shall allocate not
less than $59,200,000 to continue activities to construct new navi-
gation infrastructure for locks not on the inland waterways system
and Corps-owned bridges.
Of the additional funding provided in this account for flood and
storm damage reduction and flood control, the Corps shall allocate
not less than $29,000,000 to continue construction of projects that
principally address drainage in urban areas.
Of the additional funds provided in this account for flood and
storm damage reduction, navigation, and other authorized project
purposes, the Corps shall allocate not less than $10,000,000 to au-
thorized reimbursements for projects with executed project partner-
ship agreements and that have completed construction or where
non-federal sponsors intend to use the funds for additional water
resource development activities.
Of the additional funding provided in this account for flood and
storm damage reduction and flood control, the Corps shall allocate
not less than $10,000,000 to additional nonstructural flood control
projects.
Public Law 115–123 and Public Law 116–20 included funding
within the Flood Control and Coastal Emergencies account to re-
store authorized shore protection projects to full project profile.
That funding is expected to address some of the current year capa-
bility. The recommendation includes $55,165,000 for construction of
shore protection projects, an increase of $5,000,000 above fiscal
year 2020. The Corps is reminded that if additional work can be
done, these projects are also eligible to compete for additional fund-
ing for flood and storm damage reduction.
When allocating the additional funding provided in this account,
the Corps is encouraged to evaluate authorized reimbursements in
the same manner as if the projects were being evaluated for new
or ongoing construction and shall consider giving priority to the fol-
lowing:
• benefits of the funded work to the national economy;
• extent to which the work will enhance national, regional,
or local economic development;
• number of jobs created directly and supported in the sup-
ply chain by the funded activity;
• significance to national security, including the strategic
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significance of commodities;
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• ability to obligate the funds allocated within the fiscal
year, including consideration of the ability of the non-federal
sponsor to provide any required cost share;
• ability to complete the project, separable element, or
project phase with the funds allocated;
• legal requirements, including responsibilities to tribes;
• for flood and storm damage reduction projects, including
authorized nonstructural measures and periodic beach re-
nourishments,
» population, economic activity, or public infrastructure
at risk, as appropriate; and
» the severity of risk of flooding or the frequency with
which an area has experienced flooding;
• for shore protection projects, projects in areas that have
suffered severe beach erosion requiring additional sand place-
ment outside of the normal beach renourishment cycle or in
which the normal beach renourishment cycle has been delayed,
and projects in areas where there is risk of environmental con-
tamination;
• for navigation projects, the number of jobs or level of eco-
nomic activity to be supported by completion of the project,
separable element, or project phase;
• for projects cost shared with the Inland Waterways Trust
Fund (IWTF), the economic impact on the local, regional, and
national economy if the project is not funded, as well as dis-
crete elements of work that can be completed within the fund-
ing provided in this line item;
• for other authorized project purposes and environmental
restoration or compliance projects, to include the beneficial use
of dredged material; and
• for environmental infrastructure projects, projects with the
greater economic impact, projects in rural communities,
projects in communities with significant shoreline and in-
stances of runoff, projects in or that benefit counties or par-
ishes with high poverty rates, projects in financially distressed
municipalities, projects that improve stormwater capture capa-
bilities, and projects that will provide substantial benefits to
water quality improvements.
The recommendation provides $90,000,000 of estimated annual
revenues in the IWTF. The Corps shall allocate all funds provided
in the IWTF Revenues line item along with the statutory cost
share from funds provided in the Navigation line item prior to allo-
cating the remainder of funds in the Navigation line item.
Aquatic Plant Control Program.—Of the additional funding pro-
vided for the Aquatic Plant Control Program, $15,000,000 shall be
for watercraft inspection stations, as authorized in section 104 of
the River and Harbor Act of 1958, equally distributed to carry out
subsections (d)(1)(A)(i), (d)(1)(A)(ii), and (d)(1)(A)(iii), and
$3,000,000 shall be for related monitoring. Additional funding is
also provided for nationwide research and development to address
invasive aquatic plants, and activities for monitoring, surveys, and
control of flowering rush and hydrilla verticillata.
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The Committee recognizes that mechanical harvesting tech-
nologies and other non-chemical methods can be used to combat
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the spread invasive aquatic plant species. The Committee directs
the Corps to investigate the use of mechanical harvesting tech-
nologies to control invasive species and to brief the Committee not
later than 90 days after enactment of this Act on its findings.
Beneficial Use of Dredged Material Pilot Program.—The Com-
mittee supports the pilot program authorized in section 1122 of the
Water Resources Development Act of 2016. The recommendation
provides $10,000,000 to continue the first 10 projects selected. The
Corps shall not use Operation and Maintenance funds provided or
allocated to the projects from which the dredged material is gen-
erated for costs beyond the costs of the Federal Standard. The
Corps shall brief the Committee not later than 90 days after enact-
ment of this Act on the planned activities, costs estimates, and po-
tential timelines for each of the 10 selected pilot projects. The
Corps is further directed to brief the Committee prior to any effort
to select any additional pilot projects as authorized by the Amer-
ica’s Water Infrastructure Act of 2018.
Caño Martı́n Peña, Puerto Rico.—The Committee notes the envi-
ronmental degradation and persistent flooding that disadvantages
communities abutting the channel, as evidenced by Hurricanes
Irma and Maria. The Committee remains interested in the timely
advancement of this project given the years of significant planning
that have been undertaken and its purpose in restoring a critical
watershed and the natural functioning of the tidal system in the
San Jose Lagoon and the San Juan Bay Estuary. The Committee
is concerned about the lost opportunities and delays arising due to
the lack of funding to start construction of this important project.
The Committee encourages the Corps to include appropriate fund-
ing for this project in future budget submissions and to work with
the non-federal sponsor to advance the project to the next phase at
the earliest practicable opportunity. The Corps is directed to report
to the Committee not later than 45 days after enactment of this
Act on the status of and future plans for this project. The report
should include identification of any circumstances that may be
disadvantaging this project from selection as a new construction
start.
Chesapeake Bay Comprehensive Water Resources and Restoration
Plan.—The Committee is supportive of the Chesapeake Bay Com-
prehensive Water Resources and Restoration Plan,
Chesapeake Bay Oyster Recovery, Maryland and Virginia.—The
Committee is supportive of the Corps’ work on the Chesapeake Bay
Oyster Recovery program and urges the Corps to include appro-
priate funding in future budget requests for these efforts.
Continuing Authorities Program (CAP).—The Committee con-
tinues to support all sections of the Continuing Authorities Pro-
gram. Funding is provided for nine CAP sections at a total of
$67,000,000. This program provides a useful tool for the Corps to
undertake small localized projects without the lengthy study and
authorization process typical of larger Corps projects. The manage-
ment of CAP should continue consistent with direction provided in
previous fiscal years. Within the section 1135 CAP authority, and
to the extent already authorized by law, the Corps is reminded that
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projects that restore degraded wetland habitat and stream habitats
impacted by construction of Corps levees or channels, and projects
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35
that will divert significant pollutant nutrient runoff from entering
wetland habitats, are eligible to compete for funding. Further, the
Corps is reminded that projects approved in 2019 are eligible to
compete for funds provided under section 206.
Everglades Agricultural Area.—The Committee recognizes the
importance of the Everglades Agricultural Area Storage Reservoir
to South Florida ecosystem restoration and efforts to combat harm-
ful algal blooms in the greater Everglades region.
Howard Hanson Dam, Washington.—The Committee notes that
$3,000,000 was included in the fiscal year 2020 work plan to begin
the design and cost update needed to resume work on the construc-
tion of a downstream fish passage facility as mandated by the 2019
Biological Opinion. The Committee supports these efforts and di-
rects the Corps to work expeditiously on this project in order to
meet the 2030 deadline established in the Biological Opinion.
Lakes Marion and Moultrie, South Carolina.—The Committee
recognizes the importance of continued progress on the Lakes Mar-
ion and Moultrie regional water supply project and reminds the
Corps that this project is eligible to compete for additional funding
provided in this account.
McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System, Arkansas
and Oklahoma.—The Committee recognizes the importance of the
12-foot navigational channel project to the McClellan-Kerr Arkan-
sas River Navigation System. The Corps is encouraged to continue
working with stakeholders and is reminded that this project is eli-
gible to compete for additional funding provided in this account.
Murrieta Creek, California.—The non-federal sponsor intends to
pursue a section 221 In-Kind Credit Contribution agreement with
the Corps to do the design work to optimize the multi-purpose
basin so as to eliminate or reduce the need for perimeter levees,
optimize costs and benefits, and facilitate interim uses of the prop-
erty. The Corps is encouraged to move forward with timely ap-
proval of the agreement. The non-federal sponsor also is moving
forward to address the outdated information in the Corps’ economic
side-by-side analysis for the project in order to identify the most
cost-effective project. The Corps is directed to coordinate with the
non-federal sponsor, as requested, in the economic update in order
to have a strong basis for proceeding with the completion of the
Limited Reevaluation Report.
New Buffalo, Michigan.—The Committee is aware of significant
sloughing and erosion along the New Buffalo Shoreline and that
the Corps is currently investigating the issue through a project
under section 111 of the Continuing Authorities Program. The
Corps is directed to brief the Committee not later than 90 days
after enactment of this Act on the status of its investigation, op-
tions to mitigate erosion to the beaches south of the New Buffalo
Harbor, and options for a path forward on this project.
New Programs Requested in the Budget Proposal.—The budget
request includes a proposal for $250,000,000 for projects carried out
under section 1043 of the Water Resources Reform and Develop-
ment Act of 2014, ‘‘Non-federal Implementation Pilot Program.’’
This pilot program was authorized to allow the transfer of federal
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funds to non-federal interests for them to perform studies and con-
struct projects. The Committee rejects the idea that the method of
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project execution should be used to prioritize projects for federal
funding and provides no funds for such an effort. The fiscal year
2020 Act directed the Corps to brief the Committee on the section
1043 pilot program, and the Committee is still awaiting this brief-
ing. The Corps is directed to provide this briefing not later than 45
days after enactment of this Act.
The budget request also includes $250,000,000 for an Innovative
Funding Partnerships Program to be used along with funds from
non-federal interests ‘‘in excess of the sponsor’s statutory cost share
requirements’’ to carry out certain authorized projects. The Com-
mittee is disturbed by this blatant attempt to require funding in
excess of legally required cost share as a criterion for funding deci-
sions, which is contrary to long-standing congressional direction.
The Committee provides no funds for this proposal. The Committee
notes, however, that any project that could have received funding
under such a program is eligible to compete for the additional fund-
ing provided in this account based on the project performance cri-
teria described in this report.
New Savannah Bluff Lock and Dam, Georgia and South Caro-
lina.—The Corps is directed to brief the Committee not later than
30 days after enactment of this Act on its plan (Alternative 2–6d)
for the New Savannah Bluff Lock and Dam. As part of the brief,
at a minimum, the Corps shall provide details on how the plan for
the New Savannah Lock and Dam complies with section 1319 of
the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act of 2016
(Public Law 114–322); details on the impacts of the February 2019
drawdown simulation to the water levels along the Savannah
River, including those to local communities; any potential impacts
to municipal and industrial water supplies and recreational activi-
ties if the plan is implemented; other options that were considered
and reasons for not selecting those options; and an analysis and
update on any pending authorization language that would directly
impact this project.
Norfolk Harbor and Channels Deepening, Virginia.—The Com-
mittee notes construction has begun on the first element of this
project using non-federal funds and the Corps is nearing comple-
tion of design for the next element of channel improvements. The
Committee recognizes the non-federal sponsor is prepared to pro-
vide its cost share once federal construction funding is received.
The Corps is reminded that this project is eligible to compete for
a construction new start as provided in this Act.
Public Law 115–123 (LERRDs).—The Corps has authority to per-
form acquisition of required lands, easements, rights-of-ways, relo-
cations, and disposal areas (LERRDs) on behalf of a non-federal
sponsor under certain circumstances. The Committee strongly en-
courages the Corps to evaluate such requests from non-federal
sponsors of projects funded under Public Law 115–123.
Port of Brownsville Deepening Project, Texas.—The Port of
Brownsville, Texas, is undergoing a project to deepen the channel
from 42 to 52 feet. The Committee recognizes that the project has
a high benefit to cost ratio and an enthusiastic non-federal sponsor.
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The Corps is reminded this project is eligible to compete for a new
construction start as provided in this Act.
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Salton Sea, California.—The Committee encourages the Corps to
expeditiously move forward to carry out section 3032 of Public Law
110–114.
South Florida Ecosystem Restoration, Florida.—As in previous
years, the Committee provides funding for all study and construc-
tion authorities related to Everglades restoration under the line
item titled ‘‘South Florida Ecosystem Restoration, Florida.’’ This
single line item allows the Corps flexibility in implementing the
numerous activities underway in any given fiscal year.
Supplemental Funds.—The Committee commends the Corps for
its commitment to using supplemental appropriations to complete
projects initiated with those supplemental funds. The Committee
reminds the Corps that congressionally authorized water resources
projects that have received regular appropriations may continue to
receive annual appropriations in addition to amounts allocated to
those projects from supplemental appropriations.
United States Virgin Islands.—The Committee notes that per-
sistent flooding has harmed communities and infrastructure in the
territory, as evidenced by Hurricanes Irma and Maria. The Com-
mittee is disappointed that none of the supplemental appropria-
tions made available under Public Law 115–123 were allocated for
flood risk management projects in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The
Corps is reminded that it may fund such projects out of remaining
construction funds provided under Public Law 115–123, in a work
plan, or in future budget requests. The Corps is directed to brief
the Committee not later than 90 days after enactment of this Act
on the status of these projects.
Whittier Narrows, California.—The Committee supports the
timely completion of the Whittier Narrows dam safety project. The
Corps is directed to submit to the Committee not later than 45
days after enactment of this Act a report detailing the impact the
project will have on the surrounding community, which shall in-
clude efforts the Corps may consider to mitigate the temporary and
permanent disruption of the project for the surrounding commu-
nity.
MISSISSIPPI RIVER AND TRIBUTARIES
Appropriation, 2020 ............................................................................ $375,000,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ....................................................................... 209,863,000
Recommended, 2021 ........................................................................... 365,000,000
Comparison:
Appropriation, 2020 .................................................................... ¥10,000,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ................................................................ +155,137,000
This appropriation funds planning, construction, and operation
and maintenance activities associated with projects to reduce flood
damage in the lower Mississippi River alluvial valley below Cape
Girardeau, Missouri.
The budget request for this account and the approved Committee
allowance are shown on the following table:
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Additional Funding.—When allocating the additional funding
provided in this account, the Corps shall consider giving priority to
completing or accelerating work that will enhance the nation’s eco-
nomic development, job growth, and international competitiveness,
or are for studies or projects located in areas that have suffered re-
cent natural disasters. While this funding is shown under remain-
ing items, the Corps shall use these funds in Investigations, Con-
struction, and Operation and Maintenance, as applicable.
Lower Mississippi River Main Stem.—The budget request pro-
poses to consolidate several activities across multiple states into
one line item. The Committee does not support this change and in-
stead continues to fund these activities as separate line items.
Lower Mississippi River Watershed.—The Committee is aware of
negative impacts in the Mississippi River system as a result of
multiple high-water events in recent years. The Corps shall brief
the Committee on actions taken to manage the river over the past
three years and any impacts of such actions on ecosystem restora-
tion, navigation, flood control, water quality, and others. The Com-
mittee has heard from stakeholders that the construction of new
water resources development projects, improved data collection
methods, and structural and operation modifications to existing
projects are critical to better understand changing hydraulic fea-
tures and to effectively manage and respond to future high-water
events, and that a study is necessary to fully understand such op-
portunities. The Committee acknowledges that authorized com-
prehensive studies are eligible to compete for additional funding
provided in the account. The Committee expects any studies, up-
dates, and changes to be made with the appropriate public involve-
ment.
Mississippi River Commission.—No funding is provided for this
new line item. The Corps is directed to continue funding the costs
of the commission from within the funds provided for activities
within the Mississippi River and Tributaries project.
Old River Control Structure, Louisiana.—The Corps is reminded
that studies intended to yield recommendations to optimize the op-
erations of riverine control structures, including section 1224 of the
America’s Water Infrastructure Act of 2018 (Public Law 115–270),
are eligible to compete for additional funding provided in this ac-
count.
OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE
Appropriation, 2020 ............................................................................ $3,790,000,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ....................................................................... 1,996,499,000
Recommended, 2021 ........................................................................... 3,838,000,000
Comparison:
Appropriation, 2020 .................................................................... +48,000,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ................................................................ +1,841,501,000
This appropriation funds operation, maintenance, and related ac-
tivities at water resource projects the Corps operates and main-
tains. Work to be accomplished consists of dredging, repair, and op-
eration of structures and other facilities as authorized in various
River and Harbor, Flood Control, and Water Resources Develop-
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ment Acts. Related activities include aquatic plant control, moni-
toring of completed projects, removal of sunken vessels, and the
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collection of domestic, waterborne commerce statistics. Portions of
this account are financed through the Harbor Maintenance Trust
Fund.
The budget request for this account and the approved Committee
allowance are shown on the following table:
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Additional Funding for Ongoing Work.—When allocating the ad-
ditional funding provided in this account, the Corps shall consider
giving priority to the following:
• ability to complete ongoing work maintaining authorized
depths and widths of harbors and shipping channels, including
where contaminated sediments are present;
• ability to address critical maintenance backlog;
• presence of the U.S. Coast Guard;
• extent to which the work will enhance national, regional,
or local economic development, including domestic manufac-
turing capacity;
• extent to which the work will promote job growth or inter-
national competitiveness;
• number of jobs created directly by the funded activity;
• ability to obligate the funds allocated within the fiscal
year;
• ability to complete the project, separable element, project
phase, or useful increment of work within the funds allocated;
• ability to address hazardous barriers to navigation due to
shallow channels;
• dredging projects that would provide supplementary bene-
fits to tributaries and waterways in close proximity to ongoing
island replenishment projects;
• risk of imminent failure or closure of the facility;
• improvements to federal breakwaters and jetties where ad-
ditional work will improve the safety of navigation and sta-
bilize infrastructure to prevent continued deterioration; and
• for harbor maintenance activities,
» total tonnage handled;
» total exports;
» total imports;
» dollar value of cargo handled;
» energy infrastructure and national security needs
served;
» designation as strategic seaports;
» maintenance of dredge disposal facilities;
» lack of alternative means of freight movement; and
» savings over alternative means of freight movement.
Additional funding provided for donor and energy transfer ports
shall be allocated in accordance with 33 U.S.C. 2238c. The Corps
is encouraged to include funding for this program in future budget
submissions.
Aquatic Nuisance Research Program.—The recommendation pro-
vides $3,000,000 to supplement activities related to harmful algal
blooms and directs the Corps to target freshwater ecosystems. The
recommendation also provides $3,000,000 to supplement activities
related to harmful algal blooms, and the Committee directs the
Corps to work collaboratively with appropriate university partners
to address harmful algal blooms formation, detection, and remedi-
ation to enhance protection of vital U.S. water resources. The Com-
mittee is aware of the need to develop next generation ecological
models to maintain inland and intracoastal waterways and pro-
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vides $7,325,000 for this purpose. Within additional funds pro-
vided, the Corps is encouraged to support research that will iden-
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64
tify and develop improved strategies for early detection, prevention,
and management techniques and procedures to reduce the occur-
rence and impacts of harmful algal blooms in the nation’s water re-
sources. The Corps shall submit to the Committee not later than
60 days after enactment of this Act a report on these activities.
The Committee encourages the Corps to facilitate collaboration
with university partners to assess the impacts of environmental
triggers in riverine ecosystems to advance prediction, avoidance,
and remediation efforts for harmful algal blooms.
Asian Carp Dispersal Barrier.—The Committee notes the Asian
Carp dispersal barrier at Des Plaines River is a key control mecha-
nism for protecting the Great Lakes from the invasive bighead
Asian carp. Over the last decade, the Corps has invested significant
resources in building a permanent electric barrier on the Chicago
Area Waterways System. However, in the fiscal year 2020 work
plan, funding was not included for the final phase of the project,
and the Corps was unable to complete the remaining testing re-
quired to bring the barrier online. The Committee notes that ample
additional funds have been provided in this account, for which this
project can compete. The dispersal barrier is of great importance to
the Great Lakes fishery and proceeding through the next phase of
construction is a national priority.
Asset Management/Facilities Equipment Maintenance Pro-
gram.—The recommendation provides $2,000,000 above the request
for research on novel approaches to repair and maintenance prac-
tices that will increase civil infrastructure intelligence and resil-
ience.
Additionally, the Committee notes that current Corps mainte-
nance and repair programs are focused on existing requirements,
resulting in near-term solutions where advancements are typically
incremental rather than radical in nature. Additional funding is in-
cluded to develop new approaches in materials research, mechan-
ical engineering, manufacturing that leverages integrated advances
in novel computational materials engineering, atomic-scale mate-
rials physics, data science, and additive manufacturing to trans-
form the maintenance and repair process, including the ability to
remotely rehabilitate infrastructure.
Central Louisiana Ecosystem Protection and Restoration Task
Force.—The Corps is encouraged to establish the Task Force au-
thorized by section 7004 of the Water Resources Development Act
of 2007 to improve coordination of ecosystem restoration in the
Louisiana Coastal Area.
Coastal Inlets Research Program.—The Corps is encouraged to
work collaboratively with university partners to develop coastal
processes forecasting models and decision support tools and to en-
hance evaluation and engineering guidance for nature-based infra-
structure solutions to mitigate risk to critical infrastructure from
coastal inundation.
Contaminated Sediment.—Section 312 of the Water Resources
Development Act of 1990 provides for the removal of contaminated
sediment for purpose of environmental enhancement and water
quality improvement. The Committee is aware that the Corps has
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been constrained in its use of section 312 due to liability concerns
when dredging contaminated sediment but also notes that in some
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instances, such as the Caño Martı́n Peña project in Puerto Rico,
the Corps has entered into such agreements with success. As such,
the Committee directs the Corps, when necessary to exercise its
section 312 authority, to enter into agreements with states and lo-
calities whereby those states and localities shall assume any liabil-
ity concerns. Should the Corps decide not to enter into such an
agreement at the request of the non-federal sponsor, the Corps is
directed to provide to the Committee not later than 45 days after
its decision an analysis of the decision and legislative recommenda-
tions on how to provide the Corps with adequate liability protec-
tions in such situations.
Chicago District Realignment.—The Committee is aware of the
realignment of the boundaries of the Chicago District and recog-
nizes that the realignment is consistent with, and reinforces, the
Corps’ business model of following major watersheds. The Com-
mittee understands the importance of balancing workloads across
different districts to achieve efficiencies of scale. The Committee
also understands that the Corps will continue the maximum use of
the Inland Navigation Design Center in the Rock Island District for
the Illinois Waterway and other inland waterway systems. The
Committee notes that the Corps communicated with Congress and
stakeholders prior to realignment yet also acknowledges that fur-
ther stakeholder engagement may be necessary.
Dredging Operations and Environmental Research (DOER) Pro-
gram.—The recommendation provides $5,000,000 above the request
to support ongoing research and advance work with university
partners to develop standards, design guidance, and testing proto-
cols to improve and standardize nature-based and hybrid infra-
structure solutions.
The Engineering With Nature initiative enables more sustain-
able delivery of economic, social, and environmental benefits associ-
ated with water resources infrastructure and involves the inten-
tional alignment of natural and engineering processes to efficiently
and sustainably deliver economic, environmental, and social bene-
fits through collaborative processes. The Committee supports this
initiative and appreciates that the budget request includes funding
for these activities.
Dredging Operations Technical Support Program.—The Com-
mittee directs the Corps to investigate the presence, geochemistry,
and potential recovery of rare earth elements in dredged materials
and to provide to the Committee not later than 90 days after enact-
ment of this Act a briefing detailing how this research can benefit
the Corps’ navigation mission.
Additional funding is included for the further development of the
INAV platform related to the operation and maintenance of the
U.S. Marine Transportation System.
Emerging Harbor Projects.—The recommendation includes fund-
ing for individual projects defined as emerging harbor projects (in
section 210(f)(2) of the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA)
of 1986) that exceeds the funding levels envisioned in sections
210(c)(3) and 210(d)(1)(B)(ii) of WRDA 1986.
Federal Breakwaters and Jetties.—Within available funds, the
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Corps is directed to continue to assess the inventory of the struc-
tural condition of federal breakwaters and jetties protecting har-
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bors and inland harbors. The Corps shall provide to the Committee
not later than 90 days after enactment of this Act a report on the
status of the inventory that summarizes the available data.
Great Lakes Navigation System.—The recommendation includes
funding for individual projects within this System that exceeds the
funding level envisioned in section 210(d)(1)(B)(ii) of WRDA 1986.
Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Research and Control Act.—
When Congress passed the Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Re-
search and Control Act (HABARCA), it created a task force in-
tended to coordinate the federal response to harmful algal bloom
activities. The Corps possesses key research, management, and
control capabilities in assisting the fight against harmful algal
blooms. The Corps shall provide to the Committee not later than
120 days after enactment of this Act a briefing identifying how it
is using its expertise to target a strategic response to the harmful
algal blooms in various parts of the nation, including its role in the
interagency HABARCA Task Force. The Corps is encouraged to
continue high level participation in the HABARCA Task Force.
Hamilton Wetlands, California.—The Committee understands
the non-federal sponsor for the Hamilton Wetlands Restoration
Project is working with the Corps to amend the Project Cooperation
Agreement to include the authorized Bel Marin Keys project as a
portion of the overall project. The Corps is encouraged to work with
the non-federal sponsor to develop and execute an agreement that
keeps the total project cost within the authorized amount in a
timely manner.
Lake Levels in the Great Lakes.—The Committee is concerned by
the high water levels on the Great Lakes and the increased im-
pacts that storm events have had on many Corps structures in and
around the Great Lakes region. The Committee acknowledges that
the Corps continuously assesses the condition of structures. The
Corps is reminded that it has authority to perform work on these
structures and to adjust the height of the structures as necessary
to provide the protection intended in the original authorizations.
Lake Okeechobee.—In accordance with section 1106 of the Amer-
ica’s Water Infrastructure Act of 2018 (Public Law 115–270), the
Corps is currently updating the Lake Okeechobee System Oper-
ating Manual to take into consideration the upcoming completion
of the Herbert Hoover Dike and related Everglades restoration
projects. As the Corps continues the public scoping process and ini-
tial formulation, the Corps is encouraged to use the best available
science and appropriately weigh the concerns of all water users to
ensure the ecosystem is preserved, water supply for the eight mil-
lion residents in South Florida is maintained, and the safety of all
residents of the region is upheld.
Levee Safety.—The Committee notes that the Corps has author-
ization to carry out certain levee safety initiatives that are funded
within two remaining items, the National (Levee) Flood Inventory
and Inspection of Completed Federal Flood Control Projects. The
recommendation funds the National Levee Flood Inventory remain-
ing item at the capability amount, and the Committee notes that
in fiscal year 2021, all activities associated with the National Levee
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Safety Program will be funded from this remaining item. Addi-
tional funding provided for the Inspection of Completed Federal
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Flood Control Projects remaining item shall be used for the assess-
ment of high risk federally authorized levees. The Corps shall pro-
vide to the Committee not later than 90 days after enactment of
this Act a briefing on its efforts to implement these initiatives.
Mississippi River Basin Coordination.—The Committee recog-
nizes that the Mississippi River basin from Minnesota to Louisiana
is a vital American waterway. Therefore, the Committee urges the
Corps to participate in and coordinate as an essential federal stake-
holder with the Environmental Protection Agency on developing a
Mississippi River restoration and resiliency strategy focused on im-
proving water quality, restoring habitat and natural systems, im-
proving navigation, eliminating aquatic invasive species, and build-
ing local resilience to natural disasters.
Monitoring of Completed Navigation Projects, Structural Health
Monitoring.—Additional funding is provided to support the struc-
tural health monitoring program to facilitate research to maximize
operations, enhance efficiency, and protect asset life through cata-
strophic failure mitigation.
Mount St. Helens Sediment Monitoring.—The Committee notes
that Mount St. Helens Sediment Monitoring activities have not
been funded in the Corps work plan for the sixth consecutive year.
Yearly monitoring is vital to ensure that the sediment retention
structure can properly protect the communities in Cowlitz County,
Washington. The Committee is aware that the lack of federal fund-
ing has led to local communities funding sediment monitoring and
encourages the Corps to include appropriate funding in future
budget submissions for this effort.
Multimodal Utilization of Marine Transportation.—The Com-
mittee notes that aging infrastructure poses enormous challenges
to the Corps mission and believes that advances in navigation opti-
mization modeling tools to integrate rail and road modes of transit
with the marine transportation system is critical in meeting in-
creased demand. The Committee supports the Corps’ efforts to im-
prove the performance, efficiency, and resilience of the nation’s
navigation and flood risk management system and encourages the
Corps to develop innovative system optimization technologies for
reliable water resources infrastructure.
Okatibbee Lake, Mississippi.—The Committee is aware of signifi-
cant shoreline sloughing and erosion at this project caused by se-
vere storms and the resulting changing water levels, which have
the potential to impact infrastructure, damage property, and put
lives at risk. The Corps is reminded that addressing shoreline
sloughing and erosion at a Corps project, including at locations
leased by non-federal entities, is an activity eligible to compete for
additional funding provided in this account.
Operation and Maintenance of Corps Dams.—The Corps’ oper-
ation of dams provides an affordable source of hydroelectric power
to communities across the nation and supports wildlife habitat, as
well as recreational activities on and off the water for boaters, fish-
erman, swimmers, and others. These dams also promote commer-
cial and economic activity by connecting communities up and down
the waterways. It is vital that these dams are maintained to en-
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sure the recreational and economic sustainability of local commu-
nities. The fiscal year 2020 Act directed the Corps to provide a re-
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port on the dredging and maintenance needs of the Walter F.
George, George Andrews, and Jim Woodruff locks and dams. The
Committee is still awaiting this report and expects to receive it in
a timely manner.
Performance Based Budgeting Support Program.—Of the funding
provided for this remaining item, $2,000,000 shall be to support
performance based methods that enable robust budgeting of the hy-
dropower program through better understanding of operation and
maintenance impacts leveraging data analytics.
Recreation Benefits.—The Committee recognizes that outdoor
recreation is a fast growing sector in the U.S. economy and encour-
ages the Corps, in coordination with the Office of Management and
Budget, to account for recreation-based benefits and costs, includ-
ing local and regional economic benefits, in the benefit-cost analysis
procedures for harbor maintenance, intracoastal waterways, and
inland waterways projects. Further, the Corps is directed to submit
to the Committee not later than two years after enactment of this
Act a report containing an examination of recreation-based benefits
and costs that could be included in benefit-cost calculations, includ-
ing, at a minimum, local and regional economic benefits and eco-
nomic benefits for a non-commercial harbor that is used for rec-
reational purposes. The report shall also include recommendations
for uniform recreation-based economic benefit calculations to im-
prove the comprehensive benefit-cost analysis procedures used for
harbor maintenance, intracoastal waterways, and inland water-
ways projects.
Recreation Task Force.—The Corps is one of the largest federal
providers of outdoor recreation with over 270 million visits per
year. The Corps is directed to create a Recreation Task Force to de-
velop a plan to maintain and enhance public recreational opportu-
nities at Corps projects. Not later than one year after enactment
of this Act, the Recreation Task Force shall provide an initial re-
port to the Committee with a historical review of recreation use
and funding within the Corps and an assessment of the overall con-
dition of the Corps recreation assets, including deferred mainte-
nance and repair backlogs. Not later than two years after enact-
ment of this Act, the Corps shall provide the Committee with a
final report including proposals to address the needs identified by
the Task Force. The Corps is encouraged to solicit input and par-
ticipation from outdoor recreation stakeholders and the public.
Regional Dredge Contracting.—In accordance with section 1111
of the America’s Water Infrastructure Act of 2018 (Public Law
115—270), the Corps is encouraged to enter into regional contracts
to support increased efficiencies in the deployment of dredges for
all Civil Works mission sets, prioritizing deep draft navigational
projects.
Regional Sediment Management.—The recommendation includes
$2,000,000 above the request to support cooperative efforts between
the Corps and academia to address compound flooding issues. The
Corps is encouraged to develop enhanced forecasting capabilities to
implement proactive strategies for flood risk management to en-
hance the resiliency of coastal communities and mitigate socio-
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economic and environmental consequences of extreme coastal haz-
ards.
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Response to Climate Change at Corps Projects.—The Committee
recognizes the need to further incorporate assessments of climate-
related risks and vulnerabilities in Corps activities and to explore
and prioritize further mitigation opportunities. The recommenda-
tion includes $5,000,000 to position water resources projects to be
managed as systems due to the implications of a changing climate.
River Commissions.—The Congress has made clear its intent
that the Susquehanna, Delaware and Potomac River Basin Com-
missions be supported, and the Corps is encouraged to budget ac-
cordingly in future budget submissions.
Seven Oaks Dam, California.—The Committee is aware that non-
federal entities are working with the Corps in an effort to operate
the Seven Oaks Dam, California, in a manner that would allow
water agencies along the Santa Ana River to capture water re-
leased from the dam and recharge it into the groundwater basin.
The Committee encourages the Corps to work with non-federal en-
tities to coordinate releases of water behind the dam in a manner
that protects water quality, ensures that it can be diverted for
water supply purposes, and provides advance notice to ensure habi-
tat conservation efforts are protected.
Shoreline Management Policy.—The Committee is aware of con-
cerns regarding the new shoreline management policy for Corps
reservoirs within the South Atlantic Division. The Corps is encour-
aged to continue working with affected local communities and
stakeholders to address those concerns, including the use of non-
potable water from reservoirs.
Sustainable Temporary Power.—The Committee is aware the
Corps utilizes mobile diesel generators as a power source in the
execution of its Civil Works and emergency response missions. The
Committee encourages the Corps to explore the use of hybrid solar,
battery, and diesel technology in its use of mobile generators for
these purposes. The Corps is directed to brief the Committee not
later than 180 days after enactment of this Act detailing its find-
ings.
Tampa Harbor, Florida.—The Committee recognizes the dra-
matic increase in global Post-Panamax vessels utilizing Tampa
Harbor and the need to maintain the main federal channel at its
authorized depth to accommodate these vessels. The Corps is re-
minded that Tampa Harbor is eligible to compete for additional
funding provided in this account.
Toledo and Lorain Harbors, Ohio.—Toledo Harbor and the chan-
nel at the mouth of western Lake Erie serves as a major thorough-
fare to the Great Lakes navigation system, supporting manufac-
turing and commerce throughout the region. The Corps is reminded
that the Toledo and Lorain Harbors are eligible to compete for ad-
ditional funding provided in this account.
Water Control Manuals.—The Corps received funding in fiscal
year 2020 to develop a comprehensive list of water control manuals
at Corps-owned projects located in states where a Reclamation
project is also located, including a prioritized list of needed updates
of those manuals. The Committee understands that the Corps is
working to complete this list expeditiously. Within additional funds
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provided, the Corps may execute water control manual updates for
projects identified on the list, including in regions impacted by at-
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mospheric rivers and where improved forecasting can improve
water operations. The Corps is directed to brief the Committee
prior to executing any water control manual updates.
Water Operations Technical Support (WOTS).—The recommenda-
tion includes $5,000,000 in addition to the budget request to con-
tinue research into atmospheric rivers first funded in fiscal year
2015. The Corps is encouraged to operationalize a Forecast-In-
formed Reservoir Operations compatible component of the Corps
Water Management System to process ensemble and synthetic fore-
casts to ensure continuous implementation of improvements in
forecast skill for water operations. Further, the recommendation in-
cludes $5,000,000 for research into natural infrastructure options
focused on drought, flood-prone lands and post fire recovery areas
in western landscapes. The Corps is encouraged to leverage aca-
demic partners, state and local agencies, and non-profit organiza-
tions in the southwestern United States in this effort.
In addition, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security
(CARES) Act (Public Law 116–136) included $50,000,000 to pre-
vent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus.
REGULATORY PROGRAM
Appropriation, 2020 ............................................................................ $210,000,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ....................................................................... 200,000,000
Recommended, 2021 ........................................................................... 205,000,000
Comparison:
Appropriation, 2020 .................................................................... ¥5,000,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ................................................................ +5,000,000
This appropriation provides funds to administer laws pertaining
to the regulation of activities affecting U.S. waters, including wet-
lands, in accordance with the Rivers and Harbors Appropriation
Act of 1899, the Clean Water Act, and the Marine Protection, Re-
search, and Sanctuaries Act of 1972. Appropriated funds are used
to review and process permit applications, ensure compliance on
permitted sites, protect important aquatic resources, and support
watershed planning efforts in sensitive environmental areas in co-
operation with states and local communities.
Additional Funding.—Additional funding is provided in this ac-
count. Using these additional funds the Corps shall ensure the
timely processing of shellfish aquaculture permitting activities. The
Corps is directed to brief the Committee quarterly on these efforts,
beginning not later than 45 days after enactment of this Act.
Compensatory Mitigation Rule.—The Committee is concerned
that the Corps may not be consistent in its implementation of the
2008 Compensatory Mitigation Rule, based on the Corps’ publicly
available data. The Committee has heard concerns that particular
districts have failed to adhere to the mitigation hierarchy in the
Rule as it pertains to the preference for mitigation bank credits.
The Corps is reminded that although the Rule provides some dis-
cretion, the Rule is clear that this discretion is limited and devi-
ations from the mitigation hierarchy must be based on scientific
and technical analysis. The Corps is directed to properly and con-
sistently implement the Rule, including adherence to its mitigation
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hierarchy and documentation of decisions by the District Engineer
regarding which mitigation mechanism is appropriate to offset im-
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pacts under the Rule and which sections of the Rule justify the par-
ticular decision. The Corps shall brief the Committee not later than
one year after the enactment of this Act on steps taken to ensure
proper and consistent application of the Rule across districts, con-
sistent with the Committee’s direction.
Chehalis Basin.—The Committee is aware that flooding has long
been a problem in the Chehalis Basin and encourages the Corps to
continue to work in coordination with the non-federal sponsor on
plans to reduce flooding in the basin. The Corps is directed to pro-
vide quarterly briefings to the Committee, with the first occurring
not later than 90 days after enactment of this Act.
Regional General Permits.—The Committee urges the Corps and
the National Marine Fisheries Service to continue to evaluate ap-
propriate mitigation options for Seattle District Regional General
Permits that take into consideration improvements to existing
structures.
FORMERLY UTILIZED SITES REMEDIAL ACTION PROGRAM
Appropriation, 2020 ............................................................................ $200,000,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ....................................................................... –––
Recommended, 2021 ........................................................................... 210,000,000
Comparison:
Appropriation, 2020 .................................................................... +10,000,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ................................................................ +210,000,000
This appropriation funds the cleanup of certain low-level radio-
active materials and mixed wastes located at sites contaminated as
a result of the nation’s early efforts to develop atomic weapons.
The Committee again rejects the budget request proposal to
transfer the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program
(FUSRAP) to the Department of Energy. The Congress inten-
tionally transferred FUSRAP from the Department to the Corps in
fiscal year 1998. In appropriating FUSRAP funds to the Corps, the
Committee transferred only the responsibility for administration
and execution of cleanup activities at FUSRAP sites where the De-
partment had not completed cleanup. The Committee did not trans-
fer to the Corps ownership of and accountability for real property
interests, which remain with the Department.
The Committee remains pleased with the current cooperation be-
tween the Corps and the Department in carrying out the program
and expects the Department to continue to provide its institutional
knowledge and expertise to ensure the success of this program and
to serve the nation and the affected communities. The Corps is di-
rected to submit its fiscal year 2022 budget request using this
budget structure.
The Committee continues to support the prioritization of sites,
especially those that are nearing completion. Within the funds pro-
vided in accordance with the budget request, the Corps is directed
to complete the Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study of former
Sylvania nuclear fuel site at Hicksville, New York, and, as appro-
priate, to proceed expeditiously to a Record of Decision and initi-
ation of any necessary remediation in accordance with the Com-
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prehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability
(CERCLA).
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FLOOD CONTROL AND COASTAL EMERGENCIES
Appropriation, 2020 ............................................................................ $35,000,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ....................................................................... 77,000,000
Recommended, 2021 ........................................................................... 35,000,000
Comparison:
Appropriation, 2020 .................................................................... –––
Budget estimate, 2021 ................................................................ ¥42,000,000
This appropriation funds planning, training, and other measures
that ensure the readiness of the Corps to respond to floods, hurri-
canes, and other natural disasters, and to support emergency oper-
ations in response to such natural disasters, including advance
measures, flood fighting, emergency operations, the provision of po-
table water on an emergency basis, and the repair of certain flood
and storm damage reduction projects.
As the nation experiences severe weather events more fre-
quently, the Committee appreciates the work the Corps undertakes
with this funding. The Committee notes that traditionally funding
for disaster response has been provided in supplemental appropria-
tions legislation, including recently in 2018 (Public Law 115–123)
and 2019 (Public Law 116–20) and that amounts necessary to ad-
dress damages at Corps projects in response to natural disasters
can be significant. The Administration is reminded that it has been
deficient in providing to the Committee statutorily-required de-
tailed estimates of damages to Corps projects.
Impacts of Major Flooding on Small and Rural Communities.—
The Committee recognizes that in 2019, the Midwest experienced
severe flooding that resulted in billions of dollars in economic dam-
age to businesses, farms, homes, and infrastructure and that floods
are again projected for 2020. The Committee notes that many small
and rural communities face unique challenges when addressing
floods as compared to urban areas. The Committee encourages the
Corps to work closely with the Federal Emergency Management
Agency, Department of Agriculture, and Small Business Adminis-
tration to aid small and rural communities affected by flooding.
The Corps shall provide to the Committee not later than 90 days
after enactment of this Act a report on its areas of collaboration
with these agencies and others, if applicable, to assist small and
rural communities in the Midwest, with a particular focus on ac-
tivities immediately prior to, during, and after a natural disaster.
Review of Levee Rehabilitation and Inspection Program.—Recent
flood events across our country, such as the March 2019 Missouri
River basin floods, demonstrate the importance of efficient Corps
disaster response efforts. Currently, local sponsors, including na-
tional resources districts, may face legal constraints when making
repairs to flood-related infrastructure covered under the Public
Law 84–99 Rehabilitation and Inspection Program. In some in-
stances, however, temporary repairs done in a matter of days by
local sponsors may have prevented further damages from occur-
ring, and local sponsors may be able to make certain repairs for
less cost than the federal government. Therefore, the Committee di-
rects the Corps to review its policies on coordinating with and dele-
gating to state and local partners to conduct repairs to Corps tech-
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nical and legal standards. This review shall include an assessment
of allowing operations, repairs, and other activities, as approved by
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Corps District Engineers, to be undertaken by non-federal sponsors
of both federally and non-federally constructed, locally maintained
systems already in the Public Law 84–99 program. The Corps shall
provide to the Committee not later than 90 days after enactment
of this Act a briefing of its findings.
EXPENSES
Appropriation, 2020 ............................................................................ $203,000,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ....................................................................... 187,000,000
Recommended, 2021 ........................................................................... 200,000,000
Comparison:
Appropriation, 2020 .................................................................... ¥3,000,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ................................................................ +13,000,000
This appropriation funds the executive direction and manage-
ment of the Office of the Chief of Engineers, the Division Offices,
and certain research and statistical functions of the Corps.
Alternative Financing.—The Committee remains supportive of
public-private partnerships (P3) and is supportive of the alter-
native financing mechanisms authorized in the Water Infrastruc-
ture Financing and Innovation Act (WIFIA). However, the Com-
mittee remains concerned with WIFIA scoring challenges, and the
Corps is directed to brief the Committee not later than 90 days
after enactment of this Act on this issue. Additionally, the Corps
is reminded of the Committee’s long-standing concerns that federal
funding decisions not be biased by non-federal decisions to con-
struct projects in advance of federal funding or to provide funding
in excess of legally required cost shares.
In addition, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security
(CARES) Act (Public Law 116–136) included $20,000,000 to pre-
vent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus.
OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF THE ARMY FOR CIVIL WORKS
Appropriation, 2020 ............................................................................ $5,000,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ....................................................................... 5,000,000
Recommended, 2021 ........................................................................... 5,000,000
Comparison:
Appropriation, 2020 .................................................................... –––
Budget estimate, 2021 ................................................................ –––
The Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works oversees the
Civil Works budget and policy, whereas the Corps’ executive direc-
tion and management of the Civil Works program are funded from
the Expenses account.
The recommendation includes legislative language restricting the
availability of 75 percent of the funding provided in this account
until such time as at least 95 percent of the additional funding pro-
vided in each account has been allocated to specific programs,
projects, or activities. This restriction shall not affect the roles and
responsibilities established in previous fiscal years of the Office of
the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, the Corps
headquarters, the Corps field operating agencies, or any other exec-
utive branch agency.
The Committee counts on a timely and accessible executive
branch in the course of fulfilling its constitutional role in the ap-
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propriations process. The requesting and receiving of basic, factual
information, such as budget justification materials and statutorily
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required reports including execution reports and damage repair es-
timates, is vital in order to maintain a transparent and open gov-
erning process. The Committee recognizes that some discussions in-
ternal to the executive branch are pre-decisional in nature and,
therefore, not subject to disclosure. However, the access to facts,
figures, and statistics that inform these decisions are not subject to
this same sensitivity and are critical to the budget process. The Ad-
ministration shall ensure timely and complete responses to these
inquiries.
Further, the Administration is reminded that it has been seri-
ously deficient in providing to the Committee statutorily-required
reports, including detailed estimates of damages to Corps projects
and reports on the allocation and obligation of supplemental appro-
priations.
Administrative Costs.—To support additional transparency in
project costs, the Secretary is directed to ensure that future budget
submissions specify the amount of anticipated administrative costs
for individual projects.
GENERAL PROVISIONS—CORPS OF ENGINEERS—CIVIL
(INCLUDING TRANSFER OF FUNDS)
The bill continues a provision that prohibits the obligation or ex-
penditure of funds through a reprogramming of funds in this title
except in certain circumstances.
The bill continues a provision prohibiting the use of funds in this
Act to carry out any contract that commits funds beyond the
amounts appropriated for that program, project, or activity.
The bill continues a provision authorizing the transfer of funds
to the Fish and Wildlife Service to mitigate for fisheries lost due
to Corps of Engineers projects.
The bill includes a provision regarding certain dredged material
disposal activities. The Committee is aware of certain issues re-
garding placement of dredge material. The Corps is directed to
brief the Committee not later than 90 days after enactment of this
Act on these activities.
The bill includes a provision regarding reallocations at a project.
The bill includes a provision prohibiting the use of funds in this
Act to reorganize or transfer the Civil Works functions of the
Corps.
The bill includes a provision regarding eligibility for additional
funding. Whether a project is eligible for funding under a par-
ticular provision of additional funding is a function of the technical
details of the project; it is not a policy decision. The Chief of Engi-
neers is the federal government’s technical expert responsible for
execution of the civil works program and for offering professional
advice on its development. Therefore, the provision clarifies that a
project’s eligibility for additional funding shall be solely the profes-
sional determination of the Chief of Engineers.
The bill includes a provision prohibiting the use of funds in this
Act for certain activities.
The bill includes a provision prohibiting the use of funds in this
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Act to issue certain section 404 permits.
The bill includes a provision addressing new starts.
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TITLE II—DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
CENTRAL UTAH PROJECT
CENTRAL UTAH PROJECT COMPLETION ACCOUNT
Appropriation, 2020 ............................................................................ $20,000,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ....................................................................... 10,000,000
Recommended, 2021 ........................................................................... 20,000,000
Comparison:
Appropriation, 2020 ............................................................................ –––
Budget estimate, 2021 ....................................................................... +10,000,000
The Central Utah Project Completion Act (CUPCA) (Titles II–VI
of Public Law 102–575) provides for the completion of the Central
Utah Project by the Central Utah Water Conservancy District.
CUPCA also authorizes the appropriation of funds for fish, wildlife,
and recreation mitigation and conservation; establishes an account
in the Treasury for the deposit of these funds and of other con-
tributions for mitigation and conservation activities; and estab-
lishes a Utah Reclamation Mitigation and Conservation Commis-
sion to administer funds in that account. CUPCA further assigns
responsibilities for carrying out that Act to the Secretary of the In-
terior and prohibits delegation of those responsibilities to the Bu-
reau of Reclamation.
The Committee recommendation includes a total of $20,000,000
for the Central Utah Project Completion Account, which includes
$16,700,000 for Central Utah Project construction, $1,800,000 for
transfer to the Utah Reclamation Mitigation and Conservation Ac-
count for use by the Utah Reclamation Mitigation and Conserva-
tion Commission, and $1,500,000 for necessary expenses of the Sec-
retary of the Interior.
BUREAU OF RECLAMATION
INTRODUCTION
The mission of the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) is to
manage, develop, and protect water and related resources in an en-
vironmentally and economically sound manner in the interest of
the American public. Since its establishment by the Reclamation
Act of 1902, Reclamation has developed water supply facilities that
have contributed to sustained economic growth and an enhanced
quality of life in the western states. Lands and communities served
by Reclamation projects have been developed to meet agricultural,
tribal, urban, and industrial needs. Reclamation continues to de-
velop authorized facilities to store and convey new water supplies
and is the largest supplier and manager of water in the 17 western
states and does so in response to a changing climate that strains
the very resources that Reclamation is charged with managing, de-
veloping, and protecting. Reclamation maintains 338 reservoirs
with the capacity to store 245 million acre-feet of water.
As Reclamation’s facilities reach their design life, the projected
cost of operating, maintaining, and rehabilitating this infrastruc-
ture continues to grow, yet Reclamation has not budgeted funding
sufficient to implement a comprehensive program to reduce its
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maintenance backlog. At the same time, Reclamation is increas-
ingly relied upon to provide water supply to federally-recognized
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Indian Tribes through water settlements, rural communities
through its Title I Rural Water Program, and municipalities
through its Title XVI Water Reclamation and Reuse Program. Bal-
ancing these competing priorities will be challenging and requires
active participation and leadership on the part of Reclamation and
its technical staff.
The budget request includes $21,400,000 for Colorado River com-
pliance activities in the fiscal year 2021 Congressional tables for
Water and Related Resources. Instead, the recommendation funds
these activities by a transfer from the Western Area Power Admin-
istration included in section 306 of this Act.
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
The budget request for the Bureau of Reclamation totals
$1,127,875,000. The Committee recommendation totals
$1,635,875,000, which is $24,125,000 below fiscal year 2020 and
$508,000,000 above the budget request.
A table summarizing the fiscal year 2020 enacted appropriation,
the fiscal year 2021 budget request, and the Committee rec-
ommendation is provided below:
(Dollars in thousands)
Account FY 2020 enacted FY 2021 request Cmte rec.
Water and Related Resources ............................................ $1,512,151 $979,000 $1,487,000
Central Valley Project Restoration Fund ............................. 54,849 55,875 55,875
California Bay-Delta Restoration ........................................ 33,000 33,000 33,000
Policy and Administration ................................................... 60,000 60,000 60,000
Total, Bureau of Reclamation .................................... 1,660,000 1,127,875 1,635,875
WATER AND RELATED RESOURCES
(INCLUDING TRANSFERS OF FUNDS)
Appropriation, 2020 ............................................................................ $1,512,151, 000
Budget estimate, 2021 ....................................................................... 979,000,000
Recommended, 2021 ........................................................................... 1,487,000,000
Comparison:
Appropriation, 2020 .................................................................... ¥25,151,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ................................................................ +508,000,000
The Water and Related Resources account supports the develop-
ment, construction, management, and restoration of water and re-
lated natural resources in the 17 western states. The account in-
cludes funds for operating and maintaining existing facilities to ob-
tain the greatest overall levels of benefits, to protect public safety,
and to conduct studies on ways to improve the use of water and
related natural resources.
The budget request for this account and the approved Committee
allowance are shown on the following table:
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Additional Funding for Water and Related Resources Work.—The
recommendation includes funds in addition to the budget request
for Water and Related Resources studies, projects, and activities.
Priority in allocating these funds should be given to advance and
complete ongoing work, including preconstruction activities and
where environmental compliance has been completed; improve
water supply reliability; improve water deliveries; enhance na-
tional, regional, or local economic development; promote job growth;
advance tribal and nontribal water settlement studies and activi-
ties; or address critical backlog maintenance and rehabilitation ac-
tivities. Funding provided under the heading, ‘‘Additional Funding
for Ongoing Work’’ may be utilized for ongoing work, including
preconstruction activities, on projects which provide new or existing
water supplies through additional infrastructure.
Of the additional funding provided under the heading ‘‘Water
Conservation and Delivery’’, $79,000,000 shall be for water storage
projects as authorized in section 4007 of Public Law 114–322.
Of the additional funding provided under the heading ‘‘Water
Conservation and Delivery,’’ not less than $25,000,000 shall be for
construction activities that are ready to be initiated for the repair
of critical Reclamation canals where operational conveyance capac-
ity has been seriously impaired by factors such as age or land sub-
sidence, especially those that would imminently jeopardize Rec-
lamation’s ability to meet water delivery obligations.
Of the additional funds provided under ‘‘Water Conservation and
Delivery’’, $15,000,000 shall be to continue ongoing groundwater
treatment and remediation activities and to match non-federal
funds expended for similar groundwater treatment and remediation
activities.
Of the additional funding provided under the heading ‘‘Water
Conservation and Delivery’’, $40,000,000 shall be for water con-
servation or infrastructure projects related to the implementation
of the agreements authorized by the Colorado River Drought Con-
tingency Plan Authorization Act of 2019 (Public Law 116–14) with-
in states that are parties to those agreements, with priority to in-
frastructure activities for canal system improvements, reclaimed
water reuse facilities, new irrigation wells, and replacement irriga-
tion wells or other measures, programs, and projects that result in
conservation of other surface water or groundwater. Reclamation is
directed to brief the Committee not later than 180 days after enact-
ment of this Act on the status of carrying out these activities.
Not later than 45 days after enactment of this Act, Reclamation
shall provide to the Committee a report delineating how the addi-
tional funds in this account are to be distributed, in which phase
the work is to be accomplished, and an explanation of the criteria
and rankings used to justify each allocation.
Reclamation is reminded that activities authorized under Indian
Water Rights Settlements and under section 206 of Public Law
113–235 are eligible to compete for the additional funding provided
under ‘‘Water Conservation and Delivery.’’
Reclamation is further reminded that feasibility studies and
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projects within the Central Valley Project Restoration fund, includ-
ing those capable of improving water security from drought and
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natural disasters, are eligible to compete for additional funding
provided in this account.
Airborne Snow Observatory Program.—The Committee notes that
Reclamation has historically provided support for snowpack sur-
veys through the Airborne Snow Observatory (ASO) program. The
Committee encourages Reclamation’s continued support of this im-
portant program.
Anadromous Fish Screen Program.—The Committee is concerned
that insufficient resources are being devoted to completing work on
the last two remaining priority unscreened diversions on the Sac-
ramento River, both of which have been specifically identified as
priorities in the California Natural Resources Agency Sacramento
Valley Salmon Resiliency Strategy. Reclamation is reminded that
these diversions are eligible to compete for the additional funding
provided in this account. Additionally, the Committee encourages
Reclamation to maintain its focus on screening high priority diver-
sions in the San Joaquin River Basin.
Lower Colorado River Operations Program.—The Lower Colorado
River Operations Program supports water efficiency activities and
conservation efforts in partnership with non-federal water users,
including Minute 323 implementation and monitoring. Reclamation
is reminded that activities within this program are eligible to com-
pete for additional funds provided under ‘‘Water Conservation and
Delivery.’’
Snow Monitoring.—The Committee notes that water deficits and
droughts are expected to continue to occur and encourages Rec-
lamation to ensure continued coordination with other state and fed-
eral agencies to utilize snow monitoring tools in a manner that en-
sures proper data collection, analysis, and processing associated
with real-time measurement of snowpack across watersheds. Rec-
lamation is encouraged to use the best available technology and in-
novative techniques for the purposes of forecasting timing, dura-
tion, and quantities of snow-fed water supplies to provide accurate
information on water supply levels in the 17 western states. Rec-
lamation is reminded that these activities are eligible to compete
for the additional funding provided under ‘‘Water Conservation and
Delivery.’’
Tualatin Project, Scoggins Dam, Oregon.—The Committee sup-
ports the budget request for preconstruction activities at Scoggins
Dam under the Safety of Dams program. Safety is the paramount
consideration regarding this project. The Committee is encouraged
that Reclamation has been using its authority provided by Public
Law 114–113 to work with non-federal joint project partners to
evaluate alternatives, including new or supplementary works to ad-
dress both dam safety modifications and increased storage capacity.
Considering the high risk associated with Scoggins Dam, the Com-
mittee urges Reclamation to work with local stakeholders and re-
payment contractors on this joint project and continue to review
measures to protect public safety, water security, and the economic
health of the region. In addition, the Committee directs Reclama-
tion to expeditiously finalize the Joint Project Contributed Funds
Act agreement and cost-share agreements in order to fully account
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for investments by the non-federal joint project partner, prior to
the Notice of Intent.
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Western Water.—The Committee remains concerned about water
shortages and drought in the west. The Committee supports contin-
ued investment in surface storage, desalination and water purifi-
cation projects, and the Title XVI program and opportunities to
store, reuse, and conserve water in drought-prone regions.
White Mountain Apache Rural Water System Project.—Reclama-
tion is directed to continue to work with the White Mountain
Apache Tribe on the White Mountain Apache Rural Water System
project, and is reminded that this project is eligible to compete for
the additional funding provided in ‘‘Water Conservation and Deliv-
ery.’’
Mni Wiconi Project, South Dakota.—Reclamation is directed to
continue working with the tribes and relevant federal agencies,
such as the Department of Agriculture, the Environmental Protec-
tion Agency, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Indian Health Serv-
ice, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, to co-
ordinate use of all existing authorities and funding sources to fin-
ish needed community system upgrades and connections, as well as
transfers of those systems, as quickly as possible.
Yakima River Basin Water Enhancement Project Integrated Plan,
Washington.—The Committee notes that the Yakima Basin Inte-
grated Plan, developed to address water storage, water supply, and
fishery and ecosystem restoration needs for agriculture, fish, and
municipalities within the Yakima River Basin in Central Wash-
ington, was authorized by Public Law 116–9. The Committee is
supportive of the Plan and reminds Reclamation that activities
within this program are eligible to compete for additional funds
provided in this account.
Salton Sea Restoration.—The Committee supports the Memo-
randum of Understanding signed between the Department of the
Interior and the California Natural Resources Agency to support
management activities at the Salton Sea. Additionally, the Com-
mittee is concerned by the public health, environmental, agricul-
tural, and natural resource impacts at the Salton Sea. The Com-
mittee encourages Reclamation to partner with federal, state, and
local agencies and coordinate use of all existing authorities to sup-
port the State of California’s Salton Sea Management Program.
Reclamation is reminded that these activities are eligible to com-
pete for additional funds provided in this account.
Salton Sea Research Program.—Reclamation is reminded that ac-
tivities and projects associated with habitat improvement, water
quality, and system development, projects with a public health ben-
efit that will benefit economically disadvantaged communities, and
projects that take a multi-agency approach are eligible to compete
for additional funds provided in this act.
San Carlos Apache Tribe.—The Committee has heard concerns
about the status of the San Carlos Apache Tribe’s Central Arizona
Project water delivery project and directs Reclamation to provide a
briefing to the Committee not later than 90 days after enactment
of this Act on the status of this project.
San Joaquin River Restoration Program.—Permanent appropria-
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tions, newly available for the program in fiscal year 2020, should
not supplant continued annual appropriations, and the Committee
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86
encourages Reclamation to include adequate funding in future
budget submissions.
San Justo Reservoir, California.—The Committee recognizes the
benefits of the San Justo Reservoir Mussel Eradication Project, and
Reclamation is reminded that this project is eligible to compete for
the additional funding provided in ‘‘Water Conservation and Deliv-
ery.’’
Research and Development: Desalination and Water Purification
Program.—Of the funding provided for this program, $7,075,000
shall be for desalination projects as authorized in section 4009(a)
of Public Law 114–322. Reclamation is encouraged give special con-
sideration to drought-prone regions and in collaboration with pos-
sible partners in the Middle East, including Israel.
WaterSMART Program: Title XVI Water Reclamation & Reuse
Program.—Of the funding provided for this program, $11,791,000
shall be for water recycling and reuse projects as authorized in sec-
tion 4009(c) of Public Law 114–322.
Water Management Improvement Grants.—The Committee di-
rects Reclamation to ensure that all projects funded under 42
U.S.C. 10364 comply with 42 U.S.C. 10364(a)(3)(B) and to articu-
late the use of the conserved water with all announcements of
funding awards. To ensure that these projects achieve quantifiable
water savings, the Committee directs Reclamation to provide not
later than 180 days after enactment of this Act a report on how
much water each grant awardee anticipated it would conserve in
fiscal year 2020, how each grant awardee planned to use the con-
served water in fiscal year 2020, and how each grant awardee en-
sured that conserved water did not increase its consumptive water
use.
In addition, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security
(CARES) Act (Public Law 116–136) included $12,500,000, of which
$500,000 was transferred to the Central Utah Project Completion
Account, to prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus.
CENTRAL VALLEY PROJECT RESTORATION FUND
Appropriation, 2020 ............................................................................ $54,849,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ....................................................................... 55,875,000
Recommended, 2021 ........................................................................... 55,875,000
Comparison:
Appropriation, 2020 .................................................................... +1,026,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ................................................................ –––
This fund was established to carry out the provisions of the Cen-
tral Valley Project Improvement Act and to provide funding for
habitat restoration, improvement and acquisition, and other fish
and wildlife restoration activities in the Central Valley area of
California. Resources are derived from donations, revenues from
voluntary water transfers and tiered water pricing, and Friant Di-
vision surcharges. The account also is financed through additional
mitigation and restoration payments collected on an annual basis
from project beneficiaries.
Within available funds, the Committee provides funding for pro-
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grams and activities according to the budget request. The Com-
mittee notes that the amount for this account in the budget request
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and recommendation is based on a three-year rolling average of col-
lections, in accordance with the authorizing statute.
Anadromous Fish Screen Program.—The Committee rec-
ommendation includes not less than $1,200,000 for the Anad-
romous Fish Screen Program, in accordance with the budget re-
quest. The Committee continues to be concerned with the dis-
connect between funding levels requested and ultimately allocated
for the Anadromous Fish Screen Program. The Committee urges
Reclamation to maintain its focus on screening the remaining high
priority diversions from within funds made available under the
Central Valley Project Restoration Fund.
CALIFORNIA BAY DELTA RESTORATION
(INCLUDING TRANSFERS OF FUNDS)
Appropriation, 2020 ............................................................................ $33,000,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ....................................................................... 33,000,000
Recommended, 2021 ........................................................................... 33,000,000
Comparison:
Appropriation, 2020 .................................................................... –––
Budget estimate, 2021 ................................................................ –––
The California Bay-Delta Restoration account funds the federal
share of water supply and reliability improvements, ecosystem im-
provements, and other activities being developed for the Sac-
ramento-San Joaquin Delta and associated watersheds by a state
and federal partnership (CALFED). Federal participation in this
program was initially authorized in the California Bay-Delta Envi-
ronmental and Water Security Act enacted in 1996.
The Committee notes that this important program was pre-
viously funded at $35,000,000 and encourages the Administration
to return to this level of funding in future budget requests.
POLICY AND ADMINISTRATION
Appropriation, 2020 ............................................................................ $60,000,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ....................................................................... 60,000,000
Recommended, 2021 ........................................................................... 60,000,000
Comparison:
Appropriation, 2020 .................................................................... –––
Budget estimate, 2021 ................................................................ –––
The Policy and Administration account provides for the executive
direction and management of all Reclamation activities, as per-
formed by the Commissioner’s office in Washington, D.C.; the Tech-
nical Service Center in Denver, Colorado; and in six regional of-
fices. The Denver and regional offices charge individual projects or
activities for direct beneficial services and related administrative
and technical costs. These charges are covered under other appro-
priations.
In addition, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security
(CARES) Act (Public Law 116—136) included $8,100,000 to pre-
vent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus.
ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISION
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The bill includes an administrative provision allowing for the
purchase of passenger motor vehicles.
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GENERAL PROVISIONS—DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
The bill continues a provision regarding the circumstances in
which the Bureau of Reclamation may reprogram funds.
The bill continues a provision regarding the San Luis Unit and
Kesterson Reservoir in California.
The bill contains a provision regarding the Secure Water Act of
2009.
The bill contains a provision regarding the CALFED Bay-Delta
Authorization Act.
The bill contains a provision regarding the Omnibus Public Land
Management Act of 2009.
The bill contains a provision regarding the Cooperative Water-
shed Management Program.
The bill contains a provision regarding the Reclamation States
Emergency Drought Relief Act of 1991.
The bill contains a provision regarding the Claims Resolution
Settlement Act.
The bill contains a provision prohibiting the use of funds in this
Act for certain activities.
The bill contains a provision regarding the Omnibus Public Land
Management Act of 2009.
TITLE III—DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
INTRODUCTION
Funds recommended in Title III provide for all Department of
Energy programs, including Energy Efficiency and Renewable En-
ergy; Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response;
Electricity; Nuclear Energy; Fossil Energy Research and Develop-
ment; Naval Petroleum and Oil Shale Reserves; the Strategic Pe-
troleum Reserve; SPR Petroleum Account; the Northeast Home
Heating Oil Reserve; the Energy Information Administration; Non-
Defense Environmental Cleanup; the Uranium Enrichment Decon-
tamination and Decommissioning Fund; Science; Nuclear Waste
Disposal; Advanced Research Projects Agency—Energy; Innovative
Technology Loan Guarantee Program; Advanced Technology Vehi-
cle Manufacturing Loan Program; Tribal Energy Loan Guarantee
Program; Office of Indian Energy Policy and Programs; Depart-
mental Administration; Office of the Inspector General; the Na-
tional Nuclear Security Administration (Weapons Activities, De-
fense Nuclear Nonproliferation, Naval Reactors, and Federal Sala-
ries and Expenses); Defense Environmental Cleanup; Defense Ura-
nium Enrichment Decontamination and Decommissioning; Other
Defense Activities; the Power Marketing Administrations; and the
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
The Department of Energy has requested a total budget of
$35,729,069,000 in fiscal year 2021 to fund programs in its four
primary mission areas: science, energy, environment, and national
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security. The Department of Energy budget request is
$2,857,247,000 below the fiscal year 2020 level. The recommenda-
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89
tion provides $40,865,178,000 for the Department of Energy,
$5,136,109,000 above the budget request.
The Committee’s recommendations for Department of Energy
programs in fiscal year 2021 are described in the following sections.
A detailed funding table is included at the end of this title.
CONGRESSIONAL DIRECTION
Article I, section 9 of the United States Constitution states, ‘‘No
money shall be drawn from the Treasury but in consequence of Ap-
propriations made by law.’’
The Committee continues to include the Department’s re-
programming authority in statute to ensure that the Department
carries out its programs consistent with congressional direction.
This reprogramming authority is established at the program,
project, or activity level, whichever is the most specific level of
budget items identified in this Act and the Committee report ac-
companying this Act. The Committee also prohibits new starts
through the use of reprogramming and includes other direction to
improve public oversight of the Department’s actions. In addition,
the recommendation continues to include a general provision speci-
fying which transfer authorities may be used for accounts funded
by this Act.
The Committee counts on a timely and accessible executive
branch in the course of fulfilling its constitutional role in the ap-
propriations process. Requesting and receiving basic, factual infor-
mation, including budget justification materials and responses to
inquiries, is vital in order to ensure transparency and account-
ability. While some discussions internal to the executive branch
may be pre-decisional in nature and therefore not subject to re-
lease, the Committee’s access to the facts, figures, and statistics
that inform the decisions of the executive branch are not subject
to those same sensitivities. The Committee shall have ready and
timely access to information from the Department, Federally Fund-
ed Research and Development Centers, and any recipient of fund-
ing from this Act. Further, the Committee appreciates the ability
for open and direct communication with all recipients of funding
from this Act, and the Department shall not interfere with such
communication.
REPROGRAMMING AND TRANSFER GUIDELINES
The Committee requires the Department to inform the Com-
mittee promptly when a change in program execution and funding
is required during the fiscal year. The Department’s reprogram-
ming requirements are detailed in statute. To assist the Depart-
ment in this effort, the following guidance is provided for programs
and activities.
Definition.—A reprogramming includes the reallocation of funds
from one activity to another within an appropriation. The rec-
ommendation includes a general provision providing internal re-
programming authority to the Department, as long as no program,
project, or activity is increased or decreased by more than
$5,000,000 or 10 percent, whichever is less, compared to the levels
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in the table detailing the Committee’s recommendations for the De-
partment’s various accounts. For construction projects, a re-
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programming constitutes the reallocation of funds from one con-
struction project to another project or a change of $2,000,000 or 10
percent, whichever is less, in the scope of an approved project.
Criteria for Reprogramming.—A reprogramming should be made
only when an unforeseen situation arises, and then only if delay of
the project or activity until the next fiscal year would result in a
detrimental impact to an agency program or priority. A reprogram-
ming may also be considered if the Department can show that sig-
nificant cost savings can accrue by increasing funding for an activ-
ity. Mere convenience or preference shall not be a factor for consid-
eration. A reprogramming may not be employed to initiate new pro-
grams or to change program, project, or activity allocations specifi-
cally denied, limited, or increased by the Congress in the Act or re-
port.
Reporting and Approval Procedures.—In recognition of the secu-
rity missions of the Department, the legislative guidelines allow
the Secretary and the Administrator of the National Nuclear Secu-
rity Administration jointly to waive the reprogramming restriction
by certifying to the Committee that it is in the nation’s security in-
terest to do so. The Department shall not deviate from the levels
for activities specified in the report that are below the level of the
detail table, except through the regular notification procedures of
the Committee. No funds may be added to programs for which
funding has been denied. Any reallocation of new or prior-year
budget authority or prior-year de-obligations, or any request to im-
plement a reorganization that includes moving previous appropria-
tions between appropriations accounts must be submitted to the
Committee in writing and shall not be implemented prior to ap-
proval by the Committee.
Transfers.—As in fiscal year 2020, funding actions into or out of
accounts funded by this Act may only be made by transfer authori-
ties provided by this or other appropriations Acts.
FINANCIAL REPORTING AND MANAGEMENT
The Department is still not in compliance with its statutory re-
quirement to submit to Congress, at the time that the President’s
budget request is submitted, a future-years energy program that
covers the fiscal year of the budget submission and the four suc-
ceeding years, as directed in the fiscal year 2012 Act. In addition,
the Department has an outstanding requirement to submit a plan
to become fully compliant with this requirement. The Department
is directed to provide these requirements not later than 30 days
after enactment of this Act.
Working Capital Fund.—The Department has requested
$281,894,000 for the Working Capital Fund for fiscal year 2021.
The Committee provides $281,894,000 for this purpose and directs
that if the Department transfers additional amounts to the Work-
ing Capital Fund, notification must be provided to the Committee
in advance of any such transfer. The notification shall identify the
sources of funds by program, project, or activity. Further, the De-
partment shall notify the Committee before adding or removing
any activities from the fund.
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Alleviation of Poverty.—In each year since fiscal year 2016, the
Committee has directed the Department to provide a report detail-
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91
ing all domestic and international projects and programs within its
jurisdiction that contribute to the alleviation of poverty. The Com-
mittee is still awaiting this report and directs the Department to
provide this report not later than 30 days after enactment of this
Act.
Public Access Plan.—The Committee appreciates the Department
issuing its Public Access Plan on July 24, 2014. The Committee
urges the Department to continue efforts towards full implementa-
tion of the plan and expects an update on progress be included in
the fiscal year 2022 budget request.
Improper Payments.—The Committee continues to be concerned
that the Department is failing in its responsibility to ensure that
contracts, including management and operating (M&O) contracts
with incurred costs valued at billions of dollars per year, are being
audited appropriately and in a timely manner within the Depart-
ment’s Cooperative Audit Strategy. The Department was directed
in the fiscal year 2015 Act to carry out a plan to improve its cost
audit coverage, but the Department has not reported any progress
on issues identified by the Department’s Inspector General associ-
ated with its cost audit coverage. The Department was also di-
rected in the fiscal year 2019 Act to provide the Committee with
a plan for removing the Department from the Government Account-
ability Office’s (GAO) High Risk List for Fraud, Waste, and Abuse
for its contract management. This report was to include plans to
improve contract auditing and the tracking of meaningful data for
fraud, waste, and abuse in its contracts. The Department has failed
to provide the plan and is directed to do so not later than 15 days
after enactment of this Act. The Department is further directed to
review its Cooperative Audit Strategy and identify potential
changes to the Strategy, including requiring M&O contractors to
have external independent audits at least every three years, and
assess any benefits and drawbacks of potential changes. The De-
partment shall brief the Committee not later than 90 days after en-
actment of this Act on its findings. The Comptroller General of the
United States is directed to review the Department’s Cooperative
Audit Strategy and the Department’s proposed changes to the
strategy and assess the adequacy of these items in meeting Gov-
ernment Accountability Office (GAO) recommendations and con-
gressional direction. The GAO shall brief the Committee on its
findings at a schedule to be determined in consultation with the
Committee.
Seismic Testing Facility.—The Committee notes that the Depart-
ment is working to complete construction and commissioning of a
seismic testing facility, including the performance of first experi-
ments to validate the development of this advanced simulation tool.
Once commissioning is complete, the Committee urges the Infra-
structure and Operations and the Environment, Health, Safety and
Security offices to ensure the Department is fully educated on the
opportunities afforded by this facility, and the Committee encour-
ages appropriate Departmental use of the testing facility for experi-
mental validation of responsiveness of critical nuclear facilities to
seismic events. With many of the Department’s mission-critical fa-
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cilities located in seismically active regions, it is vital for the De-
partment to accurately and reliably predict system response, ex-
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92
pected earthquake response, and potential damage to critical nu-
clear facilities from earthquakes.
Commonly Recycled Paper.—The Department shall not expend
funds for projects that knowingly use as a feedstock commonly re-
cycled paper that is segregated from municipal solid waste or col-
lected as part of a collection system that commingles commonly re-
cycled paper with other solid waste at any point from the time of
collection through materials recovery.
Community Reuse Organizations.—The Department is reminded
of its authority to transfer excess personal property and equipment
to Department-designated Community Reuse Organizations in
order to promote economic diversification and job creation in com-
munities where the Department’s sites are located, and the Depart-
ment is encouraged to ensure that relevant agency employees
throughout the Department are aware of current policies to imple-
ment this authority. The Committee directs the Department to con-
tinue personal property programs that operated in fiscal years 2019
and 2020.
Congressional Reporting Requirements.—The Committee is con-
cerned by the Department’s often lengthy delays in meeting its
Congressional reporting requirements. The Department is directed
to establish a tracking mechanism for all Congressional reporting
requirements, to be led by the Office of the Chief Financial Officer.
The Department shall brief the Committee not later than 30 days
after enactment of this Act on this effort.
WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT AND DIVERSITY
Workforce Development.—The Committee recognizes the need to
ensure that our nation has a ready, capable workforce both for
today and the next generation to meet changing energy demands
and safeguard our national nuclear security. The Department has
a long history in and unique opportunity of training and supporting
the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics workforce.
The fiscal year 2020 Act directed the Department to provide a re-
port that includes an inventory of workforce development and read-
iness programs supported throughout the Department. The inven-
tory was required to include current programs, past programs over
the past 10 years, and recommendations for the Department to im-
prove or expand its workforce development efforts. The report was
required to include specific recommendations addressing workforce
readiness to meet the Department’s nuclear security missions. The
Committee is still awaiting this report and directs the Department
to provide this report not later than 30 days after enactment of this
Act.
The Department is encouraged to support pre-apprenticeship and
apprenticeship programs focused on technical skills needed for po-
sitions at the national laboratories.
Workplace Diversity.—The Committee recognizes the importance
of workplace diversity at the Department and its national labora-
tories. The Committee encourages the Department to continue to
develop and broaden partnerships with minority serving institu-
tions, including Hispanic Serving Institutions, Historically Black
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Colleges and Universities, Asian and Pacific Islander Serving Insti-
tutions, Predominantly Black Institutions, Tribal Colleges and Uni-
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93
versities, and other Minority Serving Institutions. The Committee
understands that each national laboratory develops its own recruit-
ment and retainment strategies and provides those plans to the
Department for review. The fiscal year 2020 Act directed the De-
partment to comprehensively evaluate these plans and provide a
report to the Committee detailing efforts to recruit and retain di-
verse talent from the institutions mentioned above. Further, the
fiscal year 2020 Act directed the Department to provide to the
Committee a report on its internal programs that support research
and development opportunities from the institutions mentioned
above. The Committee is still awaiting these reports and directs
the Department to provide these reports not later than 30 days
after enactment of this Act.
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT POLICY
Research and Development Policy.—The budget request again
proposes to focus the Department solely on early-stage research
and development activities at the expense of medium- and later-
stage research and development, including deployment, demonstra-
tion, and other approaches to spur innovation. The Committee re-
jects this short-sighted and limited approach, which will ensure
that technology advancements will remain in early-stage form and
are unlikely to integrate the results of this early-stage research
into the nation’s energy system. While early-stage research and de-
velopment has an appropriate place in a balanced research port-
folio, the Committee strongly believes that a focus on only early-
stage activities will forego the nation’s scientific capabilities in
medium- and later-stage research and development and will not
fully realize the technological advancements that can and should
happen as a result of the Department’s applied energy activities.
The Committee provides robust funding to support a comprehen-
sive, balanced approach that also includes medium- and later-stage
research, development, deployment, and demonstration activities.
The Committee directs the Department to follow this comprehen-
sive approach in each applied energy research and development
program office and expend funding in an expeditious manner, to in-
clude the timely issuance of funding opportunity announcements
and awards of funds. To capitalize on the research infrastructure
and expertise at universities across the country, the Committee en-
courages the Department to increase opportunities for universities
to compete for funding within the Department’s portfolio of re-
search.
CROSSCUTTING INITIATIVES
Grid Modernization.—The Department is directed to continue the
ongoing work among the national laboratories, industry, and uni-
versities to improve grid reliability and resiliency through the stra-
tegic goals of the Grid Modernization Initiative (GMI). The Com-
mittee recognizes the accomplishments of over 200 partners from
industry, academia, and state governments in these efforts. The
Department shall brief the Committee not later than 90 days after
enactment of this Act on the funding profiles, portfolio of funding
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opportunities, programmatic investments for the Initiative, and the
roles and responsibilities of each participating program office. The
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Committee supports the Grid Modernization Laboratory Consor-
tium and continued implementation of the Grid Multi-Year Pro-
gram Plan (MYPP) to ensure coordination across all applied pro-
gram offices, including the additions of the Offices of Cybersecurity,
Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER); Nuclear En-
ergy (NE); and Fossil Energy (FE) to the MYPP. The Committee
directs the Department to emphasize national energy systems resil-
ience modeling and improved grid cyber resilience to address
emerging national resilience challenges of the grid and related en-
ergy systems, planned investments in energy storage to improve
grid flexibility and resilience, and advanced sensors and control
paradigms that promise to improve energy system resilience of the
grid of the future. The Committee recognizes the growing impor-
tance of training and workforce development to support grid mod-
ernization research and development, and the Committee directs
the Department to develop a plan for a pipeline of students, grad-
uates, and professors to sustain a robust grid modernization re-
search, design, and operations capability over the long-term. The
recommendation provides not less than $392,500,000 for GMI, in-
cluding not less than $114,500,000 from the Office of Energy Effi-
ciency and Renewable Energy (EERE); not less than $172,000,000
from the Office of Electricity (OE); not less than $90,000,000 from
CESER; not less than $13,000,000 from FE, and not less than
$3,000,000 from NE.
Within available funds for GMI, the recommendation provides
not less than $4,000,000 for university-based R&D of scalable
cyber-physical platforms for resilient and secure electric power sys-
tems that are flexible, modular, self-healing, and autonomous.
Within available funds for GMI, the recommendation provides up
to $10,000,000 to establish a network of university-based, regional
electric power-cybersecurity centers. The centers should address
interrelated research and development challenges of cybersecurity
and critical energy infrastructure and develop a trained, globally
competitive workforce. The centers should be distributed regionally
across the country to leverage regional utilities, national labora-
tories, and regulatory bodies and consider the distinctive character-
istics of each region’s electricity system, network of infrastructure,
and workforce expertise.
Within available funds for GMI, the recommendation provides up
to $9,500,000 for a pilot project to demonstrate cybersecurity best
practices and collaborations in deploying and operating cybersecure
electric vehicle charging facilities.
Public, open-source decentralized technologies like blockchain, in
combination with digital identities, are positioned to enable innova-
tion for advanced digital solutions that solve various market pain
points associated with the registration, scheduling, dispatch and
activation, measurement and verification, and financial settlement
of energy customers and their devices. These digital solutions may
help grid operators, electric utilities, energy companies, and cus-
tomers to capture the full potential of investments in grid mod-
ernization. The Committee directs the Department to coordinate re-
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search on the opportunity and needs for new digital solutions built
with public, open-source decentralized technologies to support elec-
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tric grid modernization efforts. These research efforts should in-
clude state regulatory and consumer privacy components.
The Committee is concerned about the increasing frequency of
severe weather events that have the capability to cause power out-
ages and disable the electric grid. While the ability to forecast and
model extreme weather events has drastically improved in recent
decades, most power grid operators lack similarly sophisticated
tools to combine specific weather forecasts and data on state and
regional grid infrastructure to better predict where specifically out-
ages will be most severe. GMI has excelled in recent years at work-
ing with public and private partners to develop the concepts, tools,
and technologies needed to measure, analyze, predict, protect, and
control the grid of the future. The Committee strongly recommends
that the GMI include efforts to develop regional predictive models
of weather-caused power outages in its next Grid Modernization
Lab Call and MYPP to address this pressing need.
The Committee understands the benefits that natural gas de-
mand response could bring to the electric grid, including reducing
energy costs and emissions. The recommendation provides up to
$15,000,000, including not less than $10,000,000 from FE, for nat-
ural gas demand response pilot programs to be developed by gas
utilities, state public utility commissions, and local distribution
companies. The Committee encourages the Department to prioritize
funding of pilots that have the potential to advance real-time de-
ployment and testing of new technologies that could be used to
monitor the effectiveness of natural gas demand response.
Energy Storage.—The Committee supports the Department’s on-
going efforts to formulate the Energy Storage Grand Challenge ini-
tiative to build on and coordinate the Department’s prior research,
development, and demonstration efforts in energy storage to accel-
erate the development, commercialization, and utilization of next-
generation energy storage technologies.
The Committee directs the Department to publish not later than
180 days after enactment of this Act a crosscutting R&D roadmap
and implementation plan to illustrate the Energy Storage Grand
Challenge’s goals through 2030, focusing efforts on a diverse set of
energy storage technologies and in coordination among EERE, OE,
FE, NE, and the Office of Science. The R&D roadmap shall include
a focus on the technical, regulatory, and market issues necessary
to achieve technology goals, and the implementation plan shall in-
clude a breakdown of the roles and responsibilities of each partici-
pating program office. The Department is directed to provide quar-
terly briefings to the Committee on these efforts, starting not later
than 90 days after enactment of this Act.
The recommendation provides not less than $205,000,000 for en-
ergy storage, including not less than $97,000,000 from EERE, not
less than $75,000,000 from OE, not less than $5,000,000 from FE,
not less than $4,000,000 from NE, and not less than $24,000,000
from the Office of Science.
The recommendation provides for not less than one pilot energy
storage project that demonstrates business model innovation tar-
geted at cost-effective deployment through aggregation in rural
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electric cooperatives. The Department is encouraged to focus on re-
ducing the soft costs of novel project design and optimization and
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developing legal and power purchase model agreements that can be
replicated in cooperatives elsewhere in the nation, reducing future
costs for deployment of energy storage projects.
Critical Minerals.—The modern global economy has increasingly
come to depend on access to a number of critical materials that
were not widely used or considered essential to manufacturing just
a few decades ago. Given that growing dependency, the Committee
appreciates the Department’s elevation and coordination of the ex-
isting critical minerals activities across the Department through
the newly established Critical Minerals Initiative. The Department
shall brief the Committee not later than 90 days after enactment
of this Act on the funding profiles, portfolio of funding opportuni-
ties, programmatic investments, and roles and responsibilities of
each participating program office. The recommendation provides
not less than $107,500,000 for activities related to critical minerals,
including not less than $52,000,000 from EERE, $29,500,000 from
FE, not less than $1,000,000 from NE, and not less than
$25,000,000 from the Office of Science.
Plastics Innovation Challenge and Revolutionizing Polymer
Upcycling.—In fiscal year 2020, the Department launched the Plas-
tics Innovation Challenge with the stated goal of reducing the en-
ergy costs associated with the current lifecycle of plastics; devel-
oping new polymers that are recyclable-by-design; and developing
biological and chemical methods to deconstruct plastic waste, in-
cluding from rivers and oceans, into useful chemical feedstock
streams. While these are important goals, the Committee continues
to be concerned about partnerships, relationships with sponsoring
institutes, and implementation of the program. The Committee re-
mains concerned with certain partnerships under this initiative
and that the focus of this research may result in promoting the use
of more plastic, not less.
In the fiscal year 2021 budget request, EERE proposes activities
to explore novel feedstocks, technologies, and approaches to eco-
nomically deconstruct existing plastics; increase opportunities for
upcycling; develop infinitely recyclable polymers; and to make bet-
ter use of renewable chemicals and biodegradable alternatives to
traditional plastics. In the fiscal year 2021 budget request, the Of-
fice of Science proposes activities to discover the chemical and bio-
logical pathways for transforming polymers and synthesizing high-
value chemicals or new polymers. The Committee is concerned
about the lack of coordination and a cohesive research agenda for
these activities and directs the Department to provide to the Com-
mittee a report that describes a coordinated research plan for ac-
tivities within EERE, the Office of Science, and any other relevant
program office. The research plan shall include the roles and re-
sponsibilities for each program office. The report shall be provided
not later than 90 days after enactment of this Act and prior to any
funds being obligated for these purposes.
The recommendation provides not more than $35,000,000 for re-
search activities related to plastics and polymers, including up to
$20,500,000 from EERE and up to $14,500,000 from the Office of
Science.
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Integrated Energy Systems.—The Committee supports the inte-
grated energy systems activities of EERE, FE, and NE with the
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purposes of maximizing energy production and efficiency; devel-
oping energy systems involving the integration of nuclear energy
with renewable energy, fossil energy, and energy storage; and ex-
panding the use of emissions-reducing energy technologies into
nonelectric sectors to achieve significant reductions in environ-
mental emissions. The recommendation provides not less than
$15,000,000 for activities related to integrated energy systems, in-
cluding not less than $5,000,000 from FE and not less than
$10,000,000 from NE. The Department is directed to submit to the
Committee not later than 90 days after enactment of this Act a re-
port that details a potential research agenda of integrated energy
systems activities, including estimated funding levels for those ac-
tivities and the roles and responsibilities of each participating pro-
gram office. The Department is directed to coordinate all integrated
energy systems activities across FE, NE, EERE, and any other rel-
evant program office.
Negative Emissions Technologies.—Negative emissions tech-
nologies, also referred to as carbon dioxide removal technologies,
aim to remove and sequester excess carbon from the atmosphere,
and these technologies have been identified as an important part
of the portfolio of responses to climate change. The fiscal year 2020
Act directed the Department to develop an implementation plan co-
ordinated across EERE, FE, and the Office of Science. The Com-
mittee is still awaiting this plan and directs the Department to
provide the plan not later than 30 days after enactment of this Act.
The Department is directed to include a breakdown of the roles and
responsibilities of each participating program office in the imple-
mentation plan. The recommendation provides not less than
$95,000,000 for research and development of negative emissions
technologies, including not less than $20,000,000 from EERE, not
less than $50,000,000 from FE, and not less than $25,000,000 from
the Office of Science. Within available funds for negative emissions
technologies, the recommendation provides not less than
$40,000,000 for direct air capture, including not less than
$10,000,000 from EERE, not less than $20,000,000 from FE, and
not less than $10,000,000 from the Office of Science.
Emissions Reductions.—The Committee directs the Department
to take into consideration the projected reductions in greenhouse
gas emissions when selecting activities and projects for funding
within EERE, OE, NE, and FE. The Department shall not fund
projects within EERE, OE, NE, and FE, that do not demonstrate
potential for emissions reductions or improved environmental per-
formance.
ENERGY PROGRAMS
ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND RENEWABLE ENERGY
Appropriation, 2020 ............................................................................ $2,790,000,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ....................................................................... 719,563,000
Recommended, 2021 ........................................................................... 2,848,000,000
Comparison:
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Appropriation, 2020 .................................................................... +58,000,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ................................................................ +2,128,437,000
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The Committee recommends a net appropriation of
$2,848,000,000 for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
(EERE). The recommendation also includes a rescission of
$2,240,293 of unused, previously appropriated funds. EERE pro-
grams include research, development, demonstration, and deploy-
ment activities that advance energy efficiency and renewable en-
ergy technologies, as well as federal energy assistance programs.
Since the early 1970s and in partnership with business, industry,
universities, research labs, and stakeholders, EERE has spurred
innovation of affordable, renewable energy and energy efficiency
technologies critical to combating climate change. EERE remains at
the forefront of clean energy innovation, implementing a range of
strategies aimed at reducing U.S. reliance on fossil fuels that is
saving American families and businesses money, creating jobs, and
reducing pollution.
The EERE program is divided into three portfolios: sustainable
transportation, renewable energy, and energy efficiency. The sus-
tainable transportation portfolio, which consists of the vehicles, bio-
energy, and hydrogen and fuel cell programs, advances the develop-
ment of plug-in electric and other alternative fuel vehicles, high-ef-
ficiency advanced combustion engines, and the replacement of oil
with clean domestic transportation fuels. The renewable energy
portfolio, which consists of the solar, wind, water, and geothermal
programs, aims to develop innovative technologies to make renew-
able electricity generation cost competitive with traditional sources
of energy. The energy efficiency portfolio, which consists of the ad-
vanced manufacturing, buildings, and federal energy assistance
programs, seeks cost-effective solutions to reduce energy consump-
tion in plants, buildings, and homes.
Additional Programmatic Direction.—Additional direction related
to Department-wide crosscutting initiatives is provided under the
heading Crosscutting Initiatives in the front matter of Department
of Energy.
Research and Development Policy.—The Department is reminded
that the research and development (R&D) policy contained in the
front matter of Title III of this report specifically applies to each
program within EERE. The Department shall provide the Com-
mittee with the specific breakdowns for R&D stages for both funds
that are allocated according to this report and any funds that are
not allocated by this report for each program.
The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.—
The Committee directs the Department to offer technical and other
programmatic assistance to the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico for
the assessment and implementation of innovative technologies with
the capability of combining different infrastructure systems in an
integrated manner to effectively mitigate power plant emissions, ef-
ficiently treat and reuse wastewater, produce biofuels, and gen-
erate power from solid waste. In addition, the Committee directs
the Department to offer technical and other programmatic assist-
ance to the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Is-
lands in assessing the feasibility of a Puerto Rico/U.S. Virgin Is-
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lands subsea electric cable interconnection. The Department is di-
rected to brief the Committee not later than 90 days after enact-
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99
ment of this Act on the status of, and future plans for, these ef-
forts.
DOE and USDA Interagency Working Group.—The Committee
looks forward to expeditiously receiving the report on research col-
laborations with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), in-
cluding at national laboratories, that was required by the fiscal
year 2020 Act. The Committee supports the establishment of the
interagency working group to promote energy and develop tech-
nologies that will support and advance agricultural communities
and domestic manufacturing, as required by the Agriculture Im-
provement Act of 2018. Both agencies have unique roles in assist-
ing the nation in integrating alternative fuels and energy efficiency
savings throughout our economy. The Committee directs the work-
ing group to pursue joint activities related to the research and de-
velopment of affordable, deployable, resilient energy and water effi-
cient technologies for four-season food production platforms that
can serve undernourished regions of the country. The Committee
further directs the working group to pursue joint activities related
to the energy and water efficiency of other agricultural platforms,
irrigation systems, wastewater treatment facilities, and green-
houses. To achieve this, the Committee encourages collaboration
between USDA’s Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Pro-
duction, the Agricultural Research Service, the Natural Resources
Conservation Service, and the National Institute of Food and Agri-
culture and various DOE offices including, but not limited to,
EERE, Advanced Research Projects Agency—Energy, the Office of
Science, and Fossil Energy.
Clean Energy Workforce.—The Committee believes a skilled
workforce is critical to the successful transition to a clean energy
economy and long-term sustainability of energy efficient and re-
newable energy technologies. The Committee encourages the De-
partment to continue to work with two-year, community and tech-
nical colleges, labor, and non-governmental and industry consortia
to pursue job training programs, including programs related to
building retrofits and the construction industry and programs fo-
cused on displaced fossil fuel workers that lead to an industry-rec-
ognized credential in the energy workforce.
Zero Emissions Energy Credit.—The Committee notes that in the
fiscal year 2018, 2019, and 2020 Acts the Department was directed
to produce a report to evaluate the effects of a Zero Emissions En-
ergy Credit. The Committee directs the Department to provide this
report not later than 15 days after enactment of this Act.
Underserved Communities.—The Department is directed to con-
tinue to expand its work to lower barriers for the adoption of re-
newable energy and other low emissions technologies for low-in-
come households, renters, multi-family homes, and racially diverse
communities. The Department shall provide to the Committee not
later than 90 days after enactment of this Act a briefing on its cur-
rent efforts to lower barriers for adoption of renewable energy in
low-income, racially-diverse, and historically underserved commu-
nities to include an update on its electric vehicle community part-
ner projects that support charging infrastructure deployment in
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urban areas, particularly in underserved and disadvantaged com-
munities.
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Energy Star.—The Committee supports the Department’s ongo-
ing role in the Energy Star program in its current structure.
SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORTATION
The Vehicle, Bioenergy, and Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Tech-
nologies programs fund activities that can reduce American de-
pendence on oil. Annually, vehicles transport 11 billion tons of
freight or about $35,000,000,000 worth of goods each day and move
more than three trillion vehicle miles. Research into cutting-edge
technologies that will increase the fuel economy of gasoline and
diesel fuel vehicles—the vast majority of today’s fleet—will allow
Americans to spend less on fuel while traveling the same distance.
Research into next-generation automotive and fuel cell technologies
that power vehicles with domestic energy sources such as natural
gas, electricity, biofuels, and hydrogen can likewise dramatically
lower the impact of gas prices on Americans.
Coordination.—The Committee directs the Vehicle, Bioenergy,
and Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies offices to continue to
work closely to develop common metrics to evaluate and compare
the costs and energy consumption of advanced transportation tech-
nologies with existing technologies and to support a broad portfolio
of vehicle technology innovation with a focus on demonstration,
field validation, and market transformation activities.
Vehicle Technologies.—The recommendation provides
$396,000,000 for Vehicle Technologies. Within available funds, the
recommendation includes $175,000,000 for Batteries and Electric
Drive Technology and not less than $40,000,000 for electric drive
research and development to include electrification technologies.
The recommendation provides $20,000,000 to launch the
SuperTruck III program and $1,000,000 to complete the EcoCAR
Mobility Challenge.
The Committee directs the Department to continue to support
the Clean Cities program, including competitive grant solicitations
to support alternative fuel, infrastructure, and vehicle deployment
activities. Within available funds, the recommendation provides
$43,000,000 for Deployment through the Clean Cities Program.
When issuing competitive grants in support of these activities, the
Department is encouraged to focus on awards that range from
$500,000 to $1,000,000 and include at least one Clean Cities coali-
tion partner. The Committee encourages the Department to ensure
balance in the award of funds to achieve varied aims in fostering
broader adoption of clean vehicles and installation of supporting in-
frastructure. The Committee encourages the Department to explore
ways in which the Clean Cities Program can leverage funding to
provide greater support for electrification efforts, recognizing the
strong emissions reduction and public health benefits delivered by
electrification.
Within available funds for Technology Integration, Data, Mod-
eling, and Analysis, the recommendation provides not less than
$10,000,000 to fund a pilot Clean School Bus Grant Program in co-
operation with current Electric Vehicle Community Partner
Projects. The pilot program shall focus on replacing old diesel
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school buses with alternative fuel school buses, to include electric
school buses. As part of this pilot, the Department shall consider
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101
deployment of recharging infrastructure, planning and technical as-
sistance to school districts, and workforce development and train-
ing.
Within available funds, the Committee includes up to
$10,000,000 for medium- and heavy-duty on-road natural gas en-
gine research and development, including energy efficiency im-
provements, emission after-treatment technologies, fuel system en-
hancements, and new engine development. The recommendation
also includes $10,000,000 to continue to support improving the en-
ergy efficiency of commercial off-road vehicles, of which up to
$5,000,000 is for fluid power systems.
The Committee encourages continued research and development
as appropriate in advanced combustion and vehicle engine tech-
nology efficiency in propane engines used for light- and medium-
duty applications. The recommendation provides up to $5,000,000
for research on direct injection, engine technology, and use of di-
methyl ether as fuel.
Within available funds, the Committee recommends $10,000,000
for section 131 of the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act
for transportation electrification.
The Committee supports the Department’s continued work on
electric air flight through its national laboratories and with the Na-
tional Aeronautical Space Administration (NASA). The Department
is directed to provide to the Committee not later than 180 days
after enactment of this Act a report, developed in cooperation with
NASA, that discusses battery storage needs, challenges, and oppor-
tunities in electric air flight. The Committee encourages efforts to
overcome technological barriers in demonstrating the capability of
higher energy density batteries, development of new, lower cost
materials, and the establishment of testing methods and protocols.
The Department shall provide to the Committee not later than
270 days after enactment of this Act a report with recommenda-
tions to enhance domestic manufacturing of battery technologies to
include recommendations on reducing the size of vehicle batteries
and reducing the use of cobalt.
The Committee encourages continued outreach and deployment
activities of renewable natural gas and natural gas-powered vehi-
cles.
The Department is reminded that the fiscal year 2020 Act di-
rected a report on describing research and development activities
applicable to two-stroke opposed piston engines within the Vehicle
Technologies Office and how this research differs from ongoing
work within the Department and other agencies. The Committee
looks forward to receiving this report expeditiously.
The Committee supports existing work to develop a lifecycle
model that fully evaluates energy and emission impacts of ad-
vanced and new transportation fuels, the fuel cycle from well to
wheel, and the vehicle cycle through material recovery and vehicle
disposal. The Committee encourages further research to develop
standardized modeling that establishes a tool that can be used for
future lifecycle analysis reporting and accounting.
Bioenergy Technologies.—The recommendation provides
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$258,000,000 for Bioenergy Technologies. The recommendation pro-
vides not less than $40,000,000 for feedstock supply and logistics,
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102
of which $5,000,000 is for upgrades at the Biomass Feedstock Na-
tional User Facility. The recommendation provides $40,000,000 for
advanced algal systems.
Within available funds for Conversion Technologies, the rec-
ommendation provides $20,000,000 to continue the Agile Biology
Foundry.
The Committee is supportive of current Bio-Restore efforts and
directs continued research on carbon storage in forest lands and
the impacts of different forest management practices that may re-
sult in preservation and expansion of forests and grasslands.
The Committee is appreciative of research that the Department
has supported regarding wet and gaseous waste streams in waste-
to-energy projects. The Committee remains interested in under-
standing how further research and development activities can sup-
port baseload power generation using municipal solid waste-to-en-
ergy technologies, including to lower the energy costs of wastewater
treatment plants. The Department is reminded that the fiscal year
2018 Act required a report on research and development activities
that can improve the economic viability of municipal solid waste-
to-energy facilities. The Committee looks forward to receiving this
report promptly.
The Committee encourages the Department to focus on defining
and meeting technical targets that reduce the costs of sustainable
aviation fuels through the conversion of low-cost waste carbon as
feedstocks. These efforts should consider relevant global supply
chains and should be coordinated with national laboratories, other
federal agencies, the aviation industry, and universities.
Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies.—The recommendation pro-
vides $150,000,000 for Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies. With-
in available funds, the Committee recommends not less than
$51,000,000 for Systems Development and Integration, of which
not less than $10,000,000 is for Safety, Codes, and Standards and
up to $10,000,000 is for industry-led manufacturing, research, de-
velopment, and deployment, with a focus on fuel cell stack manu-
facturing cost reduction. Within available funds, $15,000,000 is
provided to cost share the Office of Nuclear Energy hydrogen dem-
onstration project. The recommendation provides $25,000,000 for
Fuel Cell Technologies with a focus on reducing fuel cell system
cost and improving overall system efficiency and durability.
The Committee remains supportive of H2@Scale activities that
enable wide-scale hydrogen production and use as well as resiliency
of power generation and transmission, and the recommendation
provides not less than $80,000,000 for these activities. The Depart-
ment is encouraged to pursue research on large-scale low carbon
intensity hydrogen production, including next-generation lique-
faction plants, large-scale hydrogen storage, and development sys-
tems and equipment for the delivery of hydrogen, including pipe-
lines. Further, the Department is encouraged to research ways to
reduce the cost of hydrogen fuel production, storage, and distribu-
tion, including lowering the cost and improving durability of key
infrastructure hardware.
The Department is directed to continue to research novel on-
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board hydrogen tank systems, as well as trailer delivery systems
to reduce cost of delivered hydrogen and to work with the Depart-
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103
ment of Transportation on coordinating efforts to deploy hydrogen
fueling infrastructure.
RENEWABLE ENERGY
The Solar Energy, Wind Energy, Water Power, and Geothermal
Technologies programs fund applied research, development, dem-
onstration, and deployment to reduce the cost of renewable energy
to economically competitive levels. Research into innovative tech-
nologies, such as photovoltaic and concentrating solar technologies,
offshore wind, hydropower, and ground heat, can expand energy
production from our domestic resources and reduce our dependence
on foreign oil. Research efforts have led to affordability and growth
in adoption of renewable energy alternatives. Wind has become the
cheapest energy source in many regions of the country and since
2010, the average price of wind energy has dropped by 84 percent.
In little more than a decade, solar technology now powers more
than nine million homes in the United States.
Solar Energy.—The recommendation provides $280,000,000 for
Solar Energy. Within available funds, the recommendation pro-
vides $55,000,000 for Concentrating Solar Power Technologies,
$77,000,000 for Photovoltaic Technologies, $60,000,000 for Manu-
facturing Competitiveness, and $35,000,000 for Balance of System
Soft Cost Reduction. Within funds for Concentrating Solar Power
Technologies, $5,000,000 is provided for a demonstration on ad-
vanced thermal desalination technologies.
Within funds for Balance of System Soft Cost Reduction,
$1,000,000 is for the Solar Ready Vets program and $5,000,000 is
for the National Community Solar Partnership program to provide
technical assistance to low and moderate income individuals, busi-
nesses, non-profit organizations, and state, local, and tribal govern-
ments to increase use of community solar installations.
The Committee recognizes the importance of improving the reli-
ability and lifetime of photovoltaic systems and encourages the De-
partment to continue to focus on this priority. The recommendation
provides $20,000,000 to advance U.S. leadership in cadmium tellu-
ride based solar cell technologies. The Department is directed to
provide to the Committee not later than 120 days after enactment
of this Act a briefing on its efforts to work cooperatively with in-
dustry, university, and laboratory partners and efforts to develop
strategies and technologies to support continued evolution and suc-
cess. The briefing shall include an outline of a policy roadmap to
demonstrate how this domestic industry can remain competitive
globally while ensuring that cadmium telluride is produced as part
of a robust American supply chain and include how funds provided
in the fiscal year 2020 were utilized for cadmium telluride tech-
nologies.
The recommendation provides $20,000,000 for a competitive so-
licitation on perovskites research focused on manufacturing, dura-
bility, sustainability, and reducing market barriers, development
costs, and technology risks.
Wind Energy.—The recommendation provides $104,000,000 for
Wind Energy. Within available funds, not less than $10,000,000 is
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for the Department’s work on distributed wind technologies, with
a focus on smaller systems for rural communities.
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The recommendation provides $1,000,000 for the Wind for
Schools program.
The Committee is aware of the growing interest in offshore wind
technology and the need to address key challenges including off-
shore wind energy infrastructure, supply chain, and transmission
issues. The recommendation provides $5,000,000 for a competitive
solicitation for a Center of Excellence focused on regional and na-
tional strategies to accelerate and maximize the effectiveness, reli-
ability, and sustainability of U.S. offshore wind deployment and op-
eration with partners from institutions of higher education, re-
search institutions, national laboratories, the private sector, and
state and local governments relevant to emerging commercial scale
offshore wind deployments. The mission of the Center of Excellence
shall not overlap with the mission of the National Offshore Wind
Research and Development Consortium.
Within available funds, not less than $4,000,000 shall be for
work on additive manufacturing of large offshore wind blades.
The Committee encourages continued work on the advanced
Next-Generation, High-Efficiency, Lightweight Wind Turbine Gen-
erator program as early design work has yielded promising results.
The Committee encourages the Department to continue its ef-
forts to decrease the costs and improve performance of land-based
wind technologies, to address barriers to deployment of wind tur-
bines with blade lengths greater than 75 meters, and to explore op-
portunities to improve recycling of wind energy equipment, includ-
ing to enhance recovery of critical materials.
Water Power.—The recommendation provides $145,500,000 for
Water Power. Within available funds, the recommendation provides
not less than $98,000,000 for marine and hydrokinetic technologies.
The Committee supports the Department’s emerging focus on
bringing marine energy to meet near-term opportunities in the blue
economy, thereby accelerating marine energy grid readiness. The
recommendation supports research and development, testing, and
partnership activities for the Powering the Blue Economy initia-
tive. The Committee encourages the Department to continue to use
existing core capabilities within its national laboratories to execute
this work, in partnership with universities and industry.
Within available funds, the Committee provides $40,000,000 for
a balanced portfolio of competitive solicitations to support industry-
and university-led research, development, and deployment to vali-
date the performance, reliability, maintainability, environmental
impact, and cost of marine energy technology components, devices,
and systems at a variety of scales. The Committee is concerned
that uncertainty in frequency of and access to competitive awards
has a unique effect on university capacity to drive needed
foundational research and develop the skilled workforce to accel-
erate marine energy commercialization efforts. The Department is
encouraged to consider the need to create a pipeline of well-trained
students when determining competitive solicitations.
Within available funds, up to $10,000,000 is provided to address
infrastructure needs at marine energy technology testing sites. The
Department shall continue its coordination with the U.S. Navy on
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marine energy technology development for national security appli-
cations at the Wave Energy Test Site and other locations.
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The recommendation provides not less than $39,000,000 for con-
ventional hydropower, of which $7,000,000 is for the purposes of
section 242 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005.
The Committee supports the Department’s scoping activities to
investigate establishing a hydropower test facility.
The Committee encourages continued research, development, and
demonstration of closed-loop pumped storage technologies, projects
to improve watershed and ecosystem health, and foundational re-
search to address engineering and operational challenges to wave
and tidal power including system design and validation.
The Department is directed to continue research, development,
demonstration, and deployment efforts related to innovative, more
efficient fish passage technologies and invasive fish species re-
moval. Further, the Committee encourages close coordination be-
tween the Department, Corps, Reclamation, and other relevant
agencies and industry to reduce the amount of time to permit and
deploy new fish passage and invasive fish species removal tech-
nologies in rivers and waterways.
The Committee notes the emergence of Ocean Thermal Energy
Conversion (OTEC) and Sea Water Air Conditioning (SWAC) sys-
tems in the United States and the potential to produce sustainable
electricity, reduce carbon dioxide emissions, and diversify fuel op-
tions while creating job opportunities. The Department is directed
to submit not later than 180 days after enactment of this Act a re-
port on completed, ongoing, and planned OTEC and SWAC projects
in non-contiguous states and U.S. territories. The report should
also include recommendations to address barriers to expanding
OTEC and SWAC technologies.
Geothermal Technologies.—The recommendation provides
$108,500,000 for Geothermal Technologies. The Department is di-
rected to continue its efforts to identify prospective geothermal re-
sources in areas with no obvious surface expressions. Within avail-
able funds, up to $10,000,000 is provided for at least one dem-
onstration project in an area with no obvious surface expressions.
The Department is further directed to fund at least one demonstra-
tion of geothermal technologies for innovative distribution of
ground source heating and cooling of district heating systems. The
Department is encouraged to work with the Department of the In-
terior on opportunities to improve geothermal permitting.
Within available funds, up to $20,000,000 is provided for the con-
tinuation of activities of the Frontier Observatory for Research in
Geothermal Energy (FORGE).
ENERGY EFFICIENCY
The Advanced Manufacturing, Building Technologies, Federal
Energy Management, and Weatherization and Intergovernmental
programs advance cost-effective solutions to reduce energy con-
sumption through increased efficiency. Research into cutting-edge
technologies that enhance manufacturing processes, develop ad-
vanced materials, and reduce energy use in buildings, homes, and
factories can serve the national interest by greatly reducing our en-
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ergy needs, while also giving American manufacturers an advan-
tage to compete in the global marketplace.
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Advanced Manufacturing.—The recommendation provides
$395,000,000 for Advanced Manufacturing. The Committee pro-
vides not less than $5,000,000 for improvements in the steel indus-
try; $25,000,000 for the Critical Materials Institute; $25,000,000 for
the Energy-Water Desalination Hub; and $25,000,000 for the Man-
ufacturing Demonstration Facility (MDF) and the Carbon Fiber
Test Facility. Within available funds for the MDF, up to $5,000,000
is for the development of processes for hybrid materials solutions
with prescribed microstructural and mechanical properties to en-
able born qualified and certified components. The Committee sup-
ports the Department’s ongoing efforts with the MDF to work on
bio-based composites, bio-derived materials, and nano/microcel-
lulose research to further capabilities for large scale additive man-
ufacturing.
The Committee provides $14,000,000 for the Clean Energy Man-
ufacturing Innovation Institutes. The Department is directed to
brief the Committee not later than 60 days after enactment of this
Act on the status of the Institute for Cybersecurity in Energy Effi-
cient Manufacturing.
The Committee provides $20,000,000 for process-informed
science, design, and engineering of materials and devices in harsh
environments, including nuclear environments, and $10,000,000 for
dynamic catalyst science coupled with data analytics.
Within available funds for the Industrial Technical Assistance
program, the Committee recommends $12,000,000 to provide ongo-
ing support for the Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Technical As-
sistance Partnerships (TAP) and related CHP Technical Partner-
ship activities, including $5,000,000 for TAPs and $7,000,000 for
related CHP activities, including research and development oppor-
tunities. The Committee recommends $12,000,000 to expand the
technical assistance provided by the Industrial Assessment Cen-
ters.
The Committee recognizes the great potential for energy savings
in water and wastewater treatment systems, which are among the
country’s largest industrial electricity users. The Committee appre-
ciates the Department’s work on technical assistance in this area,
and the recommendation provides $5,000,000 for technical assist-
ance for water and wastewater treatment. In addition, the Com-
mittee provides $20,000,000 for research and development on tech-
nologies to achieve energy efficiency at water and wastewater
treatment plants, including the deployment of alternative energy
sources and the use of biosolids or algae treatment.
The Committee recognizes the need to retain American competi-
tiveness in building the vehicles of the future and to rebuild the
domestic automobile industry. Therefore, the Committee rec-
ommends $10,000,000 for the development of advanced tooling for
lightweight automotive components to lead the transition to electric
vehicle and mobility solutions to meet the national urgency for
market adoption. This funding shall also support activities to carry
out industry outreach to identify and report on the breadth of need
and potential applicants for such grants.
Within available funds, the Committee provides not less than
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$10,000,000 for continued work on battery manufacturing research
and development that includes strong end user participation.
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The Committee notes that drying processes consume approxi-
mately 10 percent of the process energy used in the manufacturing
sector. The recommendation provides up to $10,000,000 for the
issuance of a competitive solicitation for university- or industry-led
teams to improve the efficiency of industrial drying processes and
foster new and innovative drying technologies.
The Committee encourages the Department to support improving
steel industry competitiveness by integrating advanced 3D com-
puter simulation and visualization, augmented reality and virtual
reality, machine learning, and similar technologies for both re-
search and workforce development, as well as collaboration with
academic institutions and the steel industry.
The Committee directs the Department to provide to the Com-
mittee not later than 60 days after enactment of this Act a briefing
on the status of its decarbonization roadmaps in key technology
areas to guide research and development at the Department to
achieve significant, economical greenhouse gas emission reductions
by 2050, including energy efficiency, process electrification, indus-
trial electrification technologies, and carbon capture.
The Committee encourages research and development on carbon
capture, utilization, and storage with an emphasis on reuse utiliza-
tion within industry processes and materials, low-carbon fuels,
transformative technology that will allow deep industrial
decarbonization, materials efficiency and circular economy, carbon
intensity definitions and labeling across key product groups, and
the steel industry.
The Committee recognizes the growing need for the use of more
sustainable chemistry in consumer and commercial products, which
can create significant value as an economic opportunity for U.S.
manufacturing. The Committee provides up to $5,000,000 for ef-
forts related to sustainable chemistry. The Department is directed
to provide to the Committee not later than 90 days after enactment
of this Act a report exploring how incorporating sustainable chem-
istry in consumer and commercial manufacturing processes fits
within its research and development portfolio and can benefit these
processes.
The Committee supports the Department’s continued work on
the development of aluminum alloy and provides $5,000,000 for
this effort.
The Committee supports the Department’s efforts to develop the
next generation of energy and manufacturing entrepreneurs
through the Lab-Embedded Partnership Programs. The Depart-
ment is directed to brief the Committee not later than 90 days
after enactment of this Act on the status of existing programs and
the potential for establishing additional programs at national lab-
oratories or DOE sites.
The Committee recognizes the important contributions made by
the clean energy manufacturing institutes. The Committee notes
that the fiscal year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act allows
the renewal of such institutes and encourages the Department to
consider funding renewals for institutes as appropriate.
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The Committee supports continued efforts at the Lithium Re-
search Center to convert lithium chloride to lithium hydroxide.
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Building Technologies.—The recommendation provides
$285,000,000 for Building Technologies. The Committee directs the
Department to maintain existing transactive control research ef-
forts and provides not less than $30,000,000 for building-grid inte-
gration research and development consistent with a transactive en-
ergy system and, in coordination with the Office of Electricity
transactive energy systems program, integration of renewable en-
ergy assets, such as photovoltaics, associated hardware and soft-
ware development, and the establishment of a living-learning lab-
oratory that integrates education for training of new and current
professionals. The Committee includes not less than $50,000,000
for Commercial Buildings Integration, not less than $40,000,000 for
Residential Buildings Integration, not less than $140,000,000 for
Building Energy Research and Development, and $25,000,000 for
solid-state lighting. If the Secretary finds solid-state lighting tech-
nology eligible for the twenty-first century lamp prize, specified
under section 655 of the Energy Independence and Security Act of
2007, $5,000,000 is provided in addition to funds recommended for
lighting research and development.
The Committee includes not less than $55,000,000 for Equipment
and Buildings Standards, of which not less than $10,000,000 is for
Building Energy Codes.
The Committee supports continued innovative housing research
that encourages the design, construction, and retrofitting of energy
efficient, fire hardened, and resilient residential homes and com-
mercial buildings, and the Committee encourages the Building
America Program to prioritize funding for resiliency solutions that
also meet the energy code and reach codes. The Committee encour-
ages collaborative efforts between the Building America Program
and the national laboratories, industry, community-based organiza-
tions, and local communities that are making notable progress in
developing construction techniques and identifying building mate-
rials to actively mitigate fire risk.
The Committee supports novel research and development tech-
nologies to impact commercial buildings by developing, building,
and evaluating wood-based construction technologies, including off-
site manufactured wood-based wall systems for embodied resil-
iency, energy content, operating energy efficiency, wall moisture
profiles, and structural connector durability.
The Committee notes that natural gas plays an important role in
meeting the energy needs of U.S. homes and commercial buildings.
The Committee encourages the Department to continue to explore
research and development that can advance future natural gas sys-
tems and appliances to meet consumer demand for high efficiency
and environmentally friendly products. The Department is encour-
aged to continue research, development, and market trans-
formation programs related to the direct use of natural gas and
propane gas in residential applications, including gas heat pumps
with power generation and water heating, on-site combined heat
and power, and on-site micro-combined heat and power to include
integration with renewables.
The Committee supports the Department’s continued work on
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thermal and electric heat pumps but remains concerned that fur-
ther research is needed to test and evaluate these technologies in
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109
the field. The Department is directed to provide the Committee not
later than 90 days after enactment of this Act a briefing regarding
the status of these efforts and the potential need for a consortium.
Federal Energy Management Program.—The recommendation
provides $40,000,000 for the Federal Energy Management Pro-
gram. Within available funds, $2,000,000 is for the Performance
Based Contract National Resource Collaborative Initiative to pro-
vide expertise to state and local governments to facilitate the ex-
pansion of performance-based contracts nation-wide. The Com-
mittee awaits the report directed in the fiscal year 2020 Act that
outlines the types of technical and financial expertise the Depart-
ment is suited to provide and includes an analysis of the available
infrastructure work that can be accomplished through perform-
ance-based contracts over a 10-year period and the resources nec-
essary to achieve this goal. The Department is directed to provide
this report not later than 30 days after enactment of this Act.
The recommendation provides $11,000,000 for the Department to
continue its work through the Assisting Federal Facilities with En-
ergy Conservation Technologies (AFFECT) program.
Weatherization and Intergovernmental Programs.—The Com-
mittee rejects the proposed elimination of the Weatherization As-
sistance Program and provides $310,000,000. The Committee di-
rects the Department to ensure a timely distribution of Weather-
ization Assistance Program funds. The Committee also encourages
the Department to continue its oversight of grantees to ensure that
funds are dispersed to weatherization providers in a timely man-
ner.
The Committee provides $500,000 for technical assistance to con-
tinue the Sustainable Wastewater Infrastructure of the Future Ac-
celerator.
The fiscal year 2020 Act directed the Department to provide a
briefing on its collaborative efforts with the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services, the U.S. Department of Housing and
Urban Development, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
The Committee is still awaiting this briefing and directs the De-
partment to provide the briefing not later than 30 days after enact-
ment of this Act.
The Committee believes that community-scale weatherization ef-
forts could focus on individual homes or units as part of a broader,
innovative ‘‘neighborhood’’ approach to weatherization. The fiscal
year 2020 Act directed the Department to provide a report that
analyzes the feasibility of community-scale weatherization efforts
and the Committee looks forward to a timely receipt of this report.
The recommendation provides $1,500,000 within funds for technical
assistance to create a pilot that supports community and neighbor-
hood scale weatherization, including the feasibility of integrating
renewable and alternative energy infrastructure. These funds shall
be made available to grantees that present targeted and innovative
use of these funds to model methods for weatherization integration
with various other programs including but not limited to the
HOME Investment Partnership Program, Low-Income Home En-
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ergy Assistance Program, and programs at the U.S. Department of
Veterans Affairs. The Department shall regularly brief the Com-
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110
mittee on progress to implement this pilot project, beginning not
later than 90 days after enactment of this Act.
The Committee recognizes that lead exposure is exacerbated by
outdated windows and windowpanes and understands that the De-
partment has made progress in replacing leaded windows. The
Committee encourages the Department to include benefits from
eliminated lead exposure in the calculation of the savings-to-invest-
ment ratio. The Department is also encouraged to allow program
funds to be used to replace leaded windows with EnergyStar rated
windows.
The Committee rejects the proposed elimination of the State En-
ergy Program and provides $65,000,000.
CORPORATE SUPPORT
The Program Direction, Strategic Programs, and Facilities and
Infrastructure budgets provide necessary resources for program
and project management across all of EERE’s technology programs,
for the adoption of technologies to market, and for the operation
and upkeep of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
Facilities and Infrastructure.—The recommendation provides
$128,740,000 for Facilities and Infrastructure. The Committee sup-
ports the continued planned upgrades to the National Wind Energy
Technology Center. The Department is encouraged to demonstrate
a commitment to operations and maintenance of facilities that sup-
port the Department’s critical missions within EERE.
Program Direction.—The recommendation provides $165,000,000
for Program Direction. The Committee acknowledges that the De-
partment is taking steps to hire staff and encourages an aggressive
strategy to ensure that EERE is appropriately staffed to carry out
and oversee the funds provided by the Committee. The Committee
expects continued, regular updates on its progress, beginning not
later than 45 days after enactment of this Act.
CYBERSECURITY, ENERGY SECURITY, AND EMERGENCY RESPONSE
Appropriation, 2020 ............................................................................ $156,000,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ....................................................................... 184,621,000
Recommended, 2021 ........................................................................... 160,000,000
Comparison:
Appropriation, 2020 .................................................................... +4,000,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ................................................................ ¥24,621,000
The Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response
program leads the Department’s efforts to secure the nation’s en-
ergy infrastructure against all hazards, reduce the risks of and im-
pacts from cyber events, and assist with restoration activities. A re-
liable and resilient power grid is critical to the nation’s economic
competitiveness and leadership.
Additional direction related to Department-wide crosscutting ini-
tiatives is provided under the heading Crosscutting Initiatives in
the front matter of Department of Energy.
The Committee places a high priority on ensuring the protection
of the grid against cyberattacks and extreme weather events
caused by climate change. The Committee appreciates the Depart-
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ment’s enhanced focus on these activities. Many different actors,
governmental and private, play a role in preventing and responding
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111
to threats to the nation’s energy infrastructure. The Committee ex-
pects the Department to continue coordinating its efforts with all
stakeholders to ensure the highest priority areas are being ad-
dressed effectively in its ongoing efforts to protect the grid.
Grid security and resiliency are issues of paramount importance
to national security. The nation continues to face global cybersecu-
rity threats from nations such as Iran, Russia, and North Korea,
which have launched documented cyberattacks on the country. U.S.
electric grid infrastructure remains a top target, and the Com-
mittee encourages the Department to work with electric coopera-
tives, public utility districts, investor-owned utilities, and munic-
ipal utilities to plan and build out needed cybersecurity infrastruc-
ture.
The Committee is aware of an advanced cyber analytics tool cur-
rently utilized within the Department that maps classified and un-
classified networks and encourages consideration of this tool for
other applications with the Department, as appropriate.
The Committee directs the Department to collaborate with other
federal agencies on cybersecurity efforts to ensure effective con-
tributions to the overall success of the federal critical infrastruc-
ture security mission.
Cybersecurity for Energy Delivery Systems.—Within available
funds, $5,000,000 is for consequence-driven cyber-informed engi-
neering and $5,000,000 is for the DarkNet project.
Infrastructure Security and Energy Restoration.—The fiscal year
2020 Act directed the Department to provide a report explaining
the rationale for establishing any new testing capabilities designed
to examine the vulnerabilities of the energy sector from threats
such as electromagnetic pulse and geomagnetic disturbances and
an inventory of existing capabilities that could serve this function.
The Committee is still awaiting this report and directs the Depart-
ment to provide the report not later than 30 days after enactment
of this Act and prior to any funds being obligated for the establish-
ment of any new testing capabilities.
ELECTRICITY
Appropriation, 2020 ............................................................................ $190,000,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ....................................................................... 195,045,000
Recommended, 2021 ........................................................................... 195,000,000
Comparison:
Appropriation, 2020 .................................................................... +5,000,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ................................................................ ¥45,000
The Office of Electricity advances technologies and provides oper-
ational support to increase the efficiency and technological ad-
vancement of the nation’s electricity delivery system. The power
grid employs aging technologies at a time when power demands
and the deployment of new energy technologies are imposing new
stresses on the system. This program aims to develop a modern
power grid by advancing resilient power distribution systems, intel-
ligent and high-efficiency grid components, and energy storage sys-
tems.
Additional direction related to Department-wide crosscutting ini-
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tiatives is provided under the heading Crosscutting Initiatives in
the front matter of Department of Energy.
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Transmission Reliability and Resilience.—Within available funds,
the recommendation provides not less than $1,000,000 for sensors
and analytics technologies.
Within available funds, the recommendation provides not less
than $500,000 for the Department to designate an appropriate sec-
tion of grid or distinct microgrid to undertake a field test of utility
poles constructed of composite materials to determine the benefit,
if any, to overall grid infrastructure resilience from environmental
factors. The Department shall submit to the Committee not later
than 180 days after enactment of this Act a report that assesses
the performance of composite poles, taking into account price; dura-
bility; resilience to the effects of extreme weather; ongoing mainte-
nance costs; and ease of repair, preplacement, or upgrade, giving
special consideration to performance in watersheds and flood-prone
environments.
The fiscal year 2020 Act directed the Department to provide a re-
port outlining the barriers and opportunities for technologies that
provide increased, more efficient, or more effective delivery over the
existing transmission network. The Committee is still awaiting this
report and directs the Department to provide the report not later
than 30 days after enactment of this Act.
The Committee notes the potential to more effectively manage
the bulk electric power system by adjusting ratings of power lines
through dynamic line rating equipment. The Department is di-
rected to submit to the Committee not later than 180 days after en-
acted of this Act a report on ways to maximize utilization of the
existing electricity delivery system by enabling dynamic line rat-
ings, dynamically controlling the flow of electricity, and optimizing
electricity delivery system topology. The report shall consider utili-
zation of sensors, development of power flow control devices and
analytical tools, and novel control mechanisms that would allow
maximized transmission of electricity and improvement of grid re-
silience by adjusting line ratings according to weather conditions,
controlling flow of electricity with power flow control devices, and
optimizing topology of electricity delivery systems through dynami-
cally switching network configuration.
The Committee is interested in the possible impacts of increased
bulk transmission efficiency in general, and of dynamic line rating
technology specifically, on retail power rates. The Department is di-
rected to conduct a case study on regional, wide-spread deployment
of dynamic line rating technologies to assess the potential benefits
and costs. The Department is directed to submit to the Committee
not later than 180 days after enactment of this Act a report that
summarizes the findings of the case study.
Resilient Distribution Systems.—Within available funds, the
Committee directs the Department to continue efforts to support
the integration of sensors into the nation’s electric distribution sys-
tems, fundamental research and field validation of microgrid con-
trollers and systems, and transactive energy concepts, including
studies and evaluations of energy usage behavior in response to
price signals. The Committee places a high priority on addressing
the challenges facing the electric power grid by developing the in-
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novative technologies, tools, and techniques to modernize the dis-
tribution portion of the electricity delivery system. Resilient Dis-
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tribution Systems pursues strategic investments to improve reli-
ability, resilience, outage, recovery, and operational efficiency,
building upon previous and ongoing grid modernization efforts.
In addition to emerging technologies for distributed grids, the
Committee recommends that currently available distributed fuels,
such as propane fueled microgrids, combined heat and power, and
demand response, be evaluated.
Within available funds, the Committee directs the Department to
support the demonstration of interconnected systems, including in
rural areas, of microgrids that operate independently and are ideal
for providing energy assurance. The microgrid demonstrations
should feature solar generation, storage, smart controls, and other
grid technologies.
NUCLEAR ENERGY
Appropriation, 2020 ............................................................................ $1,493,408,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ....................................................................... 1,179,931,000
Recommended, 2021 ........................................................................... 1,435,800,000
Comparison:
Appropriation, 2020 .................................................................... ¥57,608,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ................................................................ +255,869,000
Nuclear power generates approximately one-fifth of the nation’s
electricity and continues to be an important zero carbon-emissions
energy source. The Department of Energy’s Nuclear Energy (NE)
program invests in research, development, and demonstration ac-
tivities that develop the next generation of clean and safe reactors,
further improve the safety and economic viability of our current re-
actor fleet and contribute to the nation’s long-term leadership in
the global nuclear power industry.
Additional direction related to Department-wide crosscutting ini-
tiatives is provided under the heading Crosscutting Initiatives in
the front matter of Department of Energy.
Given past concerns about the Department’s use of flexibility in
funds previously provided, the Committee has continued to include
additional control points for fiscal year 2021. The Department is di-
rected to submit its fiscal year 2022 budget request using this
budget structure.
Nuclear Energy University Program.—Since 2009, the Depart-
ment has allocated up to 20 percent of funds appropriated to Nu-
clear Energy Research and Development (NEUP) programs to fund
university-led R&D and university infrastructure projects through
an open, competitive solicitation process using formally certified
peer reviewers. The Department is directed to continue this prac-
tice, with not less than $40,000,000 for R&D activities performed
at U.S. colleges and universities. The Department is directed to
provide the Committee quarterly briefings on the status of NEUP
and the university work being funded, beginning not later than 90
days after enactment of this Act.
Integrated University Program.—The Committee is alarmed by
the statistics highlighting the severe shortage of highly trained nu-
clear specialists and the lack of academic programs to train and
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prepare individuals for work in the nuclear sector. The rec-
ommendation includes $5,000,000 to continue the Integrated Uni-
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versity Program, which is critical to ensuring the nation’s nuclear
science and engineering workforce in future years.
Uranium Reserve.—The budget request proposes to establish a
new Uranium Reserve. The Department has been unable to provide
specific information about how it would implement the program, in-
cluding in congressional justifications, briefings, and in responses
to questions from the Committee about how the funds would be
spent, including the process for the purchase, conversion, or sale of
uranium in a reserve. The Committee is concerned about the lack
of justification for a reserve and potential market implications of
establishing a reserve for commercial purposes. The Committee
also notes that the Department will require a domestic source of
uranium for defense purposes in the coming decades. The Depart-
ment is directed to submit to the Committee not later than 180
days after enactment of this Act a plan for the proposed establish-
ment of a uranium reserve. The plan shall include the legal au-
thorities in place or needed to establish and operate a uranium re-
serve, including the purchase, conversion, and sale of uranium; a
ten-year implementation plan of the activities for establishment
and operations of a uranium reserve; and a ten-year cost estimate.
No funds are provided for the establishment of a uranium reserve,
and no funds may be spent on activities related to the establish-
ment of a uranium reserve other than the development of the re-
quired plan.
NUCLEAR ENERGY ENABLING TECHNOLOGIES
Nuclear Science User Facilities.—Within available funds, the rec-
ommendation includes not less than $10,000,000 for nuclear energy
computation system and support and not less than $3,000,000 for
Nuclear Materials Discovery and Qualification.
Crosscutting Technology Development.—Within available funds,
the recommendation includes $5,000,000 for research collaborations
between research universities and national laboratories utilizing
existing capabilities and infrastructure focused on the benefits, as
well as vulnerabilities of digital instrumentation for existing and
future nuclear reactors, including the use of new approaches, such
as predictive analytics, machine learning, and artificial intel-
ligence, to improve reactor safety and performance and address cy-
bersecurity issues. The Department is encouraged to continue ac-
tivities related to materials development, including through public-
private partnerships to develop new materials the nuclear industry
will need in the future.
FUEL CYCLE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
Material Recovery and Waste Form Development.—Within avail-
able funds, the recommendation provides not less than $10,000,000
for EBR–II Processing for High-Assay Low Enriched Uranium
(HALEU).
Accident Tolerant Fuels.—The recommendation provides not less
than $55,600,000 to continue the participation of three industry-led
teams for the cost-shared research and development program, and
the recommendation provides not less than $20,000,000 to support
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accident tolerant fuels development at the national laboratories
and other facilities, including the Advanced Test Reactor and Tran-
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sient Reactor Test Facility. The recommendation provides
$15,000,000 for industry-led efforts for testing, code development,
and licensing of higher-enriched and higher burnup fuels. The De-
partment is encouraged to continue development of silicon carbide
ceramic matrix composite cladding to be used in light water reac-
tors, especially through public-private partnerships. The Com-
mittee encourages the Department to evaluate accident tolerant
fuel irradiation testing capability gaps resulting from the closure of
the Halden reactor.
Used Nuclear Fuel Disposition R&D.—The Committee is aware
of the Department’s ongoing research and development efforts re-
garding the safe transportation of spent nuclear fuel and directs
the Department to continue to study the behavior of spent fuel
under transportation conditions and opportunities to improve safe-
ty of spent fuel rods during transportation.
Integrated Waste Management System.—Within available funds,
the Department is directed to continue site preparation activities
at stranded sites, to evaluate the re-initiation of regional transport,
and undertake transportation coordination efforts. Additionally, the
Committee notes that spent nuclear fuel is in many cases located
in or near cities and Indian reservations. As the Department con-
tinues to plan for an integrated waste management system for our
nation’s spent nuclear fuel, the Committee encourages the Depart-
ment to include planning for the removal of spent nuclear fuel from
sites located near cities and Indian reservations.
REACTOR CONCEPTS RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, AND DEMONSTRATION
Advanced Small Modular Reactor RD&D.—Within available
funds, the recommendation provides $10,000,000 for the Joint Use
Modular Program.
Light Water Reactor Sustainability.—Within available funds, the
recommendation provides $10,000,000 to support new or previously
awarded hydrogen demonstration projects.
Advanced Reactor Technologies.—Within available funds, the rec-
ommendation provides $20,000,000 for public-private partnerships
focused on advancing reactor designs towards demonstration phase
and not less than $15,000,000 for MW-scale reactor research and
development.
ADVANCED REACTORS DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM
The Committee is encouraged by the Department’s pace of activi-
ties to establish the Advanced Reactors Demonstration Program.
This program will help facilitate the accelerated development and
deployment of advanced reactors. The Department is directed to
continue to streamline its procurement process and aggressively act
to ensure implementation is not delayed.
Advanced Reactor Demonstrations.—The Department is re-
minded to focus resources on partners able to provide the required
portion of cost share and capable of project delivery in the next five
to seven years.
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INFRASTRUCTURE
INL Facilities Operations and Maintenance.—Within available
funds, the recommendation includes $280,000,000 for INL Nuclear
Facilities Operations and Maintenance to support the reliability
and sustainability of the Materials and Fuels Complex (MFC) and
the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR).
Idaho Sitewide Safeguard and Security.—The recommendation
includes $137,800,000 for Idaho Sitewide Safeguards and Security,
the same as the budget request.
FOSSIL ENERGY RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
Appropriation, 2020 ............................................................................ $750,000,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ....................................................................... 730,601,000
Recommended, 2021 ........................................................................... 727,500,000
Comparison:
Appropriation, 2020 .................................................................... ¥22,500,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ................................................................ ¥3,101,000
Fossil energy resources, such as coal, oil, and natural gas, gen-
erate a significant portion of the nation’s electricity and will con-
tinue to contribute to those needs for the foreseeable future. The
Fossil Energy Research and Development program funds research,
development, and demonstration activities to improve existing tech-
nologies and to develop next-generation systems in the full spec-
trum of fossil energy areas. The activities funded within this pro-
gram advance our nation’s position as a leader in energy tech-
nologies and ensure the safe, reliable, efficient, and environ-
mentally sound use of fossil energy resources.
Additional direction related to Department-wide crosscutting ini-
tiatives is provided under the heading Crosscutting Initiatives in
the front matter of Department of Energy.
Consistent with direction provided in previous fiscal years, the
Committee does not support the closure of any National Energy
Technology Laboratory (NETL) site and provides no funds to plan,
develop, implement, or pursue the consolidation or closure of any
of the NETL sites.
The Committee encourages the Department to develop edu-
cational partnerships focused on carbon capture and storage, meth-
ane capture and storage, and emission mitigation technologies. The
Committee directs the Department to submit to the Committee not
later than 90 days after enactment of this Act a report detailing
possible education partnerships in these areas.
The Committee notes that liquefied petroleum gases, including
propane, are increasingly being generated from renewable sources.
The recommendation provides up to $4,000,000 for a demonstration
project to show the increased viability of renewable liquefied petro-
leum gases.
CCUS AND POWER SYSTEMS
Carbon capture, utilization, and storage is a process that cap-
tures carbon dioxide emissions from sources and either reuses or
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stores it so it will not enter the atmosphere. The potential for these
technologies is considerable, and the use of these technologies will
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decrease the costs for mitigating climate change in addition to de-
ploying clean energy and energy efficient technologies.
The Committee encourages the Department to continue to sup-
port the Clean Energy Research Consortium: Advanced Coal Tech-
nology Consortium program. The Committee encourages the De-
partment to continue support for the National Carbon Capture
Center.
Carbon Capture.—The Committee encourages the Department to
focus its efforts on improving the efficiency and decreasing the
costs of carbon capture technologies, demonstrating carbon capture
technologies, and identifying how these technologies can be inte-
grated with business models and operations. This focus includes
small- and large-scale pilot testing of technologies moving through
the program pipeline and retrofit activities on the existing fleet.
The Committee directs the Department to increase public-private
partnerships and natural gas-based carbon capture research pro-
gram opportunities.
Within available funds, the recommendation provides not less
than $8,000,000 for research and optimization of carbon capture
technologies at industrial facilities and not less than $10,000,000
for research and optimization of carbon capture technologies for
natural gas power systems.
Within available funds, the recommendation provides not less
than $15,000,000 for a new solicitation for Front-End Engineering
and Design (FEED) studies of commercial-scale carbon capture
projects that generate carbon dioxide suitable for geologic storage,
with at least two of these studies supporting projects at industrial
facilities such as a steel or cement facility. A FEED study shall in-
corporate work from feasibility studies and testing to provide spe-
cific project definition; engineering including specifications; scopes
of work; schedules for the detailed design, material procurement,
and construction; estimate of total installed cost for the project; and
environmental and non-environmental permitting requirements.
Carbon Utilization.—The recommendation provides separate
funding for carbon utilization activities that were previously funded
through Carbon Storage, and the recommendation funds Carbon
Use and Reuse activities under Carbon Utilization. The Committee
anticipates carbon utilization technologies to mature in the coming
years. Therefore, the Committee directs the Department to signifi-
cantly advance carbon utilization activities over the next five years
with specific technology goals and milestones to ensure that the
Department is using its resources in the most efficient manner.
The recommendation includes $30,000,000 for Carbon Utilization
for research and development activities to support valuable and in-
novative uses of captured carbon, including biological utilization by
the conversion of carbon dioxide to higher-value products such as
chemicals, plastics, building materials, curing for cement, and the
integration of carbon utilization technologies with fossil fuel power
plants, such as biological conversion systems.
The recommendation provides not less than $8,000,000 for a com-
petitive solicitation to conduct tests of technologies for carbon diox-
ide absorption integrated with algae systems for capturing and re-
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using carbon dioxide to produce useful fuels and chemicals, giving
priority for teams with university participants.
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Carbon Storage.—The Carbon Storage subprogram shall focus on
the development of technologies for the safe and secure storage of
captured carbon dioxide. The recommendation funds Carbon Use
and Reuse activities previously funded under Carbon Storage
under Carbon Utilization.
Advanced Energy Systems.—Within available funds, the rec-
ommendation provides $30,000,000 for Solid Oxide Fuel Cell
(SOFC) systems for distributed and central power generation, elec-
trolysis, SOFC combined heat and power, and storage applications.
Within available funds, the recommendation provides
$35,000,000 for Advanced Turbines, and the Committee directs the
Department to use these funds for a research and development pro-
gram to improve the efficiency of gas turbines used in power gen-
eration systems, working cooperatively with industry, universities,
and other appropriate parties.
Within available funds, the recommendation provides up to
$15,000,000 for the Coal FIRST Initiative.
Cross Cutting Research.—Within available funds, the rec-
ommendation includes not less than $40,000,000 for plant optimi-
zation technologies, including materials R&D, water management
R&D, and sensors and controls. Within available funds for mate-
rials R&D, the recommendation includes $21,000,000 for the Ad-
vanced Ultrasupercritical Program to fabricate, qualify, and de-
velop domestic suppliers capable of producing components from
high temperature materials.
Within available funds, the recommendation includes
$29,500,000 to develop economically competitive and sustainable
domestic supply of rare earth elements and critical materials to as-
sist in maintaining economic growth and national security.
NETL Coal Research and Development.—The recommendation
includes the budget request proposal to move the Critical Materials
Initiative to Cross Cutting Research. The recommendation provides
funds for the remaining activities previously funded by NETL Coal
Research and Development in the funding under NETL Research
and Operations and NETL Infrastructure.
Supercritical Transformational Electric Power (STEP) Genera-
tion.—Within available funds, the Committee supports efforts, con-
sistent with the original scope of work, to complete the necessary
design and construction of the 10–MW pilot and to conduct the nec-
essary testing for the facility. The Committee is concerned about
repeated cost overruns for the project, and the Department is di-
rected to brief the Committee not later than 90 days after enact-
ment of this Act and prior to the obligation of any funds on an up-
dated scope and cost profile that incorporates all past, current, and
potential future cost increases necessary to complete the project.
The recommendation provides additional funds for competitively
awarded research and development activities, coordinated with the
Offices of Nuclear Energy and Energy Efficiency and Renewable
Energy, to advance the use of supercritical power cycles.
NATURAL GAS TECHNOLOGIES
Research.—Within available funds, the recommendation provides
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up to $5,200,000 for the Risk Based Data Management System.
The Department is directed to submit to the Committee not later
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119
than 180 days after enactment of this Act a plan on how to fully
transition the functionality and responsibility of the Risk Based
Data Management System to states as called for in the budget re-
quest.
Within available funds, the recommendation provides
$15,000,000 for Emissions Mitigation from Midstream Infrastruc-
ture and $7,000,000 for Emissions Quantification from Natural Gas
Infrastructure.
The Department is encouraged to explore technologies that cur-
tail methane gas emissions from flaring and venting in shale for-
mations. The fiscal year 2020 Act directed the Department to pro-
vide a report on these activities. The Committee is still awaiting
this report and directs the Department to provide the report not
later than 30 days after enactment of this Act.
The Committee encourages coordination with industry and the
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration on meth-
ane leak detection technology development. The Committee re-
mains supportive of investment in smart pipeline sensors and con-
trols, internal pipeline inspection and repair, and composite and
advanced material science technologies. The Committee encourages
the Department to consider expanded use of gas pressure moni-
toring, both real time and hourly, in distribution systems to im-
prove system integrity and safety.
The Department is directed to submit to the Committee not later
than 90 days of enactment of this Act a research plan for natural
gas utilization for purposes in addition to power generation and di-
rect use applications. Natural gas utilization can include processes
for converting natural gas and carbon-based feedstocks to higher-
value products—including chemicals, liquids and hydrogen. The
plan shall include research and development activities, including
materials research, artificial intelligence and machine learning
tools, gas conversion and separation technologies, new process
flowsheets such as modular units, and novel uses for light hydro-
carbons to produce commercial and industrial products, and dem-
onstration activities that may be needed to test the performance
and cost-effectiveness of new gas conversion technologies.
The recommendation includes up to $5,000,000 for university re-
search and field investigations in the Gulf of Mexico to confirm the
nature, regional context, environmental impacts, and hydrocarbon
system behavior of gas hydrate deposits and the impacts of pro-
duced water.
Within available funds, the Department is encouraged to coordi-
nate with other agencies and states to maximize the benefits of
U.S. unconventional natural gas liquids production.
UNCONVENTIONAL FOSSIL ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES
The Committee recognizes the Department’s continued invest-
ment in research and development on unconventional fossil energy
technologies, including support for field laboratories.
The Committee directs the Department to submit to the Com-
mittee not later than 180 days after enactment of this Act a report
assessing the potential of using solid propellant fuel to generate
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gas, which will drive hydraulic systems to shut off unwanted flows
or blow outs of oil or gas from onshore or offshore wells in the
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120
shortest possible time with the highest possible reliability and effi-
ciency. The report shall include a research plan if additional work
in this area is deemed merited after the Department’s assessment.
The Committee understands the Department, in partnership
with the Department of Transportation, has completed its study of
the volatility of crude oils, including oil from the Bakken Shale in
North Dakota, to accurately assess and characterize volatility be-
fore transporting. The Department is directed to brief the Com-
mittee not later than 90 days after enactment of this Act on the
findings and recommendations of the Crude Oil Characterization
Study.
NAVAL PETROLEUM AND OIL SHALE RESERVES
Appropriation, 2020 ............................................................................ $14,000,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ....................................................................... 13,006,000
Recommended, 2021 ........................................................................... 13,006,000
Comparison:
Appropriation, 2020 .................................................................... ¥994,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ................................................................ –––
The Naval Petroleum and Oil Shale Reserves no longer serve the
national defense purpose envisioned in the early 1900’s, and con-
sequently the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year
1996 required the sale of the government’s interest in the Naval
Petroleum Reserve 1 (NPR–1). To comply with this requirement,
the Elk Hills field in California was sold to Occidental Petroleum
Corporation in 1998. Following the sale of Elk Hills, the transfer
of the oil shale reserves, and transfer of administrative jurisdiction
and environmental remediation of the Naval Petroleum Reserve 2
(NPR–2) to the Department of the Interior, the Department re-
tained one Naval Petroleum Reserve property, the Naval Petroleum
Reserve 3 (NPR–3) in Wyoming (Teapot Dome field). The Depart-
ment issued a disposition plan for NPR–3 in June 2013 and began
implementation of the plan in fiscal year 2014. Transfer of NPR–
3 to a new owner occurred in fiscal year 2015.
STRATEGIC PETROLEUM RESERVE
Appropriation, 2020 ............................................................................ $195,000,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ....................................................................... 187,081,000
Recommended, 2021 ........................................................................... 195,000,000
Comparison:
Appropriation, 2020 ........................................................................ –––
Budget estimate, 2021 .................................................................... +7,919,000
The mission of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is to store petro-
leum to reduce the adverse economic impact of a major petroleum
supply interruption to the United States and to carry out obliga-
tions under the international energy program.
The recommendation includes funding to address facilities devel-
opment and operations, including physical security and cavern in-
tegrity, and the recommendation provides $20,000,000 to maintain
1,000,000 barrels of gasoline blendstock in the Northeast Gasoline
Supply Reserve.
No funding is requested for the establishment of a new regional
petroleum product reserve, and no funding is provided for this pur-
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pose. Further, the Department may not establish any new regional
petroleum product reserves unless funding for such a proposed re-
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121
gional petroleum product reserve is explicitly requested in advance
in an annual budget request and approved by Congress in an ap-
propriations Act.
The Committee notes that regional supply disruptions of petro-
leum products were examined in the first installment of the Quad-
rennial Energy Review. If the Department further examines issues
related to potential regional shortages of petroleum products, the
Department is encouraged to explore options for expanded salt cav-
ern storage of petroleum products, including in the western United
States.
SPR PETROLEUM ACCOUNT
Appropriation, 2020 ............................................................................ $10,000,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ....................................................................... ¥68,000,000
Recommended, 2021 ........................................................................... 7,500,000
Comparison:
Appropriation, 2020 .................................................................... ¥2,500,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ................................................................ +75,500,000
The SPR Petroleum Account funds Strategic Petroleum Reserve
acquisition, transportation, and drawdown activities. The fiscal
year 2021 budget request proposes to draw down and sell one mil-
lion barrels of SPR refined petroleum product and to retain a por-
tion of the proceeds to fund the costs of drawdown operations re-
lated to statutorily-directed sales. The Committee rejects this pro-
posal and instead provides discretionary appropriations for this
purpose.
NORTHEAST HOME HEATING OIL RESERVE
Appropriation, 2020 ............................................................................ $10,000,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ....................................................................... ¥84,000,000
Recommended, 2021 ........................................................................... 10,000,000
Comparison:
Appropriation, 2020 .................................................................... –––
Budget estimate, 2021 ................................................................ +94,000,000
The acquisition and storage of heating oil for the Northeast
began in August 2000 when the Department of Energy, through
the Strategic Petroleum Reserve account, awarded contracts for the
lease of commercial storage facilities and acquisition of heating oil.
The purpose of the reserve is to assure home heating oil supplies
for the Northeastern States during times of very low inventories
and significant threats to the immediate supply of heating oil. The
Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve was established as a separate
entity from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve on March 6, 2001.
The Committee again rejects the proposed elimination of this re-
serve and instead provides $10,000,000 to maintain the reserve.
ENERGY INFORMATION ADMINISTRATION
Appropriation, 2020 ............................................................................ $126,800,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ....................................................................... 128,710,000
Recommended, 2021 ........................................................................... 126,800,000
Comparison:
Appropriation, 2020 .................................................................... –––
Budget estimate, 2021 ................................................................ ¥1,910,000
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The Energy Information Administration is a quasi-independent
agency within the Department of Energy established to provide
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122
timely, objective, and accurate energy-related information to the
Congress, the executive branch, state governments, industry, and
the public.
The Committee encourages the Department to continue impor-
tant data collection, analysis, and reporting activities on energy use
and consumption, including the Commercial Buildings Energy Con-
sumption Survey and the Residential Buildings Energy Consump-
tion Survey. The Committee also encourages additional data collec-
tion on light-emitting diode bulbs, commercial building codes, and
electric transmission.
The Department is directed to submit to the Committee not later
than 180 days after enactment of this Act a report on how the En-
ergy Information Agency can supply increased data regarding the
electricity consumption and emissions for retail electricity sup-
pliers, and for city, within city limits, served by an electric utility.
The report shall also include the potential costs and benefits associ-
ated with the collection and dissemination of such data, and identi-
fication of major suppliers and cities where collection and dissemi-
nation of such data could be completed at a reduced level of effort
and cost.
NON-DEFENSE ENVIRONMENTAL CLEANUP
Appropriation, 2020 ............................................................................ $319,200,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ....................................................................... 275,820,000
Recommended, 2021 ........................................................................... 315,000,000
Comparison:
Appropriation, 2020 .................................................................... ¥4,200,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ................................................................ +39,180,000
Non-Defense Environmental Cleanup includes funds to manage
and remediate sites used for civilian, energy research, and non-de-
fense related activities. These past activities resulted in radio-
active, hazardous, and mixed waste contamination that requires re-
mediation, stabilization, or some other action.
Small Sites.—The Committee provides $108,833,000 for small
sites, of which $18,200,000 is for the Energy Technology Engineer-
ing Center (ETEC), $12,800,000 is for Idaho National Laboratory,
$30,180,000 is for Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and
$47,653,000 is for Moab.
ETEC.—The Committee is pleased with the progress of building
demolition, including the recent agreement between the Depart-
ment and the State of California enabling the demolition and re-
moval of certain buildings. The Committee understands the De-
partment continues to work with the State on the remaining build-
ings at the site and on expediting the State’s environmental impact
report, which must be completed prior to soil and groundwater re-
mediation. The Committee remains concerned about soil and
groundwater remediation and encourages the parties to use the
2007 Consent Order and 2010 Administrative Order on Consent to
enter negotiations on this topic. The Committee encourages the De-
partment to continue working with the State of California on clean-
up of the site. The Department is directed to continue to act in ac-
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cordance with applicable laws, orders, regulations, and agreements
with the State of California.
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Mercury Storage.—The recommendation includes legislative lan-
guage to allow the Department to spend fees collected for the pur-
pose of mercury storage.
URANIUM ENRICHMENT DECONTAMINATION AND DECOMMISSIONING
FUND
Appropriation, 2020 ............................................................................ $881,000,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ....................................................................... 806,244,000
Recommended, 2021 ........................................................................... 821,583,000
Comparison:
Appropriation, 2020 .................................................................... ¥59,417,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ................................................................ +15,339,000
The Uranium Enrichment Decontamination and Decommis-
sioning Fund was established by the Energy Policy Act of 1992 to
fund the cleanup of gaseous diffusion plants at Portsmouth, Ohio;
Paducah, Kentucky; and the East Tennessee Technology Park in
Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
Portsmouth.—The Committee continues to reject any attempt to
barter, transfer, or sell uranium to pay for Portsmouth cleanup
costs.
SCIENCE
Appropriation, 2020 ............................................................................ $7,000,000,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ....................................................................... 5,837,806,000
Recommended, 2021 ........................................................................... 7,050,000,000
Comparison:
Appropriation, 2020 .................................................................... +50,000,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ................................................................ +1,212,194,000
The Office of Science funds basic science research across national
laboratories, universities, and other research institutions in sup-
port of American innovation and the Department’s energy-focused
missions. Through research in physics, biology, chemistry, and
other science disciplines, these activities expand scientific under-
standing and secure the nation’s leadership in energy innovation.
This basic science research is crucial to enabling the nation to con-
tinue developing transformational energy technologies and to posi-
tion itself to seize economic opportunities in the global energy mar-
kets of the future. The Office of Science is the nation’s largest sup-
porter of basic research in the physical sciences.
The Office of Science includes the following programs: Advanced
Scientific Computing Research, Basic Energy Sciences, Biological
and Environmental Research, Fusion Energy Sciences, High En-
ergy Physics, Nuclear Physics, Workforce Development for Teach-
ers and Scientists, Science Laboratories Infrastructure, Safeguards
and Security, and Program Direction. The Committee has placed a
high priority on funding these activities in fiscal year 2021, given
the private sector is not likely to fund research whose findings ei-
ther have high non-commercial value or are not likely to be com-
mercialized in the near or medium term. This work is vital to sus-
taining the scientific leadership of the United States and can pro-
vide the underpinnings for valuable intellectual property in the
coming decades.
Additional direction related to Department-wide crosscutting ini-
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tiatives is provided under the heading Crosscutting Initiatives in
front matter for the Department of Energy.
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The Department is reminded that section 301 of this Act pro-
hibits the use of any appropriation, funds, or authority to initiate
or resume any program, project, or activity or to prepare or initiate
Requests for Proposals for a program, project, or activity if the pro-
gram, project, or activity has not been funded by Congress. The De-
partment is directed to provide to the Committee a plan that de-
tails all programs, projects, and activities to be funded in the Office
of Science that are not directed by this recommendation or explic-
itly included in the fiscal year 2021 budget request. The plan shall
be provided not later than 90 days after enactment of this Act and
prior to any funds being obligated for those programs, projects, or
activities. No funds may be obligated for programs, projects, or ac-
tivities in the plan prior to approval by the Committee.
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.—The Committee
appreciates the Department’s continued focus on the development
of foundational Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning capa-
bilities. The recommendation includes up to $125,000,000 for Artifi-
cial Intelligence and Machine Learning, and the Committee directs
the Department to apply those tools to the Department’s mission.
Biomedical Sciences.—Collaborative research efforts between the
Department and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) are devel-
oping breakthroughs in health research, including drug discovery,
brain research, diagnostic technologies, and other biomedical re-
search areas. The Department is encouraged to expand its relation-
ships with NIH in order to work together more strategically to le-
verage the Department’s research capabilities, including instru-
mentation, materials, modeling and simulation, and data science.
The facilities and equipment funded in this Act support applica-
tions in many areas of biomedical research. Better coordination be-
tween the Department and NIH could be instrumental in assisting
to develop the nation’s health, security, and technologies with novel
biomedical application. The fiscal year 2020 Act directed the De-
partment to provide a plan that responds to the findings and rec-
ommendations in the Final Report of the Secretary of Energy Advi-
sory Board Task Force on Biomedical Sciences. The Committee is
still awaiting this plan and directs the Department to provide the
plan not later than 30 days after enactment of this Act. The rec-
ommendation includes not less than $1,000,000 for collaboration
with NIH within the Department’s data and computational mission
space.
Exascale Computing Initiative.—The recommendation includes
$474,945,000 for exascale activities.
Quantum Information Sciences.—The Committee supports the
Office of Science’s coordinated and focused research program in
quantum information science and technology. This emerging field
of science promises to yield revolutionary new approaches to com-
puting, sensing, and communication. The recommendation provides
$235,000,000 for quantum information science, including not less
than $120,000,000 for research and not less than $100,000,000 for
up to five National Quantum Information Science Research Cen-
ters.
Reorganization.—The Committee acknowledges the Office of
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Science’s realignment of the Office of Accelerator R&D and Produc-
tion and the Office of Isotope R&D and Production. The Depart-
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125
ment is directed to submit its fiscal year 2022 budget request using
this new organizational structure. The Department is directed to
coordinate across Advanced Scientific Computing Research, Basic
Energy Sciences, Fusion Energy Sciences, High Energy Physics,
and Nuclear Physics for its Strategic Accelerator Technology Initia-
tive to support innovation in accelerator technologies, including
magnets, optics, detectors, and sensors.
Strategic Partnership Projects.—The Committee appreciates that
the national laboratories are available to conduct work for other
federal agencies on a reimbursable basis given the highly special-
ized and unique technical expertise and equipment available at the
national laboratories, and strongly supports this work. However,
the Committee is concerned about the Department’s implementa-
tion and oversight of Strategic Partnership Projects, particularly
for projects that have not received reimbursement payments from
other agencies. The Department is directed to submit to the Com-
mittee not later than 30 days after enactment of this Act a report
that inventories all Strategic Partnership Projects that have not re-
ceived payment sufficient to cover completed or anticipated work
being performed. The Department is directed to ensure that all
Strategic Partnership Projects include requirements for receiving
full funding prior to beginning work or an advance payment suffi-
cient to cover anticipated cost of the work that will be performed
for the first 30 days of the Strategic Partnership Project followed
by advanced payments for 30 day increments thereafter. If the
agreement must deviate from these guidelines, then the Depart-
ment shall notify the Committee not less than 10 business days
prior to the change.
In addition, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security
(CARES) Act (Public Law 116–136) included $99,500,000 for the
Office of Science to prevent, prepare for, and respond to
coronavirus.
ADVANCED SCIENTIFIC COMPUTING RESEARCH
The Advanced Scientific Computing Research program develops
and hosts some of the world’s fastest computing and network capa-
bilities to enable science and energy modeling, simulation, and re-
search.
High Performance Computing and Network Facilities.—In addi-
tion to the long-term exascale initiative, the Committee supports
continued upgrade and operation of the Leadership Computing Fa-
cilities at Argonne National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National
Laboratory and of the High Performance Production Computing ca-
pabilities at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The rec-
ommendation includes not less than $150,000,000 for the Argonne
Leadership Computing Facility, not less than $225,000,000 for the
Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility, and not less than
$110,000,000 for the National Energy Research Scientific Com-
puting Center at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Within
available funds, the recommendation includes $90,000,000 to sup-
port necessary infrastructure upgrades and operations for ESnet.
Mathematical, Computational, and Computer Sciences Re-
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search.—The Committee notes the importance of a strong research
program in applied and computational mathematics to the Depart-
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126
ment’s mission. Maintaining international leadership in high per-
formance computing requires a long-term and sustained commit-
ment to basic research in computing and computational sciences,
including applied math, software development, networking science,
and computing competency among scientific fields. Within available
funds, the recommendation provides not less than $250,000,000 for
Mathematical, Computational, and Computer Sciences Research,
including not less than $10,000,000 for the Computational Science
Graduate Fellowship program.
Within available funds, the recommendation includes up to
$40,000,000 for the development of Al-optimized emerging memory
technology for Al-specialized hardware to drive national competi-
tiveness.
The Committee is aware that the Department of Defense, Na-
tional Institutes of Health, universities, and private entities have
formed partnerships to undertake two of the largest national re-
search investigations of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) ever con-
ducted in the Unites States. While leadership and investigators
from the TRACK–TBI have developed productive relationships with
national laboratory scientists, more collaboration may be needed to
develop advanced statistical methods and leverage advances in
data science and deep analytics. The Committee encourages the
Department to collaborate with the CARE and TRACK–TBI inves-
tigators to utilize the national laboratory capabilities to apply the
most advanced statistical methods to interrogate the highly com-
plex CARE and TRACK–TBI data sets. The Department is directed
to conduct such collaborations on a reimbursable basis through
Strategic Partnership Projects.
BASIC ENERGY SCIENCES
The Basic Energy Sciences program funds basic research in ma-
terials science, chemistry, geoscience, and bioscience. The science
breakthroughs in this program enable a broad array of innovation
in energy technologies and other industries critical to American
economic competitiveness.
Research.—Within available funds, the recommendation provides
$24,088,000 for the Batteries and Energy Storage Innovation Hub,
up to $20,000,000 for the Fuels from Sunlight Innovation Hub,
$115,000,000 for the Energy Frontier Research Centers,
$532,000,000 for facilities operations of the nation’s light sources,
$260,088,000 for facilities operations of the high flux neutron
sources, $142,000,000 for facilities operations of the Nanoscale
Science Research Centers (NSRC), and $25,000,000 for the Experi-
mental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research.
Within funds for operations of the nation’s light sources, the De-
partment is encouraged to invest in capital improvements at all of
the light sources. It is imperative that these facilities continue to
provide users with state-of-the-art capabilities to ensure U.S.
science leadership and innovation.
The recommendation provides $12,000,000 for other project costs,
including $3,000,000 for Proton Power Upgrade, $2,000,000 for
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Linac Coherent Light Source-II HE, $1,000,000 for Second Target
Station, and $6,000,000 for Cryomodule Repair & Maintenance Fa-
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127
cility. The recommendation includes $15,000,000 for NSRC Recapi-
talization and $15,000,000 for NSLS–II Experimental Tools-II.
BIOLOGICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH
The Biological and Environmental Research (BER) program sup-
ports advances in energy technologies and related science through
research into complex biological and environmental systems.
The recommendation includes not less than $390,000,000 for Bio-
logical Systems Science and not less than $355,000,000 for Earth
and Environmental Systems Sciences.
The recommendation provides $100,000,000 for the Bioenergy
Research Centers and $15,000,000 to continue development of a
multi-scale genes-to-ecosystem approach that supports a predictive
understanding of gene functions and how they scale within complex
biological and environmental systems.
The Committee supports the Department’s efforts to build pro-
grammatic bridges and leverage its resources among biological,
earth, and environmental science programs to facilitate the seam-
less quantification and prediction of biological-environmental inter-
actions from molecular to ecosystem scales. The Committee encour-
ages the Department to expand its growing focus on the science of
biology-based products to advance critical mission needs and to
maintain international leadership. The Committee continues to
support the Department’s establishment of a national microbiome
database collaborative and provides $10,000,000 for microbiome re-
search initiatives, including development of the microbiome data-
base.
The recommendation includes not less than $10,000,000 for the
low-dose radiation research program.
The Committee continues to support the Department’s funding
for colleges and universities to examine and evaluate earth system
models and validate their ability to reproduce earth systems. The
Committee is aware that reducing uncertainty in understanding
cloud aerosol effects requires investment in observational studies,
modeling, and computing. The recommendation provides
$15,000,000 for cloud-aerosol research. The Department is encour-
aged to establish an Earth System Grid Federation node for Arctic
climate data.
The recommendation includes $30,000,000 for ongoing efforts to
develop observational assets and associated research to study the
nation’s major land-water interfaces, including the Great Lakes
and the Puget Sound, that leverages national laboratories’ assets
as well as local infrastructure and expertise at universities and
other research institutions.
Existing scientific and modeling approaches for understanding
energy-water systems cannot accurately simulate and predict rapid
changes and feedbacks between coupled water and energy systems
in an uncertain future where extremes, such as droughts, floods,
heat waves, and wildfires, are becoming more frequent, intense,
and widespread. In prior fiscal years, the Department had an En-
ergy-Water Nexus crosscutting initiative, which included the Office
of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Office of Fossil En-
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ergy, the Office of Science, and other offices, to focus on more resil-
ient and sustainable energy-water systems with a focus on desali-
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nation technology and regional data, modeling, and analysis test
beds. The Department is encouraged to resume the Office of
Science’s activities of the prior Energy-Water Nexus crosscutting
initiative, including regional-scale data, modeling, and analysis
test-beds targeted to universities with research competencies in
water scarcity issues in drought regions of the United States with
the potential to build a hub network on integrated assessment
modeling for complex systems prediction for environmental change
in relation to water scarce regions with national labs as partners.
The Department is directed to submit to the Committee not later
than 90 days of enactment of this Act a report that outlines the ac-
tivities previously conducted under the Energy-Water Nexus across
the Department, which activities have continued, which activities
ended, and an explanation for the termination of each activity that
ended. The Department is directed to coordinate all energy-water
nexus activities across the Offices of Energy Efficiency and Renew-
able Energy, Electricity, Fossil Energy, Nuclear Energy, Science,
and any other relevant program offices.
The Committee directs the Department to continue to support
NGEE Arctic, NGEE Tropics, the SPRUCE field site, the Water-
shed Function and Mercury Science Focus Areas, and the
AmeriFLUX project.
The Committee directs the Department to give priority to opti-
mizing the operation of BER user facilities.
FUSION ENERGY SCIENCES
The Fusion Energy Sciences program supports basic research
and experimentation aiming to harness nuclear fusion for energy
production.
Research.—Within available funds, the recommendation provides
$20,000,000 for High Energy Density Laboratory Plasmas, includ-
ing activities for LaserNetUS.
Within available funds, the recommendation includes $5,000,000
for the Innovation Network for Fusion Energy (INFUSE) research
and development program. The fiscal year 2020 Act directed the
Department to provide a plan on a possible cost share program for
reactor technologies. The Committee is still awaiting this plan and
directs the Department to provide the plan not later than 30 days
after enactment of this Act and prior to any funds being obligated
for these purposes.
The recommendation includes $12,000,000 for the Materials Plas-
ma Exposure eXperiment.
Construction.—The Committee recommends $260,000,000 for the
U.S. contribution to the ITER project, of which not less than
$100,000,000 is for in-cash contributions. The Committee continues
to believe the ITER project represents an important step forward
for energy sciences and has the potential to revolutionize the cur-
rent understanding of fusion energy. The Department is directed to
provide to the Committee not later than 180 days after enactment
of this Act the performance baseline for the entire project, includ-
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ing an updated baseline for Subproject 1 and a baseline for Sub-
project 2.
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HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS
The High Energy Physics program supports fundamental re-
search into the elementary constituents of matter and energy and
ultimately into the nature of space and time. The program focuses
on particle physics theory and experimentation in three areas: the
energy frontier, which investigates new particles and fundamental
forces through high-energy experimentation; the intensity frontier,
which focuses on rare events to better understand our fundamental
model of the universe’s elementary constituents; and the cosmic
frontier, which investigates the nature of the universe and its form
of matter and energy on cosmic scales.
Research.—Within available funds, the recommendation provides
$100,000,000 for the HL–LHC Upgrade Projects.
The Committee strongly urges the Department to maintain a bal-
anced portfolio of small-, medium-, and large-scale experiments and
to ensure adequate funding for research performed at universities
and the national laboratories. The Committee encourages the De-
partment to fund facility operations at levels for optimal oper-
ations.
NUCLEAR PHYSICS
The Nuclear Physics program supports basic research into the
fundamental particles that compose nuclear matter, how they
interact, and how they combine to form the different types of mat-
ter observed in the universe today.
Research.—Within available funds, the recommendation provides
$25,000,000 for Electron Ion Collider R&D.
The Committee directs the Department to give priority to opti-
mizing operations within Medium Energy Nuclear Physics and at
the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams.
Within available funds, the Committee directs the Department to
provide optimal funding for major items of equipment, including
the Gamma-Ray Energy Tracking Array, the Super Pioneering
High Energy Nuclear Interaction Experiment, MOLLER, and the
High Rigidity Spectrometer.
Within available funds, the recommendation includes up to
$10,000,000 for a consortium of research universities to apply ad-
vanced manufacturing techniques to radioisotope production, in-
cluding automation, digitalization, artificial intelligence, fabrica-
tion, and state-of-the-art characterization instrumentation, and to
establish a traineeship program for students to develop the future
workforce.
WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT FOR TEACHERS AND SCIENTISTS
The Workforce Development for Teachers and Scientists program
ensures that the nation has the sustained pipeline of science, tech-
nology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workers to meet na-
tional goals and objectives.
The Committee recommends $30,000,000 for Workforce Develop-
ment for Teachers and Scientists. Within available funds, the Com-
mittee recommends not less than $14,000,000 for the Science Un-
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dergraduate Laboratory Internship, not less than $2,000,000 for
the Community College Institute of Science and Technology, and
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130
not less than $5,000,000 for the Office of Science Graduate Student
Research Program. Within available funds, the Committee rec-
ommends not less than $1,500,000 for outreach activities for the
Department to widely publicize its opportunities and diversify the
applicant pool, with an emphasis on targeted recruitment of indi-
viduals traditionally underrepresented in STEM.
SCIENCE LABORATORIES INFRASTRUCTURE
The Science Laboratories Infrastructure program sustains mis-
sion-ready infrastructure and safe and environmentally responsible
operations by providing the infrastructure improvements necessary
to support leading edge research by the Department’s national lab-
oratories.
The Department is directed to submit to the Committee not later
than 180 days after enactment of this Act a report on the funding
levels required for operations and maintenance of Oak Ridge Na-
tional Laboratory nuclear facilities. The report shall be coordinated
between the Office of Science and Office of Nuclear Energy and
should include an accounting of how funds have been spent for the
previous three fiscal years and how funds will be spent for the fis-
cal year 2021. The report should also include information for the
next four fiscal years on the funding levels required for operations
for each facility and funding levels required for multi-year infra-
structure improvements. The report should provide a breakdown of
users, operations time, and funding allocated to activities related
to the Office of Science or to the Office of Nuclear Energy.
Within available funds for General Plant Projects, the Depart-
ment is directed to prioritize projects related to power resilience.
NUCLEAR WASTE DISPOSAL
Appropriation, 2020 ............................................................................ –––
Budget estimate, 2021 ....................................................................... 27,500,000
Recommended, 2021 ........................................................................... 27,500,000
Comparison:
Appropriation, 2020 .................................................................... +27,500,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ................................................................ –––
The recommendation includes $27,5000,000 for Nuclear Waste
Disposal, of which $20,000,000 is for interim storage and
$7,500,000 is for Nuclear Waste Fund (NWF) oversight activities.
Funds for NWF oversight activities are derived from the NWF.
The Committee is disappointed with the lack of details in the De-
partment’s proposal for interim storage activities, many of which
appear to be generic efforts that have been underway for years and
are funded within the Office of Nuclear Energy’s Integrated Waste
Management Systems program in this recommendation. Within
available funds in this account for interim storage, the Department
is directed to move forward under existing authority to identify a
site for a federal interim storage facility. The Department is fur-
ther directed to use a consent-based approach when undertaking
these activities. The Department is reminded that the Nuclear
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Waste Policy Act provides for a wide variety of activities that may
take place prior to the limitation in section 141(g).
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ADVANCED RESEARCH PROJECTS AGENCY—ENERGY
Appropriation, 2020 ............................................................................ $425,000,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ....................................................................... ¥310,744,000
Recommended, 2021 ........................................................................... 435,000,000
Comparison:
Appropriation, 2020 .................................................................... +10,000,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ................................................................ +745,744,000
The Advanced Research Projects Agency—Energy (ARPA–E) sup-
ports research aimed at rapidly developing energy technologies
whose development and commercialization are too risky to attract
sufficient private sector investment but are capable of significantly
changing the energy sector to address our critical economic, envi-
ronmental, and energy security challenges. The technology break-
throughs funded by ARPA–E have significant commercial impact
and have received billions of dollars in private-sector funding to
continue to advance those technologies toward the marketplace.
Projects funded by ARPA–E include wide-ranging areas such as
production processes for transportation fuel alternatives that can
reduce our dependence on imported oil, heating and cooling tech-
nologies with exceptionally high energy efficiency, and low-cost
electric aviation technologies.
The Committee again strongly rejects the short-sighted proposal
to terminate ARPA–E. Instead, the Committee continues invest-
ment in this transformational program and directs the Department
to continue to spend funds provided on research and development
and program direction. The Department shall not use any appro-
priated funds to plan or execute the termination of ARPA–E. The
Department is directed to disburse funds appropriated for ARPA–
E within a reasonable time period.
TITLE 17 INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY LOAN GUARANTEE PROGRAM
ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES
GROSS APPROPRIATION
Appropriation, 2020 ............................................................................ $32,000,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ....................................................................... 3,000,000
Recommended, 2021 ........................................................................... 32,000,000
Comparison:
Appropriation, 2020 .................................................................... –––
Budget estimate, 2021 ................................................................ +29,000,000
OFFSETTING COLLECTIONS
Appropriation, 2020 ............................................................................ ¥$3,000,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ....................................................................... ¥3,000,000
Recommended, 2021 ........................................................................... ¥3,000,000
Comparison:
Appropriation, 2020 .................................................................... –––
Budget estimate, 2021 ................................................................ –––
RESCISSIONS AND CANCELLATIONS
Appropriation, 2020 ............................................................................ $–––
Budget estimate, 2021 ....................................................................... ¥384,659,000
Recommended, 2021 ........................................................................... –––
Comparison:
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Appropriation, 2020 .................................................................... –––
Budget estimate, 2021 ................................................................ +384,659,000
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132
NET APPROPRIATION
Appropriation, 2020 ............................................................................ $29,000,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ....................................................................... ¥384,659,000
Recommended, 2021 ........................................................................... 29,000,000
Comparison:
Appropriation, 2020 .................................................................... –––
Budget estimate, 2021 ................................................................ +413,659,000
The Committee rejects the budget proposal to use prior-year bal-
ances to cover administrative expenses and the proposed rescission
of credit subsidy and cancellation of commitment authority appro-
priated by Public Law 112–10 and Public Law 111–5.
The Committee recommends $32,000,000 in administrative ex-
penses for the Loan Guarantee Program, an increase of
$29,000,000 above the budget request. The recommendation is off-
set by $3,000,000 in collections from loan guarantee applicants, for
a net appropriation of $29,000,000. No funds recommended under
this heading may be used to plan, develop, implement, or pursue
the elimination of the Title 17 Innovative Technologies Program.
ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY VEHICLES MANUFACTURING LOAN
PROGRAM
Appropriation, 2020 ............................................................................ $5,000,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ....................................................................... –––
Recommended, 2021 ........................................................................... 5,000,000
Comparison:
Appropriation, 2020 .................................................................... –––
Budget estimate, 2021 ................................................................ +5,000,000
The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 established
a direct loan program to support the development of advanced tech-
nology vehicles and associated components in the United States.
The program provides loans to automobile and automobile part
manufacturers for the cost of re-equipping, expanding, or estab-
lishing manufacturing facilities in the United States to produce ad-
vanced technology vehicles or qualified components, and for associ-
ated engineering integration costs. The Committee rejects the
budget proposal to eliminate the Advanced Vehicles Manufacturing
Program and provides $5,000,000. The Committee also rejects the
budget proposal to rescind $4,250,000,000 in emergency funds ap-
propriated by Public Law 110–329. The Committee directs the De-
partment to expeditiously evaluate and adjudicate all loan applica-
tions received. The Department is further directed to provide to the
Committee not later than 90 days after enactment of this Act a
briefing that includes a status update on each loan application re-
ceived.
TRIBAL ENERGY LOAN GUARANTEE PROGRAM
Appropriation, 2020 ............................................................................ $2,000,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ....................................................................... ¥8,500,000
Recommended, 2021 ........................................................................... 2,000,000
Comparison:
Appropriation, 2020 .................................................................... –––
Budget estimate, 2021 ................................................................ +10,500,000
The Energy Policy Act of 2005 established a loan guarantee pro-
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gram for energy development to provide or expand electricity on In-
dian land. The Committee rejects the budget proposal to eliminate
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133
this program and provides $2,000,000. The Committee also rejects
the budget proposal to rescind $8,500,000 appropriated by Public
Law 115–31. The Department is encouraged to take formal steps
to market this program and ensure the program’s availability, ben-
efits, and application process are made known to potential appli-
cants who are ready to seek financing.
INDIAN ENERGY POLICY AND PROGRAMS
Appropriation, 2020 ............................................................................ $22,000,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ....................................................................... 8,005,000
Recommended, 2021 ........................................................................... 22,250,000
Comparison:
Appropriation, 2020 .................................................................... +250,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ................................................................ +14,245,000
The Energy Policy Act of 2005 established the Office of Indian
Energy and Policy Programs. The Office of Indian Energy provides
technical assistance, direct and remote education, policy research
and analysis, and financial assistance to Indian tribes, Alaska Na-
tive Village and Regional corporations, and Tribal Energy Resource
Development Organizations.
The Committee encourages the Department to use its cost share
waiver authority under section 988 of the Energy Policy Act of
2005 when applicable.
DEPARTMENTAL ADMINISTRATION
GROSS APPROPRIATION
Appropriation, 2020 ............................................................................ $254,378,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ....................................................................... 229,472,000
Recommended, 2021 ........................................................................... 252,378,000
Comparison:
Appropriation, 2020 .................................................................... ¥2,000,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ................................................................ +22,906,000
REVENUES
Appropriation, 2020 ............................................................................ ¥$93,378,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ....................................................................... ¥93,378,000
Recommended, 2021 ........................................................................... ¥93,378,000
Comparison:
Appropriation, 2020 .................................................................... –––
Budget estimate, 2021 ................................................................ –––
NET APPROPRIATION
Appropriation, 2020 ............................................................................ $161,000,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ....................................................................... 136,094,000
Recommended, 2021 ........................................................................... 159,000,000
Comparison:
Appropriation, 2020 .................................................................... ¥2,000,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ................................................................ +22,906,000
Funding recommended for Departmental Administration provides
for general management and program support functions benefiting
all elements of the Department, including the National Nuclear Se-
curity Administration. The account funds a wide array of Head-
quarters activities not directly associated with the execution of spe-
cific programs. The recommendation includes eight reprogramming
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control points in this account to provide flexibility in the manage-
ment of support functions. The Committee rejects the budget pro-
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134
posal to create a new account for the Artificial Intelligence and
Technology Office and instead has included this as a reprogram-
ming control point within this account. Other Departmental Ad-
ministration includes Management, Project Management Oversight
and Assessments, Chief Human Capital Officer, Office of Tech-
nology Transitions, Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business
Utilization, General Counsel, Office of Policy, and Public Affairs.
The Department is directed to continue to submit a budget request
that proposes a separate funding level for each of these activities.
Program Direction.—The recommendation includes $5,119,000
for Program Direction and does not include funds to support an
arctic energy coordinator position. The Committee directs the De-
partment to develop a research agenda related to arctic energy, in-
cluding Counter-Unmanned Aircraft System technologies, and to
brief the Committee not later than 90 days after enactment of this
Act on this agenda.
Economic Impact and Diversity.—The recommendation includes
$10,169,000 for Economic Impact and Diversity, the same as fiscal
year 2020 and $238,000 above the budget request. The Department
is directed to provide to the Committee not later than 120 days
after enactment of this Act a report detailing the Department’s ef-
forts on minority education, workforce, and training programs that
create hands-on training at laboratories and in the field and pre-
pare students that are traditionally underrepresented in STEM dis-
ciplines.
Chief Information Officer.—The recommendation includes
$140,500,000. The Committee notes the importance of prioritizing
funding for cybersecurity activities at a time when cyber threats to
the Department’s facilities, sites, and national laboratories are in-
creasing. Within this amount, not less than $71,800,000 shall be
for cybersecurity and secure information.
International Affairs.—Within available funds, the recommenda-
tion includes $2,000,000 for the Israel Binational Industrial Re-
search and Development (BIRD) Foundation and $4,000,000 for the
U.S.-Israel Center of Excellence in Energy, Engineering and Water
Technology. The Committee is supportive of the Department’s con-
tinued work in energy cooperation with Ukraine, including pro-
viding technical assistance in developing winter action plans and
the current effort to assist with a national energy resiliency plan.
The Committee encourages additional work in areas of importance
to both countries, including technical assistance support for
Ukrainian national energy security strategies and development of
low carbon sources of energy.
Artificial Intelligence and Technology Office.—The Committee re-
jects the budget proposal to create a new account for the Artificial
Intelligence and Technology Office, including the proposal to origi-
nate programmatic activities within this Office. The Department
represented to the Committee that the funding provided in fiscal
year 2020 would be used solely for the purpose of funding per-
sonnel. However, the Committee has learned that the Department
has only used limited funds for that stated and intended purpose.
As such, the recommendation provides no funding for the Office,
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and the Department is directed to utilize unused fiscal year 2020
funds to support close-out activities of the Office. While the Com-
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135
mittee was originally supportive of the concept of an office to co-
ordinate programmatic research regarding artificial intelligence
and machine learning throughout the Department, the Depart-
ment’s lack of transparency regarding the activities of this Office
and its disregard of specific congressional direction have resulted
in a lack of trust in the Department and this Office to faithfully
uphold statutory requirements and congressional direction. The De-
partment is directed to continue programmatic activities regarding
artificial intelligence and machine learning related to the Depart-
ment’s mission through the appropriate program offices and directs
the Secretary to lead coordination of all program offices across the
Department. Further, the Department is reminded that a re-
programming may not be employed to initiate new programs or to
change program, project, or activity allocations specifically denied
or limited by the Congress in this Act or report. Additionally, no
personnel from other program offices may work in the Office unless
that program office is fully reimbursed from funds directly appro-
priated to the Office in the fiscal year 2020 Act.
Other Departmental Administration.—The recommendation pro-
vides $26,000,000 for the Chief Human Capital Officer and
$54,358,000 for Management.
The recommendation provides $13,000,000 for Project Manage-
ment Oversight and Assessments. The Committee directs the De-
partment to provide a briefing not later than 60 days after enact-
ment of this Act detailing how it plans to address GAO’s high-risk
concerns.
Office of Technology Transitions.—The recommendation provides
$5,000,000 above the budget request for the Office of Technology
Transitions for a competitive funding opportunity for incubators
building energy innovation clusters. These incubators should have
the support of state, regional, and local entities. The Department
is directed to provide to the Committee not later than 120 days of
awarding funds a report on the impact these incubators have on job
creation and workforce development, including in low-income com-
munities and under-represented entrepreneurs.
The fiscal year 2020 Act directed the Department to provide a re-
port on the value of creating a nonprofit foundation that will better
promote the transfer of technology to the marketplace. The Com-
mittee is still awaiting this report and directs the Department to
provide this report not later than 60 days after enactment of this
Act.
Energy and Employment Report.—The recommendation provides
$2,000,000 for the Office of Strategic Planning and Policy to com-
plete an annual U.S. energy employment report that includes a
comprehensive statistical survey to collect data, publish the data,
and provide a summary report. The information collected shall in-
clude data relating to employment figures and demographics in the
U.S. energy sector using methodology approved by the Office of
Management and Budget in 2016.
In addition, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security
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(CARES) Act (Public Law 116–136) included $28,000,000 to pre-
vent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus.
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OFFICE OF THE INSPECTOR GENERAL
Appropriation, 2020 ............................................................................ $54,215,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ....................................................................... 57,739,000
Recommended, 2021 ........................................................................... 57,739,000
Comparison:
Appropriation, 2020 .................................................................... +3,524,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ................................................................ –––
The Office of the Inspector General performs agency-wide audit,
inspection, and investigative functions to identify and correct man-
agement and administrative deficiencies that create conditions for
existing or potential instances of fraud, waste, and mismanage-
ment. The audit function provides financial and performance audits
of programs and operations. The inspections function provides inde-
pendent inspections and analyses of the effectiveness, efficiency,
and economy of programs and operations. The investigative func-
tion provides for the detection and investigation of improper and il-
legal activities involving programs, personnel, and operations.
The Committee strongly supports the mission and independence
of the Office of the Inspector General and directs the Department
to provide to the Committee not later than 90 days after enactment
of this Act a five-year staffing and program plan necessary to
achieve its audit, inspection, and investigative mission.
ATOMIC ENERGY DEFENSE ACTIVITIES
The Atomic Energy Defense Activities programs of the Depart-
ment in the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) con-
sist of Weapons Activities, Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation, Naval
Reactors, and Federal Salaries and Expenses. Outside of the
NNSA, Atomic Energy Defense Activities programs include Defense
Environmental Cleanup, Defense Uranium Enrichment Decon-
tamination and Decommissioning, and Other Defense Activities.
Descriptions of each of these accounts are provided below.
NATIONAL NUCLEAR SECURITY ADMINISTRATION
The Department of Energy is responsible for enhancing U.S. na-
tional security through the military application of nuclear tech-
nology and reducing the global danger from the proliferation of
weapons of mass destruction. The NNSA, a semi-autonomous agen-
cy within the Department, carries out these responsibilities. Estab-
lished in March 2000, pursuant to title 32 of the National Defense
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2000, the NNSA is responsible
for the management and operation of the nation’s nuclear weapons
complex, nuclear nonproliferation activities, and naval reactors.
The recommendation includes $18,037,617,000 for the NNSA,
$1,333,025,000 above fiscal year 2020.
Carryover Balances.—The Committee is concerned that the De-
partment is not considering carryover balances, particularly within
Infrastructure and Operations, in its budget formulation process.
The NNSA shall submit to the Committee not later than 60 days
after enactment of this Act a plan to reduce its carryover balances
to applicable thresholds by the end of fiscal year 2021. The Comp-
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troller General of the United States shall assess the adequacy of
the NNSA’s plan and its interpretation of the applicable thresholds
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137
and brief the Committee on its findings not later than 120 days
after enactment of this Act.
The Committee encourages the NNSA to coordinate with the De-
partment of Defense on opportunities to observe and participate in
table-top exercises and other scenario-based, non-training exercises
that are currently being conducted and planned as part of the
Wargaming Incentive Fund, and the NNSA is encouraged to keep
the Committee informed of such opportunities.
WEAPONS ACTIVITIES
Appropriation, 2020 ............................................................................ $12,457,097,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ....................................................................... 15,602,000,000
Recommended, 2021 ........................................................................... 13,659,617,000
Comparison:
Appropriation, 2020 .................................................................... +1,202,520,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ................................................................ ¥1,942,383,000
Weapons Activities ensures the safety, security, reliability, and
effectiveness of the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile without nu-
clear explosive testing. These activities were traditionally funded
by four main elements: Directed Stockpile Work; Research, Devel-
opment, Test, and Evaluation; Infrastructure and Operations; and
Security functions.
The budget request proposes a new structure for Weapons Activi-
ties that replaces work funded within Directed Stockpile Work and
Research, Development, Test and Evaluation with three new ele-
ments: Stockpile Management; Production Modernization; and
Stockpile Research, Technology, and Engineering. The Committee
notes the NNSA’s efforts to engage in a constructive and trans-
parent manner in communicating the proposed changes. While the
recommendation adopts some of the proposed changes, modifica-
tions have been made where the Committee believes additional
oversight and monitoring is necessary.
Next Generation Stockpile Stewardship.—The Committee is
aware that the NNSA is assessing the major science questions fac-
ing the Stockpile Stewardship Program over the next 20 years and
is developing a plan to ensure continued confidence in the stockpile
without nuclear explosive testing. The NNSA shall brief the Com-
mittee not later than 60 days after enactment of this Act on the
status of its plan.
Integrated Priorities Report.—The NNSA is managing an increas-
ing and highly interdependent workload. Much of this work re-
quires significant investments to reconstitute key capabilities and
materials, recapitalize infrastructure and construct new facilities,
and modernize cyber and physical security functions. The shifting
priorities, costs, and need dates for accomplishing this work make
it difficult to conduct oversight. Therefore, the NNSA is directed to
provide to the Committee a classified integrated priorities report
(IPR) for Weapons Activities each year with the budget request, be-
ginning with the fiscal year 2022 budget request. The purpose is
to provide an integrated look at the priorities, assumptions, and
risks underpinning the budget request and the Future Years Nu-
clear Security Program and how they have changed from the prior
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year. The IPR shall include a framework for how the programs and
projects have been prioritized within the budget request and the
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138
identification of any capability gaps that drive the priorities within
the budget request, such as strategic material needs, age-out of
components, and infrastructure.
Tungsten.—The Committee notes the importance of ensuring a
secure and reliable supply chain for critical minerals and materials
and encourages the NNSA to consider the use of domestically-pro-
duced tungsten powder and slabs.
Kansas City National Security Campus.—The GAO has identified
a shortage of up to 400,000 square feet of production and adminis-
trative space within the Kansas City National Security Complex
needed to meet the demands of the NNSA’s workload. The NNSA
shall provide the Committee periodic updates on the status of the
agency’s ongoing study to assess requirements for space and non-
nuclear component manufacturing. Additionally, the NNSA shall
brief the Committee not later than 30 days after completing the re-
quirements study.
STOCKPILE MANAGEMENT
Stockpile Management includes all activities that directly sustain
and modernize the nuclear stockpile. These activities include main-
tenance, operations, surveillance, dismantlement, and weapon ac-
quisition programs including life extensions, modifications, and al-
terations. Much of this work was previously funded within the
former Directed Stockpile Work. The Committee recommends
$4,237,244,000 for Stockpile Management.
W80-4 Life Extension Program.—The NNSA shall brief the Com-
mittee not later than 60 days after enactment of this Act on the
benefits, drawbacks, and implications of extending the need date of
the first and last production unit by one year.
W87-1 Modification Program.—The W87-1 Modification Program
requires close synchronization with the NNSA’s primary capability
and non-nuclear modernization efforts, which carry significant risk.
The Committee expects to receive quarterly briefings on the status,
scope, and cost of the program, beginning not later than 90 days
after enactment of this Act.
W93 Modernization Activity.—No funding is provided for the W93
and no funding shall be spent on this activity. The NNSA has pro-
vided limited details on why starting Phase 1 Concept Assessment
is needed in fiscal year 2021, the drivers for this decision, or how
such a decision is likely to impact retirement of any of the Navy’s
existing strategic systems. The NNSA proposed to manage the W93
modernization activity using the joint Department of Energy-De-
partment of Defense nuclear weapons lifecycle process, but the
Committee is concerned that this process is out of date and does
not include current best practices. Until such questions and con-
cerns are adequately addressed, the Committee will not consider
funding for this activity.
Sea-Launched Cruise Missile Study.—No funds were requested,
and no funds are provided for the purposes of studying a Sea-
Launched Cruise Missile. The NNSA is directed, in coordination
with the Navy, to brief the Committee not later than 30 days after
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enactment of this Act on the status of the ongoing analysis of alter-
natives and design definition.
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139
Peer Review and Competition.—The Committee remains con-
cerned that the majority of non-nuclear components, electronics,
and systems have not benefited from independent peer review and
competition and that an architecture is not in place that leverages
the capabilities of the Department’s national laboratories to accom-
plish this, which can lead to unnecessary costs and delays. The fis-
cal year 2020 Act directed the NNSA to brief the Committee on its
plan to implement peer review and design competition. The Com-
mittee is still awaiting this briefing and directs the NNSA to pro-
vide the briefing not later than 30 days after enactment of this Act.
Joint Nuclear Weapons Lifecycle Process.—The Committee is con-
cerned the existing joint nuclear weapons lifecycle process lacks
modern management controls such as upfront planning, analysis of
alternatives that meets GAO best practices, and earlier cost esti-
mating. The Committee is further concerned that some of these
controls are optional and are not consolidated within one Depart-
mental order or directive. Parts of the lifecycle process, particularly
Phase 1, have not been exercised in decades. The Office of Cost Es-
timating and Program Evaluation (CEPE) shall assess and com-
pare the current lifecycle acquisition process and Order 413.3B.
The assessment shall include an inventory of the management con-
trols present under each process, whether each control is optional
or mandatory, and recommendations for how the NNSA should
amend the existing lifecycle process to align with program planning
and management best practices. This assessment shall be provided
to the Committee not later than 120 days after enactment of this
Act. Not later than 30 days after providing CEPE’s assessment, the
NNSA shall brief the Committee on NNSA’s plans to incorporate
CEPE’s recommendations.
PRODUCTION MODERNIZATION
Production Modernization includes all activities needed to restore
and modernize production capabilities. These activities include re-
storing and modernizing the capability to produce primaries,
secondaries, and non-nuclear components. Portions of Production
Modernization were previously funded within the former Directed
Stockpile Work. The Committee recommends $1,858,667,000 for
Production Modernization.
The nuclear security enterprise requires access to a variety of
critical non-nuclear materials. The Committee is pleased that the
NNSA is moving forward with upgrading production and proc-
essing capacity to manufacture and machine non-nuclear materials.
The Committee encourages the NNSA to proceed with further de-
velopment and demonstration of industrial powder consolidation
methods, evaluation and procurement of raw materials, and devel-
opment of graphite manufacturing capabilities. The recommenda-
tion includes not less than $6,000,000 for this effort and to sustain
precision beryllium machining capabilities and the availability of a
domestic oxide production source. The NNSA is directed to brief
the Committee not later than 60 days after enactment of this Act
on the status of these activities and periodically thereafter.
Plutonium Modernization.—Within funds provided, not less than
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$7,000,000 shall be for workforce development and training part-
nerships with Historically Black Colleges and Universities, His-
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140
panic-Serving Institutions, and Tribal Colleges and Universities in
South Carolina and New Mexico to support plutonium pit produc-
tion.
Plutonium Pit Production.—The Committee notes that NNSA
has taken a number of positive steps, including the shift to man-
aging infrastructure investments in New Mexico and South Caro-
lina under DOE Order 413.3B, has developed some high-level mile-
stones, and has improved the transparency and quality of the data
provided to the Committee. However, the Committee remains con-
cerned that the NNSA has not prioritized the development of a re-
source-loaded integrated master schedule that includes all pit pro-
duction-related project and program activities as recommended by
the GAO, and does not appear to have plans to complete such a
schedule until after it would have had to achieve certain pit pro-
duction milestones. As such, the NNSA is directed to submit to the
Committee not later than 30 days after enactment of this Act a
plan to complete the resource-loaded integrated master schedule.
The Comptroller General shall review the NNSA’s plan and brief
its finding to the Committee not later than 90 days after enactment
of this Act.
Additionally, the Committee remains concerned about the lack of
a contingency plan should the NNSA not meet current pit produc-
tion milestones. Given the NNSA’s continuing challenges in con-
structing large, complex nuclear facilities on time and on budget,
coupled with the extremely constrained timeframe and planned use
of expedited processes and procedures, the risk of not meeting pit
production milestones is high. Similar concerns were included in a
2019 independent assessment, which concluded that ‘‘no available
option can be expected to provide 80 pits per year by 2030.’’ The
NNSA is directed to develop, in coordination with the Department
of Defense, a contingency plan to meet the needs of the nuclear de-
terrent that do not solely rely on the current need dates for pit pro-
duction. This plan shall be submitted to the Committee not later
than 120 days after enactment of this Act, and updated and sub-
mitted each year thereafter with the budget request. The plan shall
include options to ramp up pit production that extend the current
need dates for pit production; how the hedge and fielded stockpile
could be configured to serve as an interim solution; and an esti-
mate of how many years current pit production need dates could
be extended by advancing pit reuse concepts.
Domestic Uranium Enrichment.—While the NNSA has initiated
a technology down-select process through an ongoing analysis of al-
ternatives, the Committee encourages the NNSA to consider open
competition as one of the options for the manufacturing and oper-
ation of centrifuges to meet national security mission requirements
if a technology is recommended for deployment. The NNSA is di-
rected to brief the Committee not later than 60 days after enact-
ment of this Act on its plan to engage commercial industry as part
of its acquisition strategy.
University Collaboration.—The Committee notes the importance
of collaborations between research universities and national labora-
tories as the NNSA modernizes manufacturing and production ca-
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pabilities. The Committee recognizes this requires a steady pipeline
of technical talent to meet growing workforce needs. The rec-
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141
ommendation provides up to $6,000,000 to establish a Center of
Excellence led by a university with a school of engineering that has
expertise in lifetime extension research and materials science. The
Center’s focus shall be on developing new additive and advanced
manufacturing techniques, technologies, and methodologies to
evaluate, diagnose, and control materials for production and manu-
facturing purposes.
STOCKPILE RESEARCH, TECHNOLOGY, AND ENGINEERING
Stockpile Research, Technology, and Engineering (SRT&E) in-
cludes all activities to strengthen science-based stockpile steward-
ship capabilities to annually certify and assess the stockpile. These
activities include assessments, advanced computing and manufac-
turing, experimental capabilities, and academic partnerships. Por-
tions of SRT&E were previously funded within the former Re-
search, Development, Test, and Evaluation. The Committee rec-
ommends $2,660,285,000 for SRT&E.
Academic Programs.—Within Academic Programs, $35,000,000
shall be for the Minority Serving Institution Partnership Program
and $5,000,000 shall be for Tribal Colleges and Universities. The
recommendation adopts the proposal to move the Joint Program in
High Energy Density Laboratory Plasmas from the Inertial Con-
finement Fusion program into Academic Programs and provides
$8,700,000.
The National Laboratory Jobs ACCESS Program was authorized
in the fiscal year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act to sup-
port apprenticeship and preapprenticeship programs to help fill
critical gaps within the NNSA’s workforce. These apprenticeship
programs engage high schools, community colleges, universities,
and other higher education institutions and workforce inter-
mediaries working in partnership with national laboratories. The
NNSA is directed to provide to the Committee not later than 120
days after enactment of this Act a plan for implementing this pro-
gram, including milestones and a projected funding profile. The
recommendation includes $5,000,000 for this effort.
Enhanced Capabilities for Subcritical Experiments (ECSE).—The
Committee is concerned with recent cost increases and the acquisi-
tion approach for ECSE. The NNSA shall brief the Committee not
later than 60 days after enactment of this Act on the status of
ECSE and the updated performance baseline.
Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) and High Yield.—Within the
ICF program, the recommendation includes $344,000,000 for the
National Ignition Facility, $66,900,000 for the Z Facility, and not
less than $80,000,000 for the OMEGA Laser Facility. Within funds
provided for Facility Operations, not less than $31,000,000 shall be
for the NNSA to manage target development and acquisition. The
Committee looks forward to receiving the findings from the JASON
Defense Advisory Panel’s independent review in an expeditious
manner.
Advanced Simulation and Computing.—Within funds provided
for Advanced Simulation and Computing, $25,000,000 shall be for
advanced memory technology research.
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Stockpile Responsiveness Program.—The NNSA shall submit to
the Committee an annual report with the budget request that in-
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142
cludes a detailed accounting and status of each program, project,
and activity within the program. The Committee expects to receive
timely updates on the status of any new and existing taskings,
studies, and assessments.
Weapons Technology and Manufacturing Maturation.—The Com-
mittee expects the NNSA to ensure there is a robust and cost-effec-
tive management process in place to mature technology and manu-
facturing based upon independent subject matter peer review and
validated requirements to ensure the highest return on investment.
The NNSA shall brief the Committee not later than 120 days after
enactment of this Act on how it is managing these activities.
SECURE TRANSPORTATION ASSET
The Secure Transportation Asset (STA) provides safe and secure
transportation of nuclear weapons, weapon components, and spe-
cial nuclear material throughout the nuclear security enterprise.
The STA workforce includes federal agents and program manage-
ment staff.
INFRASTRUCTURE AND OPERATIONS
Infrastructure and Operations provides funding for the base op-
erations, maintenance, and recapitalization of the NNSA’s facilities
and infrastructure.
The NNSA, in coordination with the Office of Science, is directed
to review the NNSA’s interpretation, procedures, and timelines
used to sell, lease, grant, and dispose of real and personal property
as authorized by the Atomic Energy Act. The review shall compare
the NNSA’s procedures, timelines, and interpretations with how
the Office of Science conducts these activities. The NNSA shall
brief the Committee not later than 90 days after enactment of this
Act on the results of the review.
LEGACY CONTRACTOR PENSIONS
The Committee provides $101,668,000 for payments into the leg-
acy University of California contractor employee defined benefit
pension plans.
DEFENSE NUCLEAR NONPROLIFERATION
Appropriation, 2020 ............................................................................ $2,164,400,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ....................................................................... 2,031,000,000
Recommended, 2021 ........................................................................... 2,240,000,000
Comparison:
Appropriation, 2020 .................................................................... +75,600,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ................................................................ +209,000,000
DEFENSE NUCLEAR NONPROLIFERATION
Funding for the Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation is
provided across five programs: Global Material Security, Material
Management and Minimization, Nonproliferation and Arms Con-
trol, Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation R&D, Nonproliferation Con-
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struction, and National Technical Nuclear Forensics Research and
Development.
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143
No funds were requested to transfer excess plutonium from the
State of South Carolina to the State of Nevada to comply with 50
U.S.C. 2566 and no funds are provided for this purpose.
In concert with the NNSA’s efforts to implement a safe, secure,
and cost-effective approach to dispose of surplus plutonium, the
Committee encourages efforts to engage the interagency and inter-
national partners as appropriate on mutually beneficial plutonium
disposition protocols.
Within funds provided, not less than $5,000,000 shall be for re-
search and engagement on applications of nuclear security, safe-
guards, and export controls for advanced nuclear reactor designs.
Global Material Security.—The recommendation includes
$21,500,000 for the Green Border Security Initiative within the
Nuclear Smuggling Detection and Deterrence program. The Com-
mittee recognizes the importance of improving the security of bor-
der crossings to prevent nuclear smuggling and accelerating part-
nerships, particularly within Eastern Europe. Within available
funds for Domestic Radiological Security, the recommendation pro-
vides $25,000,000 for the Cesium Irradiator Replacement Project
and up to $10,000,000 to address the container breach in Seattle,
Washington. The Committee notes the importance of accelerating
the removal of cesium devices to permanently reduce the risk of
terrorist use of a radiological dispersal device in the U.S.
Material Management and Minimization.—The recommendation
provides $60,000,000 within Laboratory and Partnership Support
for a new competitively awarded funding opportunity to expedite
the establishment of a stable domestic source of Mo-99. The NNSA
is directed to provide to the Committee not later than 90 days after
enactment of this Act a plan clarifying the remaining milestones
and projected costs necessary to successfully establish a domestic
capability to produce sufficient quantities of Mo-99 without the use
of highly enriched uranium.
Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation Research and Development
(DNN R&D).—The recommendation includes funding above the re-
quest to advance U.S. capabilities to detect and characterize low
yield and evasive underground nuclear explosions and
weaponization activities. The Committee notes the importance of
the University Consortia and Nonproliferation Stewardship pro-
grams and includes $15,000,000 for the University Consortia for
Nuclear Nonproliferation Research. The NNSA is directed to evalu-
ate the establishment of a nuclear materials processing test bed ca-
pability to address proliferation concerns within the evolving civil-
ian nuclear fuel cycle and to brief the Committee not later than
120 days after enactment of this Act on its findings. The rec-
ommendation also includes $20,000,000 within Nonproliferation
Fuels Development for the national laboratories to develop high-
density, low-enriched fuels that could replace highly enriched ura-
nium for naval applications.
National Technical Nuclear Forensics Research and Develop-
ment.—While parts of this mission have traditionally resided in
multiple federal agencies, including the NNSA, the budget request
seeks to consolidate scope and funding within the NNSA. The
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NNSA shall develop a strategic plan to manage this activity. The
plan shall be threat-informed, establish near- and long-term re-
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144
search and development (R&D) milestones that have been coordi-
nated with stakeholders, and clarify how R&D, counterterrorism,
and counterproliferation activities will be integrated. The plan
shall evaluate potential mission need and benefits of establishing
a low-background radiation laboratory capability with access to
Category I special nuclear materials representative of both weap-
ons and commercial uses to support activities such as accelerator-
based photonuclear, neutron activation, chemistry and isotope sep-
aration, treaty verification, and technical capabilities enabling
emergency response, including a cost estimate. The plan shall also
evaluate the mission need and benefits of establishing an analyt-
ical test laboratory that is co-located with criticality assembly irra-
diation capabilities allowing near-real-time measurements of early
decay products to support the NNSA’s nuclear forensics mission,
including a cost estimate, and shall consider potential partnership
opportunities to leverage regional institutions of higher education.
The NNSA shall brief the Committee not later than 120 days after
enactment of this Act on its plan.
NUCLEAR COUNTERTERRORISM AND INCIDENT RESPONSE
The NNSA’s Nuclear Counterterrorism and Incident Response
programs respond to and mitigate nuclear and radiological inci-
dents worldwide to reduce the threat of nuclear terrorism.
Radiological Assistance Program.—The Radiological Assistance
Program plays a significant role in the nation’s ability to detect,
deter, and respond to a domestic nuclear or radiological incident.
The Committee notes the critical importance of this program’s ef-
forts to recapitalize necessary equipment to meet mission needs.
LEGACY CONTRACTOR PENSIONS
The Committee provides $14,348,000 for payments into the leg-
acy University of California contractor employee defined benefit
pension plans.
NAVAL REACTORS
(INCLUDING TRANSFER OF FUNDS)
Appropriation, 2020 ............................................................................ $1,648,396,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ....................................................................... 1,684,000,000
Recommended, 2021 ........................................................................... 1,684,000,000
Comparison:
Appropriation, 2020 .................................................................... +35,604,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ................................................................ –––
The Naval Reactors program is responsible for all aspects of
naval nuclear propulsion from technology development through re-
actor operations to ultimate reactor plant disposal. The program
provides for the design, development, testing, and evaluation of im-
proved naval nuclear propulsion plants and reactor cores.
The recommendation fully funds the request to develop the Co-
lumbia-Class submarine, to refuel the S8G prototype, and continue
the Spent Fuel Handling Recapitalization Project.
Project Management.—In 2019, the NNSA notified the Com-
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mittee that scheduled completion of the S8G prototype and Spent
Fuel Handling Recapitalization Project would be delayed. The Com-
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145
mittee appreciates the transparency with which the NNSA has pro-
vided project management information and urges the NNSA to en-
sure controls are in place to minimize the potential of future delays
and cost increases.
Advanced Test Reactor Power Generation.—The Committee is
aware of an ongoing initial feasibility assessment to review increas-
ing the Advanced Test Reactor’s power generation from 60 to 70
megawatts. The Committee looks forward to receiving the results
of the assessment.
Naval Reactors Development.—Within amounts for Naval Reac-
tors Development, $91,000,000 is transferred to the Office of Nu-
clear Energy for Advanced Test Reactor operations.
FEDERAL SALARIES AND EXPENSES
Appropriation, 2020 ............................................................................ $434,699,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ....................................................................... 454,000,000
Recommended, 2021 ........................................................................... 454,000,000
Comparison:
Appropriation, 2020 .................................................................... +19,301,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ................................................................ –––
The Federal Salaries and Expenses account provides salaries,
corporate planning, oversight, and management for Defense Pro-
grams, Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation, and Naval Reactors, in-
cluding the NNSA field offices in New Mexico, Nevada, and Cali-
fornia.
Human Capital Management.—The Committee remains con-
cerned that NNSA programs continue to suffer from chronic staff-
ing shortages, particularly for experienced and senior program
management staff for weapons acquisitions and strategic materials,
as identified by the recent CEPE analysis. These shortages hinder
federal management of highly technical programs with significantly
increasing scope. The NNSA is directed to implement a pilot pro-
gram for expedited hiring that takes no longer than 15 business
days from the time the program office identifies a hiring need to
the time the human capital office provides an entry on date to the
prospective employee. Positions eligible for the pilot program shall
include those identified by the Deputy Administrators as being
most critical to meeting cost, schedule, security, and safety require-
ments. The NNSA shall brief the Committee not later than 30 days
after enactment of this Act on its plan to implement this require-
ment. CEPE shall evaluate the plan and provide recommendations
to improve the efficiency of the human capital office and processes.
CEPE’s evaluation and recommendations shall be briefed to the
NNSA and provided to the Committee not later than 60 days after
enactment of this Act. Not more than 90 percent of funds may be
obligated until the plan and CEPE’s evaluation is submitted to the
Committee.
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ENVIRONMENTAL AND OTHER DEFENSE ACTIVITIES
DEFENSE ENVIRONMENTAL CLEANUP
Appropriation, 2020 ............................................................................ $6,255,000,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ....................................................................... 4,983,608,000
Recommended, 2021 ........................................................................... 6,321,000,000
Comparison:
Appropriation, 2020 .................................................................... +66,000,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ................................................................ +1,337,392,000
The Defense Environmental Cleanup account provides funding
for identifying and reducing risks and managing waste at sites
where the nation carried out defense-related nuclear research and
production activities that resulted in radioactive, hazardous, and
mixed waste contamination requiring remediation, stabilization, or
some other cleanup action.
While the budget request for the Office of Environmental Man-
agement (EM) included increases at some sites, those increases
were at the expense of other important cleanup activities at sites,
including Hanford, Idaho, and Oak Ridge. The recommendation
continues to fund a balanced approach that sustains the momen-
tum of ongoing cleanup activities more consistently across all De-
partment cleanup sites.
Hanford Site.—The recommendation includes funds above the
budget request for the Richland Operations Office and the Office of
River Protection to support stable funding for cleanup activities at
the Hanford Site.
Within the Richland Operations Office, not less than $28,000,000
is provided within Central Plateau for groundwater remediation
and site critical infrastructure. The recommendation also provides
$2,500,000 to develop in-depth plans and processes for the perma-
nent off-site removal of Sr-90 capsules currently stored at the
Waste Encapsulation and Storage Facility.
The Department is reminded that meeting the Consent Decree
milestone for operations of Direct Feed Low Activity Waste must
remain the Department’s top focus within the Office of River Pro-
tection.
Idaho National Laboratory.—The Committee supports the De-
partment’s efforts to analyze alternatives for the future of spent
fuel facilities at Idaho to include multi-purpose canisters. The Com-
mittee encourages expediency in its review and expects regular up-
dates from the Department. The Department shall consider estab-
lishing a university-led center for environmental monitoring, ongo-
ing legacy management, and the development of decision support
tools for community-based response at Idaho National Laboratory.
Oak Ridge.—The Department is reminded that the completion of
preparations for hot cell processing and the start of hot cell proc-
essing and continued extraction of Thorium-229 must remain a pri-
ority.
Savannah River Site.—Within funds for Risk Management Oper-
ations, the recommendation provides $5,000,000 for remediation of
the D Area and $20,000,000 for H Canyon operations. Within funds
for Radioactive Liquid Tank Waste Stabilization and Disposition,
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the recommendation provides not less than $65,000,000 for Salt
Waste Processing Facility operations. The recommendation also in-
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147
cludes $25,000,000 for the final year of funding for the Advanced
Manufacturing Collaborative facility.
Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP).—The Committee provides
$10,000,000 for infrastructure improvements around the Waste Iso-
lation Pilot Plant, including roads and highways. The Department
is directed to brief the Committee not later than 60 days after en-
actment of this Act, and prior to obligating any funds, on its plan
for this funding. The plan, which may be coordinated with the
State of New Mexico, shall include data from 1992 to 2020 that
outlines WIPP-related road usage compared to other heavy road
users, including the oil and gas industry, and how previously ap-
propriated funding for this activity was used. The plan should also
include the specific use of funds provided in the recommendation,
and if they are to be spent on roads or highways, specific locations
for planned improvements, and expected future needs.
The Committee supports the continued modernization of under-
ground equipment to zero-emission battery-electric vehicles or very
low emission equipment.
Technology Development.—Within Technology Development and
Deployment, $5,000,000 is provided for the National Spent Nuclear
Fuel Program to address issues related to storing, transporting,
processing, and disposing of Department-owned and managed spent
nuclear fuel. Within these amounts, the Department shall use
funding to address the need for additional assessments into mate-
rial degradation that may occur as a result of multiple decades of
EM spent nuclear fuel storage facilities, nuclear material meas-
uring and monitoring in the Department’s storage systems, and
other activities recommended by the U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical
Review Board in its 2017 report on the Management and Disposal
of U.S. Department of Energy Spent Nuclear Fuel. The Committee
appreciates the Department’s work to improve worker safety and
provides up to $6,500,000 to consider exploring options to develop
and deploy wearable robotic devices to enhance worker safety.
The Committee directs the Department to continue independent
review, analysis, and applied research to support cost-effective,
risk-informed cleanup decision-making.
The Committee does not include the $109,000,000 rescission from
excess facilities proposed in the budget request.
DEFENSE URANIUM ENRICHMENT DECONTAMINATION AND
DECOMMISSIONING
(INCLUDING TRANSFER OF FUNDS)
Appropriation, 2020 ............................................................................ $– – –
Budget estimate, 2021 ....................................................................... –––
Recommended, 2021 ........................................................................... 821,583,000
Comparison:
Appropriation, 2020 .................................................................... +821,583,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ................................................................ +821,583,000
The Committee recommends $821,583,000 to fully offset the fis-
cal year 2021 appropriation for the Uranium Enrichment Decon-
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tamination and Decommissioning account.
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OTHER DEFENSE ACTIVITIES
Appropriation, 2020 ............................................................................ $906,000,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ....................................................................... 1,054,727,000
Recommended, 2021 ........................................................................... 942,300,000
Comparison:
Appropriation, 2020 .................................................................... +36,300,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ................................................................ ¥112,427,000
The Other Defense Activities account provides funding for the
Office of Environment, Health, Safety and Security; the Office of
Independent Enterprise Assessments; the Office of Legacy Manage-
ment; Specialized Security Activities; Defense Related Administra-
tive Support; and the Office of Hearings and Appeals.
The Committee again rejects the budget proposal to move the
Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP) from
the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) to the Department. The
Congress intentionally transferred FUSRAP from the Department
to the Corps in fiscal year 1998. The Department maintains owner-
ship of and accountability for real property interests. The Com-
mittee remains pleased with the current cooperation between the
Department and the Corps in carrying out the FUSRAP program
and expects the Department to continue to provide its institutional
knowledge and expertise to ensure the success of this program and
to serve the nation and the affected communities. The Committee
notes its direction to the Corps to submit its fiscal year 2022 budg-
et request in the structure outlined in this Act.
The Committee notes the Department’s efforts to implement tools
to decrease the risk of inadvertent declassification and increase ef-
ficiency and supports implementation of the Advanced Computer
Tools to Identify Classified Information initiative. The Department
is directed to brief the Committee not later than 90 days after en-
actment of this Act on its efforts in this area.
The Committee is troubled by the Department’s continued desire
to reshape, often without apparent merit, the Department’s inter-
actions with the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board at a time
when high-risk and high-hazard activities across the Department
are increasing. The Committee also remains concerned with the
Department’s Order 140.1, Interface with the Defense Nuclear Fa-
cilities Safety Board, and the potential impacts on the ability of the
Board to carry out Congressionally-mandated responsibilities even
after revision of the Order. The Committee is disappointed with the
Department’s lack of communication with Congress regarding its
efforts to revise the Order and directs the Department to brief the
Committee not later than 30 days after enactment of this Act on
the revised Order. The Department is further directed to enter into
a Memorandum of Understanding with the Board to govern how
the organizations interact and interface.
The recommendation includes $12,000,000 above the budget re-
quest for targeted investments to defend the U.S. energy sector
against the evolving threat of cyber and other attacks in support
of the resiliency of the nation’s electric grid and energy infrastruc-
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ture.
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POWER MARKETING ADMINISTRATIONS
Management of the federal power marketing functions was trans-
ferred from the Department of the Interior to the Department of
Energy in the Department of Energy Organization Act of 1977
(Public Law 95–91). These functions include the power marketing
activities authorized under section 5 of the Flood Control Act of
1944 and all other functions of the Bonneville Power Administra-
tion, the Southeastern Power Administration, the Southwestern
Power Administration, and the power marketing functions of the
Bureau of Reclamation that have been transferred to the Western
Area Power Administration.
All four power marketing administrations (PMAs) give preference
in the sale of their power to publicly-owned and cooperatively-
owned utilities. Operations of the Bonneville Power Administration
are financed principally under the authority of the Federal Colum-
bia River Transmission System Act (Public Law 93–454). Under
this Act, the Bonneville Power Administration is authorized to use
its revenues to finance the costs of its operations, maintenance, and
capital construction and to sell bonds to the Treasury if necessary
to finance any additional capital program requirements.
Beginning in fiscal year 2011, power revenues from the South-
eastern, Southwestern, and Western Area Power Administrations,
which were previously classified as mandatory offsetting receipts,
were reclassified as discretionary offsetting collections to directly
offset annual expenses. The capital expenses of Southwestern and
Western Area Power Administrations are appropriated annually.
Beginning in fiscal year 2018, the Congressional Budget Office
(CBO) changed its scoring of the PMAs. The change stemmed from
information on execution of language regarding purchase power
and wheeling expenses and offsetting collections included in this
bill each year. The Committee appreciates the PMAs’ and their cus-
tomers’ efforts to provide additional financial information. As in
previous years, to address the increased score in the short-term,
the recommendation reduces the maximum level for purchase
power and wheeling below the budget request.
The Committee again rejects the budget proposal to sell the
transmission assets of the PMAs, change the laws governing how
the PMAs establish power rates, and repeal the borrowing author-
ity for the Western Area Power Administration. None of the funds
provided in this Act shall be used for such purposes.
BONNEVILLE POWER ADMINISTRATION FUND
The Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) is the Department’s
marketing agency for electric power in the Pacific Northwest. BPA
provides electricity to a 300,000 square mile service area in the Co-
lumbia River drainage basin and it markets the power from federal
hydropower projects in the Northwest, as well as power from non-
federal generating facilities in the region, and exchanges and mar-
kets surplus power with Canada and California.
Satsop Business Park, Washington.—The Committee notes the
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ongoing efforts to provide increased power capacity to underutilized
infrastructure. Bonneville is encouraged to continue to work with
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the local public utility district and partners and to consider the eco-
nomic development opportunities this may support.
OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE, SOUTHEASTERN POWER
ADMINISTRATION
Appropriation, 2020 ............................................................................ $– – –
Budget estimate, 2021 ....................................................................... –––
Recommended, 2021 ........................................................................... –––
Comparison:
Appropriation, 2020 .................................................................... –––
Budget estimate, 2021 ................................................................ –––
The Southeastern Power Administration (SEPA) markets hydro-
electric power produced at 22 Corps Projects in 11 states in the
southeast. Southeastern does not own or operate any transmission
facilities, so it contracts to ‘‘wheel’’ its power using the existing
transmission facilities of area utilities.
OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE, SOUTHWESTERN POWER
ADMINISTRATION
Appropriation, 2020 ............................................................................ $10,400,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ....................................................................... 10,400,000
Recommended, 2021 ........................................................................... 10,400,000
Comparison:
Appropriation, 2020 .................................................................... –––
Budget estimate, 2021 ................................................................ –––
The Southwestern Power Administration (SWPA) markets hydro-
electric power produced at 24 Corps projects in the six-state area
of Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas.
SWPA operates and maintains 1,380 miles of transmission lines,
along with supporting substations and communications sites.
CONSTRUCTION, REHABILITATION, OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE,
WESTERN AREA POWER ADMINISTRATION
Appropriation, 2020 ............................................................................ $89,196,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ....................................................................... 89,372,000
Recommended, 2021 ........................................................................... 89,372,000
Comparison:
Appropriation, 2020 .................................................................... +176,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ................................................................ –––
The Western Area Power Administration is responsible for mar-
keting the electric power generated by the Bureau of Reclamation,
the Corps, and the International Boundary and Water Commission.
Western also operates and maintains a system of transmission
lines nearly 17,000 miles long. Western provides electricity to 15
western states over a service area of 1.3 million square miles.
FALCON AND AMISTAD OPERATING AND MAINTENANCE FUND
Appropriation, 2020 ............................................................................ $228,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ....................................................................... 228,000
Recommended, 2021 ........................................................................... 228,000
Comparison:
Appropriation, 2020 .................................................................... –––
Budget estimate, 2021 ................................................................ –––
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Falcon Dam and Amistad Dam are two international water
projects located on the Rio Grande River between Texas and Mex-
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151
ico. Power generated by hydroelectric facilities at these two dams
is sold to public utilities through WAPA. The Foreign Relations Au-
thorization Act for Fiscal Years 1994 and 1995 created the Falcon
and Amistad Operating and Maintenance Fund to defray the costs
of operation, maintenance, and emergency activities. The Fund is
administered by the Western Area Power Administration for use by
the Commissioner of the U.S. Section of the International Bound-
ary and Water Commission.
FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION
SALARIES AND EXPENSES
Appropriation, 2020 ............................................................................ $382,000,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ....................................................................... 404,350,000
Recommended, 2021 ........................................................................... 404,350,000
Comparison:
Appropriation, 2020 .................................................................... +22,350,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ................................................................ –––
REVENUES
Appropriation, 2020 ............................................................................ ¥$382,000,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ....................................................................... ¥404,350,000
Recommended, 2021 ........................................................................... ¥404,350,000
Comparison:
Appropriation, 2020 .................................................................... ¥22,350,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ................................................................ –––
The Committee recommendation for the Federal Energy Regu-
latory Commission (FERC) is $404,350,000, the same as the budget
request. Revenues for FERC are established at a rate equal to the
budget authority, resulting in a net appropriation of $0.
FERC is directed to submit to the Committee not later than 180
days after enactment of this Act a report detailing how it will es-
tablish and operate the Office of Public Participation required
under section 319 of the Federal Power Act, beginning in fiscal
year 2022. As part of the report, FERC shall provide an organiza-
tional structure and budget for the office sufficient to carry out its
statutory obligations. The report shall assume that funding for the
Office of Public Participation will be derived through annual
charges and filing fees as authorized by the Federal Power Act and
the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1986.
The Committee recognizes the importance of interregional trans-
mission planning to the effective deployment of renewable energy
sources and encourages FERC to undertake a review to evaluate
the effectiveness of its existing interregional transmission coordina-
tion requirements and consider specific improvements to those re-
quirements that would better promote the identification and devel-
opment of more efficient and cost-effective transmission facilities
and cost allocation methodologies that reflect the multiple benefits
provided by interregional transmission facilities.
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
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The Committee’s detailed funding recommendations for programs
in Title III are contained in the following table.
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GENERAL PROVISIONS—DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
(INCLUDING TRANSFER OF FUNDS)
The bill includes a provision that prohibits the use of funds pro-
vided in this title to initiate requests for proposals, other solicita-
tions or arrangements for new programs or activities that have not
yet been approved and funded by the Congress; requires notifica-
tion or a report for certain funding actions; prohibits funds to be
used for certain multi-year ‘‘Energy Programs’’ activities without
notification; prohibits the obligation or expenditure of funds pro-
vided in this title through a reprogramming of funds except in cer-
tain circumstances; and permits the transfer and merger of unex-
pended balances of prior appropriations with appropriation ac-
counts established in this bill.
The bill continues a provision that authorizes intelligence activi-
ties of the Department of Energy for purposes of section 504 of the
National Security Act of 1947.
The bill continues a provision that prohibits the use of funds in
this title for capital construction of high hazard nuclear facilities,
unless certain independent oversight is conducted.
The bill continues a provision that prohibits the use of funds pro-
vided in this title to approve critical decision-2 or critical decision-
3 for certain construction projects, unless a separate independent
cost estimate has been developed for that critical decision.
The bill includes a provision regarding authority to release re-
fined petroleum product from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve
(SPR).
The bill includes a provision to direct the Western Area Power
Administration to transfer funds to the Department of Interior, Bu-
reau of Reclamation’s Upper Colorado River Basin Fund and to
prohibit certain payments.
The bill includes a provision prohibiting funding for certain ac-
tivities unless notification requirements are met.
The bill includes a provision prohibiting funding for certain ac-
tivities. This provision does not limit science-based stockpile stew-
ardship activities consistent with the zero-yield standard and re-
quirements under other provisions of law, such as sections 2523,
2525, and 2401 of title 50, United States Code.
The bill includes a provision prohibiting funding for a certain ac-
tivities.
TITLE IV—INDEPENDENT AGENCIES
APPALACHIAN REGIONAL COMMISSION
Appropriation, 2020 ............................................................................ $175,000,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ....................................................................... 165,000,000
Recommended, 2021 ........................................................................... 175,000,000
Comparison:
Appropriation, 2020 .................................................................... –––
Budget estimate, 2021 ................................................................ +10,000,000
The Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) is a regional eco-
nomic development agency established in 1965 by the Appalachian
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Regional Development Act (Public Law 89–4). It is composed of the
governors of the 13 Appalachian states and a federal co-chair ap-
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195
pointed by the President. Each year, the ARC provides funding for
several hundred projects in the Appalachian Region in areas such
as business development, education and job training, telecommuni-
cations, infrastructure, community development, housing, and
transportation.
The Committee directs $10,000,000 to develop projects focused on
workforce reentry strategies that both strengthen local economies
and support Appalachians who have achieved long-term recovery
from a substance use disorder.
To diversify and enhance regional business development,
$10,000,000 is provided to continue the program of high-speed
broadband deployment in distressed counties within the Central
Appalachian region that have been most negatively impacted by
the downturn in the coal industry.
Within available funds, not less than $15,000,000 is for counties
within the Northern Appalachian region to support economic devel-
opment, manufacturing, and entrepreneurship.
Within available funds, the Committee directs $65,000,000 for
activities in support of the POWER+ Plan for activities that target
resources to help communities and regions that have been affected
by job losses in coal mining, coal power plant operations, and coal
related supply chain industries due to the economic downturn of
the coal industry. These projects will create and retain jobs, assist
businesses, and prepare thousands of workers and students with
globally competitive skills and opportunities in the region’s manu-
facturing, technology, entrepreneurship, agriculture, and other
emerging sectors.
The Committee encourages the ARC to expand activities in the
lower Appalachian region to stimulate greenhouse production alter-
natives for small farmers in the region, including working with a
university partner. The Committee notes this activity may provide
potential to expand production opportunities and to potentially ex-
pand the farm-to-table sector with direct and indirect economic
benefits.
The Committee supports targeted investment in impoverished
areas to promote economic development in communities where it
has been scarce, both in persistent poverty counties and in other
high-poverty areas. The ARC provides about 60 percent of its funds
to benefit distressed counties or distressed areas in the Appa-
lachian region. The Committee continues to believe this should be
the primary focus of the ARC. The Committee directs the ARC to
provide to the Committee not later than 90 days after enactment
of this Act a formal report on the percentage of funding that has
been directed to persistent poverty counties and high poverty areas
in the last three fiscal years.
DEFENSE NUCLEAR FACILITIES SAFETY BOARD
SALARIES AND EXPENSES
Appropriation, 2020 ............................................................................ $31,000,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ....................................................................... 28,836,000
Recommended, 2021 ........................................................................... 31,000,000
Comparison:
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Appropriation, 2020 .................................................................... –––
Budget estimate, 2021 ................................................................ +2,164,000
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The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) was cre-
ated by the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year
1989. The Board, composed of five members appointed by the Presi-
dent, provides advice and recommendations to the Secretary of En-
ergy regarding public health and safety issues at the Department’s
defense nuclear facilities. The Board is responsible for reviewing
and evaluating the content and implementation of the standards
relating to the design, construction, operation, and decommis-
sioning of the Department of Energy’s defense nuclear facilities.
The Committee remains concerned that the Board is not ade-
quately staffed and directs the Board to increase its staff to a min-
imum of 110 full-time equivalents with a focus on maintaining ap-
propriate technical capabilities. The Committee notes the Board’s
progress in assigning additional site representatives at key facili-
ties. The Committee expects the Board to fill the vacancy for the
Executive Director of Board Operations position as expeditiously as
possible. Additionally, the Board is directed to enter into a Memo-
randum of Understanding with the Department of Energy to gov-
ern how the organizations interact and interface.
DELTA REGIONAL AUTHORITY
SALARIES AND EXPENSES
Appropriation, 2020 ............................................................................ $30,000,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ....................................................................... 2,500,000
Recommended, 2021 ........................................................................... 15,000,000
Comparison:
Appropriation, 2020 .................................................................... ¥15,000,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ................................................................ +12,500,000
The Delta Regional Authority (DRA) is a federal-state partner-
ship established by the Delta Regional Authority Act of 2000 (Pub-
lic Law 106–554) that serves a 252-county/parish area in an eight-
state region near the mouth of the Mississippi River. Led by a fed-
eral cochair and the governors of each participating state, the DRA
is designed to remedy severe and chronic economic distress by
stimulating economic development and fostering partnerships that
will have a positive impact on the region’s economy. The DRA
seeks to help local communities leverage other federal and state
programs that are focused on basic infrastructure development,
transportation improvements, business development, and job train-
ing services. Under federal law, at least 75 percent of appropriated
funds must be invested in distressed counties and parishes, with
50 percent of the funds for transportation and basic infrastructure
improvements.
The Committee rejects the budget proposal to eliminate funding
for the DRA and does not include any funds to shut down the DRA.
The Committee supports targeted investment in impoverished
areas to promote economic development in communities where it
has been scarce, both in persistent poverty counties and in other
high-poverty areas. The fiscal year 2020 Act directed the DRA to
provide a report on the percentage of funding and summary of ac-
tivities that have been directed to distressed counties and isolated
areas of distress in the last three fiscal years. The Committee di-
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rects the DRA to provide to the Committee not later than 90 days
after enactment of this Act a formal report on the percentage of
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197
funding that has been directed to persistent poverty counties and
high poverty areas in the last three fiscal years.
The Committee recognizes the significant declines and job losses
that many rural communities located along highly-utilized navi-
gable waterways have experienced in recent years. To assist these
rural communities, the DRA is directed to partner with at least one
academic institution in the region to investigate the economic com-
petitiveness impact of tributaries stemming from major waterway
systems connecting to the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. The aca-
demic institution should have expertise in basic and applied water
research and management. The DRA shall report its findings to the
Committee not later than 180 days after enactment of this Act.
DENALI COMMISSION
Appropriation, 2020 ............................................................................ $15,000,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ....................................................................... 7,300,000
Recommended, 2021 ........................................................................... 15,000,000
Comparison:
Appropriation, 2020 .................................................................... –––
Budget estimate, 2021 ................................................................ +7,700,000
The Denali Commission is a regional development agency estab-
lished by the Denali Commission Act of 1998 (Public Law 105–277)
to provide critical utilities, infrastructure, health services, and eco-
nomic support throughout Alaska. To ensure that local commu-
nities have a stake in Commission-funded projects, local cost-share
requirements for construction and equipment have been estab-
lished for both distressed and non-distressed communities.
The Committee rejects the budget proposal to eliminate funding
for the Denali Commission and does not include any funds to shut
down the Denali Commission.
The Committee supports targeted investment in impoverished
areas to promote economic development in communities where it
has been scarce, both in persistent poverty counties and in other
high-poverty areas. The fiscal year 2020 Act directed the Denali
Commission to provide a report on the percentage of funding and
summary of activities that have been directed to distressed coun-
ties and isolated areas of distress in the last three fiscal years. The
Committee directs the Denali Commission to provide not later than
90 days after enactment of this Act a formal report on the percent-
age of funding that has been directed to persistent poverty counties
and high poverty areas in the last three fiscal years.
NORTHERN BORDER REGIONAL COMMISSION
Appropriation, 2020 ............................................................................ $25,000,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ....................................................................... 850,000
Recommended, 2021 ........................................................................... 25,000,000
Comparison:
Appropriation, 2020 .................................................................... –––
Budget estimate, 2021 ................................................................ +24,150,000
The Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (Public Law
110–234) authorized the establishment of the Northern Border Re-
gional Commission (NBRC) as a federal-state partnership intended
to address the economic development needs of distressed portions
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of the four-state region of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and
New York.
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198
The Committee rejects the budget proposal to eliminate funding
for the NBRC and does not include any funds to shut down the
NBRC. The Committee supports targeted investment in impover-
ished areas to promote economic development in communities
where it has been scarce, both in persistent poverty counties and
in other high-poverty areas. The fiscal year 2020 Act directed the
Commission to provide a report on the percentage of funding and
summary of activities that have been directed to distressed coun-
ties and isolated areas of distress in the last three fiscal years. The
Committee directs the NBRC to provide not later than 90 days
after enactment of this Act a formal report on the percentage of
funding that has been directed to persistent poverty counties and
high poverty areas in the last three fiscal years.
Within available funds, the Committee directs $4,000,000 for ini-
tiatives that seek to address the decline in forest-based economies
throughout the region and $1,250,000 for the State Capacity Grant
Program.
SOUTHEAST CRESCENT REGIONAL COMMISSION
Appropriation, 2020 ............................................................................ $250,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ....................................................................... –––
Recommended, 2021 ........................................................................... 1,000,000
Comparison:
Appropriation, 2020 .................................................................... +750,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ................................................................ +1,000,000
The Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (Public Law
110–234) authorized the establishment of the Southeast Crescent
Regional Commission as a federal-state partnership intended to ad-
dress the economic development needs of distressed portions of the
seven state region in the southeastern United States not already
served by a regional development agency. The Committee strongly
encourages the Administration to promptly appoint a Federal Co-
Chair for the Commission.
The Committee supports targeted investment in impoverished
areas to promote economic development in communities where it
has been scarce, both in persistent poverty counties and in other
high-poverty areas.
SOUTHWEST BORDER REGIONAL COMMISSION
Appropriation, 2020 ............................................................................ $– – –
Budget estimate, 2021 ....................................................................... –––
Recommended, 2021 ........................................................................... 250,000
Comparison:
Appropriation, 2020 .................................................................... +250,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ................................................................ +250,000
The Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (Public Law
110–234) authorized the establishment of the Southwest Border
Regional Commission (SWBRC) as a federal-state partnership in-
tended to address the economic development needs of distressed
portions of the four-state region of Arizona, California, New Mexico
and Texas.
The Committee strongly encourages the Administration to
promptly appoint a Federal Co-Chair in order to establish key part-
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nerships with local communities, and to consider opportunities to
establish a regional presence in or near major inland ports of entry.
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The Committee supports targeted investment in impoverished
areas to promote economic development in communities where it
has been scarce, both in persistent poverty counties and in other
high-poverty areas.
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
SALARIES AND EXPENSES
Appropriation, 2020 ............................................................................ $842,236,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ....................................................................... 849,900,000
Recommended, 2021 ........................................................................... 849,900,000
Comparison:
Appropriation, 2020 .................................................................... +7,664,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ................................................................ –––
REVENUES
Appropriation, 2020 ............................................................................ ¥$717,125,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ....................................................................... ¥729,293,000
Recommended, 2021 ........................................................................... ¥729,293,000
Comparison:
Appropriation, 2020 .................................................................... ¥12,168,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ................................................................ –––
NET APPROPRIATION
Appropriation, 2020 ............................................................................ $125,111,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ....................................................................... 120,607,000
Recommended, 2021 ........................................................................... 120,607,000
Comparison:
Appropriation, 2020 .................................................................... ¥4,504,000
Budget estimate, 2021 ................................................................ –––
The Committee recommendation for the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (NRC) provides the following amounts:
(Dollars in thousands)
Account FY 2020 enacted FY 2021 request Cmte. rec.
Nuclear Reactor Safety ....................................................... $447,574 $452,850 $452,850
Nuclear Materials and Waste Safety .................................. 103,191 102,863 102,863
Decommissioning and Low-Level Waste ............................. 22,891 22,771 22,771
Integrated University Program ............................................ 16,000 0 16,000
Corporate Support ............................................................... 292,580 271,416 271,416
Total, Program Level .................................................. 882,236 849,900 865,900
Savings and Carryover ............................................... ¥40,000 ––– ¥16,000
Total ........................................................................... 842,236 849,900 849,900
The Commission is responsible for ensuring the safety and secu-
rity of the nation’s commercial nuclear reactors and overseeing cer-
tain nuclear materials and radioactive waste activities. The Com-
mittee expects the Commission to hold the nuclear industry to the
highest safety standards in law and in regulation.
Office of the Commission.—Within available funds, up to
$9,500,000 is included for salaries, travel, and other support costs
for the Office of the Commission. These salaries and expenses shall
include only salaries, benefits, and travel costs and shall not in-
clude general and administrative and infrastructure costs. The
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Committee directs that these funds are to be jointly managed by
the Commissioners, and the Act requires that the use and expendi-
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