Page images
PDF
EPUB

H.R. 1806 AND COORDINATION BETWEEN THE OFFICES OF FOSSIL ENERGY AND ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND RENEWABLE ENERGY

Mr. DOYLE. I just want to ask one question on H.R. 1806. I've read the comments of Secretary Godley and Mr. Reicher on the bill, and I'll have some more detailed questions that I'd like to have submitted for the record. But if I could ask just one question. In your comments you mention that there's a coordination when it comes to planning for your programs. Is there any such coordination on the operational level? And can you give some specifics of where that is?

Ms. GODLEY. Sure, and I would-I appreciate the opportunity to comment orally on the bill.

Chairman CALVERT. If I could interject

Ms. GODLEY. Sure.

Chairman CALVERT. We have about 4 minutes to get to the Floor and vote. So if you could make a very brief answer and then submit a written answer to Mr. Doyle, I'm sure he would appreciate that. Ms. GODLEY. Okay.

[The following information was received for the record:]

[blocks in formation]

Already, there are many areas where the two programs are working jointly. For example:

Advanced turbine systems: a jointly planned and managed program in which FE

supports the development of utility-scale turbine systems while EE supports the industrial-scale systems, and both share crosscutting work in materials, for

example.

Gas-to-liquids R&D: where the new ceramic membrane R&D project is being jointly funded by EE and FE because the technology can apply both to tapping remote gas supplies, improving refinery operations, and providing the feedstocks for cleaner transportation fuels.

Advanced drilling system R&D: jointly funded by EE and FE for both

hydrocarbon and geothermal drilling.

However, combining the management of the two program is unnecessary and may, in fact, be counterproductive, because:

We already have an effective coordination mechanism

-

the R&D Council [with

an Energy Resources Working Group] that is jointly planning R&D efforts that

benefit both programs and is chaired by the Under Secretary.

A combined EE/FE organization could become a large, unwieldy bureaucracy. Together, the two programs manage over 1000 R&D contracts, the majority of which are for R&D outside of Federal lab (with industry/academia). It would be very difficult for a single senior manager to properly oversee a program of this scope and magnitude.

Consolidating EE and FE would downgrade the management structure of each program below the current Presidentially-appointed levels -- meaning that key external customers, including the Congress, would not have the direct access to same level of policy setting and management that currently exists:

We have already combined Energy Efficiency and Renewables and established a management organization organized around energy sectors (industry,

transportation, buildings and utilities) that integrates these activities.

[blocks in formation]

Ms. GODLEY. The FE and EE manage a diverse number of programs, as well as have a very diverse stakeholder group. We've heard you can just look through the budget and see that it's both R&D-related work as well as non-R&D-related work. We also have a huge diversity of stakeholders. Our combined stakeholder groups range from residential, commercial, and industrial-consumers, energy producers, processors, and transporters, equipment manufacturers, automobile manufacturers, the National Science Foundation, and other R&D organizations, state energy offices, federal agencies, the international energy organizations, and of course, Congress. It's a much more diverse, I think, slate of activities and responsibilities than we've talked about before.

Mr. DOYLE. And you also have many common goals, too. But, more specifically, how are you cooperating on the operational level? And give me some specifics of how you're doing that.

Ms. GODLEY. We do cooperate on the operational level, and I think that it's a mistake to say that our programs are going in different directions. Our operational coordination occurs very much, the operational level, in the Advanced Gas Turbine Program, for example, not just in program planning, but in program implementation itself. We do joint program reviews. The same thing in the fuel cells program, and the same thing in other areas of work like the alternate fuels programs. Very close operational coordination that happens on a daily, weekly program planning and program review basis.

I think that the coordination is going to needs to take place over more than just FE and EE, and this is a very critical point. In the R&D Council, for example, we're coordinating our power generation technology roadmapping through not just FE and EE, but with ENE and with ER as well. We need to coordinate the programs across the

Chairman CALVERT. If I could ask the gentlelady to suspend, I want to make sure that Mr. Doyle keeps his 100 percent voting record. So we're going to need to, unfortunately, end this meeting. We'll be accepting questions from members, and we'll hold the record open for 1 week. We would appreciate written responses. Chairman CALVERT. With that, this hearing is adjourned. [Whereupon, at 2:40 p.m., the hearing was adjourned.] [The following material was received for the record:]

[blocks in formation]
« PreviousContinue »