Research workshops entitled Carbon Management: Fundamental Research Needs Assessment, as well as the President's Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) report on Energy R&D entitled Federal Energy Research and Development for the Challenges of the Twenty-First Century.

The expanded Energy Research efforts in carbon management will be closely coordinated with DOE's technology programs. Many activities will impact the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy by providing technology options for increasing efficiency and reducing energy consumption. The basic research program will also provide the knowledge base needed to increase the use of renewable resources and alternate energy sources. Other aspects of the research program impact the Office of Fossil Energy by providing a foundation for effective and safe underground sequestration, new materials, a better understanding of combustion, and improved catalysts.

In support of this initiative the Biological and Environmental Research program will be increased by $11 million. This increase supports research on the determination of which biochemical mechanisms and natural systems of plants, interacting with the components of their native environments, can be induced to increase their net utilization of atmospheric carbon dioxide, thus reducing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Ocean sequestration of carbon will be studied to identify and enhance key pathways by which marine microorganisms sequester carbon in the oceans. The microbial genome program will sequence the genomes of methane-producing and hydrogen-producing microbes. The microbial sequences will enable the identification of the key genetic components of the organisms that regulate these gases. Once we identify and understand more fully how the enzymes and organisms operate, we will be able to evaluate their potential use in producing methane or hydrogen from either fossil fuels or other carbon sources, including biomass and perhaps some waste products. For instance, recently discovered "extremophile" organisms could be used to engineer biological entities that could ingest a feedstock like methane, sequester carbon dioxide, and give off hydrogen. This activity capitalizes on the significant accomplishments of our genome investments that have increased sequencing rates and capabilities and on our unique work in microbial genome sequencing.

The Basic Energy Science program will be increased by $16 million in materials sciences, chemical sciences, geosciences, and energy biosciences. Investments in materials sciences will enable the derivation of new and improved materials for: more efficient combustion; improved performance and corrosion resistance in high temperature applications; reduced energy loss from magnetic materials; and improved efficiency in the conversion of light to electricity. Basic research in chemical sciences for carbon management includes multidisciplinary efforts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions through catalytic and photochemical reduction of carbon dioxide to specialty chemicals or hydrocarbons and improved fundamental understanding of the chemistries of combustion to improve combustion and reduce emissions. Geoscience will support basic research in areas of geophysics and geochemistry, that impact carbon dioxide sequestration in subsurface

geologic formations. In energy biosciences, there are a number of unexplored opportunities in photosynthesis that complement the current work in the biophysics and biochemistry of energy capture. Studies in this area are central to understanding global carbon cycling.

Scientific Facilities Utilization. Each year, over 15,000 university, industry, and government sponsored scientists conduct cutting edge experiments at these large and small user facilities that include particle accelerators, neutron sources, synchrotron light sources, and smaller facilities. To meet the demand for operating time and to improve research capabilities at existing facilities, the Science Facilities Utilization Initiative began in FY 1996. In FY 1999 we maintain the Science Facilities Utilization Initiative with a renewed commitment to operate our facilities and sustain adequate operating levels. An increase of $85 million in FY 1999 will raise total ER support for facilities to nearly $1 billion. The increase will enable ER to sustain or expand utilization of scientific user facilities nationwide throughout the Basic Energy Sciences, High Energy Physics, Nuclear Physics, Biological and Environmental Research, and Computational and Technology Research programs.

In Basic Energy Sciences, the FY 1999 request includes $317 Million to maintain support of the scientific user facilities. In addition, increases will be enhanced by $3 million from the construction roll off from the Combustion Research Facility bringing the total FY 1999 Science Facilities Utilization Initiative increase in Basic Energy Sciences to $46 Million. This funding includes increases for the synchrotron radiation light sources and for the neutron scattering facilities to adjust for increased cost-of-living expenses. In addition, in accord with the highest recommendations of the Basic Energy Sciences Advisory Committee (BESAC) Panel on Synchrotron Radiation Sources and Science (the Birgeneau Panel), additional funds are provided to the National Synchrotron Light Source for increased support for users and to the light source community for instrumentation and beamline construction at the light sources; the latter funds will be allocated via peer review. Research and development in support of Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) construction is increased and is included in the Science Facilities Utilization Initiative increase. Finally, increased research activities are planned for the Combustion Research Facility, which will complete construction of Phase II in FY 1999. These increases were made possible because, in FY 1999, all funds associated with the SNS were added as an increment above the base program. Research communities that have benefitted from the BES supported Science Facilities Utilization Initiative include materials sciences, chemical sciences, earth and geosciences, environmental sciences, structural biology, superconductor technology, medical research, and industrial technology development.

For High Energy and Nuclear Physics (HENP), the Scientific Facilities Utilization Initiative has meant a focus on providing funding for a high level of operation of the accelerator facilities. For optimum scientific progress in HENP, a balanced strategy is essential. Operation of facilities, support for the (mostly university based) researchers using the facilities, and support for R&D and fabrication of facility upgrades for enhanced future capabilities must be carefully balanced.

An increase of $35 million in HENP in FY 1999, will ensure aggressive and successful commissioning and improve the computing capability at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center's (SLAC) B-factory, the Fermilab Main Injector, and the Brookhaven National Laboratory Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) in order to increase the productivity of users when these facilities go on-line. Some of the increase will go to university groups to improve their productivity on site. In addition, this funding will provide for about 26 weeks of operation of the Alternating Gradient Synchrotron (AGS) at Brookhaven for High Energy Physics research. The transfer of the AGS to the Nuclear Physics program for use as the injector for RHIC will occur during the 3rd quarter and RHIC operations will begin in the 4th Quarter of FY 1999.

Scientists supported under the President's Climate Change Technology Initiative will have the opportunity to take advantage of the unique research capabilities provided by Energy Research. For example, research results from the Climate Change Technology Initiative on methane and hydrogen producing microorganisms and on marine microorganisms will develop, in part, through structural biology studies conducted at the DOE light sources. They will also extend the use, and development new applications and techniques, of the range of spectroscopies available at both the synchrotron sources and the William R. Wiley Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, to be able to identify and quantify species critical to carbon fixation in model and natural systems, as well as within plant roots, soil particles, bacteria, and other components of the ecological system involved in the carbon fixation processes. In addition, Climate Change Technology Initiative researchers will make use of Energy Research's Free Air Carbon Dioxide Enhancement Experiment and the AmeriFlux carbon network.

The user community is extremely pleased with the results of the Scientific Facilities Utilization Initiative as seen in many letters and customer surveys. However, the full impact of the Initiative has not yet been realized since new beamlines and instrumentation are not yet fully operational. Many of the funding commitments for instrumentation are spread over multiple years and continued support in FY 1999 is important to the success of this Initiative.

The Next Generation Internet. Key to the solution of large complex multidisciplinary problems is the ability to maintain strong communications and collaborations among researchers in remote locations. As the complexity of problems and the importance of international collaboration grows, it increases the need to communicate and transmit massive amounts of data. DOE currently utilizes advanced networks to provide thousands of remote users nationwide with access to its large, unique computer facilities. In addition, DOE uses the internet to link researchers in universities, laboratories, and industry who are working to solve the multidisciplinary problems that underpin the DOE mission. These problems include computing the effects of greenhouse gases on global warming, designing the next generation of clean diesel engines, and guaranteeing the safety of the nuclear stockpile. As a result, DOE's projected data transmission requirements of about a thousand-trillion bytes per year (peta bytes/year) will critically stress existing internet capabilities.

The Next Generation Internet (NGI) is important to DOE because we support thousands of teams of researchers spread across the world. The NGI network capabilities and services are necessary to advance mission-critical applications in our science and technology programs that are carried out through collaborations between remote institutions. Without the NGI, DOE will not make the kind of progress on its mission-critical programs that NGI funding will enable. Accessing and visualizing large scientific data sets are critical to the future of high energy and nuclear physics, genome research, and other DOE programs. Prompt development and integration of NGI technologies and infrastructure is absolutely essential for making DOE's unique online facilities, supercomputers, and data sets securely and efficiently available to remote researchers.

In addition, DOE participation is important to NGI because adapting our scientific applications to the advanced NGI technologies and networks will provide the important tests for stressing the new network technologies. If DOE researchers are not on the NGI networks then these tests cannot occur. DOE's ESnet is one of the most advanced research networks supported by the federal government. A critical issue for the NGI will be testing the interconnection of high speed and advanced capability networks of different kinds. If ESnet is not involved, that goal of the NGI program will be seriously hampered. DOE applications require advanced production network services, as well as the ability to "live in the future" through the early use of experimental technologies. In order to concurrently satisfy these competing goals and remain fiscally responsible, DOE will have to support both types of traffic on as much of the same network infrastructure as possible. Other agencies and the university community face the same problem, and therefore will directly benefit from DOE's work in this area. DOE's NGI research and development of intelligent middleware for DOE applications will also benefit other “application agencies,” such as NASA, NIH, and NSF, as well as University applications.

The FY 1999 request includes $22 million for the DOE NGI program. This program has three major components: core network research, enhancements through intelligent software and "middleware" [software between the computer operating system and the network application to allow the two to work together properly], and a new DOE-University partnership that enhances the collaborative application environment through joint DOE-University NGI technology development and deployment. All of these components cut across and make contributions to the three NGI goals of technology development, advanced testbed infrastructure, and revolutionary applications. The Core Network Research component focuses on developing new technologies and capabilities to be integrated into the network infrastructure. The middleware component focuses on providing easy-to-use interfaces and software to DOE's applications so that they can ascertain the status of the network and then intelligently and dynamically make the best use of that infrastructure to support their application. DOE will enhance DOE-University collaborative research on DOE mission critical applications by defining a new NGI-based partnership. This partnership will focus on jointly developing NGI technologies, accelerating the establishment of end-to-end DOE Laboratory to Campus network and testbed infrastructures, and adapting DOE application codes at both the Labs and Universities to support DOE programs.

Science Education. The ER programs support university faculty, graduate students and postdocs in specific areas as part of their ongoing research efforts. ER also operates its unique research facilities for the peer reviewed use of university scientists. However, the scientific and technical challenges of the DOE missions demand the availability of an adequate and diverse supply of excellent scientists, engineers, and technicians for the future. Therefore, the Department also uses the resources of its national laboratories to provide hands-on research opportunities to undergraduate students and faculty, and to K-12 teachers to contribute to the national effort to improve math and science education.

In line with this educational philosophy, ER's FY 1999 budget includes a modest request to support University and Scierce Education (USE) programs aimed at maintaining a diversity of students in the science pipeline from small colleges and universities and minority serving institutions across the country. The Department has requested $15 million to reestablish this effort and provide a focus for DOE corporate investments in the next generation of scientists and engineers in support of DOE missions. The proposed USE program will support activities that utilize DOE resources in partnership with other agencies thereby ensuring against duplication of efforts. For example, DOE is working with the National Science Foundation and the Department of Education to leverage our substantial investments in science and technology facilities and personnel in support of national goals in science education. By opening the National Laboratories to students and teachers, providing them with hands-on research opportunities and other technical tools, DOE fills an important gap in math and science education across the Nation. The internet provides an excellent opportunity for DOE to utilize its scientific infrastructure to advance science education with minimal capital and opportunity costs. The proposed USE program will make extensive use of internet tools both for outreach and coordination.

The DOE FY 1999 education initiative is extremely important and vital to help improve our Nation's understanding of science. In particular our kids and teachers. The Secretary has set an agenda, in partnership with the National Science Foundation that will help train thousands of teachers in science and technology and also develop a mechanism to distribute this knowledge via the internet.

The Large Hadron Collider. Since March 1997, we have established a firm foundation with CERN on which to undertake our part of the international LHC effort. In February 1997, the DOE-NSF-CERN Negotiating Team concluded its work when DOE, NSF and CERN initialed an Agreement and two Protocols. I want to acknowledge the efforts of Congressman Sensenbrenner, Chairman of the House Science Committee, and to members of the Committee and their staff, who took the time to delve into the details and implications of the Agreement and related Protocols, and to provide us with their guidance and insight to ensure: open access to CERN facilities for all scientists; good faith reciprocity by CERN and its participants on contributions to the next high energy physics facility, if and when it is built anywhere in the world; protection of DOE (and NSF's) interests in the event of LHC cost overruns, including a funding cap; and an