Recently in Washington

Last week the House passed H.R. 3606, the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act.  The House also passed H.R. 2842, the BOR Small Conduit Hydropower Development and Rural Jobs Act of 2011, which authorizes existing man-made Bureau of Reclamation facilities, like irrigation ditches, to be upgraded for hydropower.  Congressman Simpson supported both of these bills.

Simpson Questions Office of Nuclear Energy Funding and NRC’s Management
Congressman Mike Simpson challenged the two arms of the government’s nuclear energy organizations, the Office of Nuclear Energy (NE) and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), when they came to testify before the House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee last week. 

The FY13 budget request for the Department of Energy decreases funding for the Office of Nuclear Energy by 10% while increasing many other accounts, such the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, which the President proposes to increase by 25%.

“I’m disappointed in the budget overall,” Simpson said. “The request, as you said, is the result of a very low allocation given to you by the Office of Management and Budget. Somehow, I would like to know what NE would do, with their priorities not necessarily filtered through OMB. Over the 14 years I have been here we keep heading down different paths, and I thought we had decided on Small Modular Reactors as the direction in which we were headed. Now I see a decrease in SMR funding. Wouldn’t it be better if we had a steady budget for SMRs?”

Assistant Secretary of the Office of Nuclear Energy Pete Lyons responded, “As I indicated, Mr. Simpson, SMRs are a high priority, and within the austere budget in which we must work, we tried to protect that as much as we possibly could.”

The NRC was represented by embattled Chairman Gregory Jaczko. In October, the other four commissioners of the NRC sent a letter to the President’s Chief of Staff stating that the Chairman was causing serious damage to the NRC and creating a chilled work environment. Votes on many issues before the commission have been significantly delayed.

“The only way the public will believe you is if you maintain credibility,” Simpson told the NRC Chairman. “If they believe this a political organization that is becoming more politicized all the time, then you damage that credibility all the time and it doesn’t matter whether you say nuclear power is safe or not because nobody is going to believe you. When we start to argue between commissioners about who is this most safety conscious, I think that damages the NRC.”

The commission has delayed voting on issuing a license for two new power reactors in South Carolina that will employ over 2000 workers during construction and over 600 when built. When Simpson asked about the status of the application, Chairman Jaczko responded that it is close and that it should be issued in less than a matter of months.

Simpson Questions BLM Director on Sage Grouse, Grazing
Congressman Mike Simpson took issue with proposals to cut BLM range management funding in the President's FY13 budget request during a hearing on the BLM's budget proposal in the House Interior and Environment Appropriations Subcommittee last week.  Simpson chairs the subcommittee, which oversees BLM’s budget.  In addition to expressing his concern about budget cuts to the grazing program, he focused on the BLM's sage grouse conservation initiative.

The BLM has struggled under a huge grazing permit backlog over the past decade.  In order to permanently reduce this backlog and provide the BLM with the tools it needs to use its resources for effective land management, the FY 2012 BLM budget included a significant increase for rangeland management.  In spite of BLM's efforts to address the grazing permit backlog within the next few years, the FY 2013 request cuts that budget by $15 million.

"I'm very disappointed with the proposed decrease in range management.  Back in 2009, we talked about the importance of permanently reducing the backlog of grazing permits, which has been a problem at the BLM for years.  Now the BLM has gone from completing 84% of the grazing permits for renewal in 2009 to only planning to complete 33% in fiscal year 2013, " said Simpson. "This is simply irresponsible. While I understand the workload of permit renewals fluctuates from year to year, this level of completion is inexcusable, particularly given this subcommittee's focus on the issue.  

"Further," he continued, "the budget proposes to add a new grazing fee, which would increase what ranchers pay now by 74%--violating the current mandate that says the fee can't be raised by more than 25% a year.  There is a good reason for this mandate. Livestock producers, just like other small businesses, need certainty--they need to know their grazing permits will be renewed in a timely fashion and that fees won't dramatically increase from year to year. Despite the fact that range management is a large part of BLM's responsibilities, and that state and local offices in Idaho and other areas have stepped up to address these challenges in spite of major hurdles thrown their way, it doesn't seem to be a priority for this budget."

Chairman Simpson also expressed his concern about the possibility of sage grouse being listed as an endangered species. He pressed Director Abbey about the BLM's sage grouse conservation strategy and whether it will be effective in preventing a listing.

Simpson commended BLM for taking  a proactive approach on the conservation of the sage grouse and reflecting this priority in the proposed budget. "That said, I want to make sure this investment will actually improve sage grouse habitat and prevent the species from being listed in 2015, which would be devastating across the West," he said.  "Now more than ever we need to see a return on this investment, not just waste this funding on planning exercises that don't help us reach our goal. Some of the greatest threats to the sage grouse are invasive weeds and wildfire. How will this investment be used to control cheat grass, for example, and prevent fires that destroy sage grouse habitat? Preventing this listing is a top priority for me, and it will require close partnership between federal agencies, states, and local land users.  We have to get this one right."

Director Abbey committed to doing everything possible to prevent a sage grouse listing, pointing to work already being done with states and stakeholders to identify and implement best management practices. He noted that the greatest threat to sage grouse is fire and indicated that the bureau is working to prevent and suppress wildfires in core habitat areas.

As Chairman of the subcommittee, Simpson has scheduled 16 oversight hearings to review the president's budget proposal for agencies under the subcommittee's jurisdiction.

In the News

Simpson promotes Nuclear Energy in House hearing
Idaho Congressman Questions Energy Secretary on Reductions in Nuclear Funding
www.messenger-index.com, March 5, 2012
Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson today questioned Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu about the energy future of our country. Chu testified before the House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee during a hearing on the president’s FY13 budget proposal for DOE. Simpson, who is a senior member of the subcommittee, concentrated his questions on the recommendations of the President’s Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future and funding for nuclear power technology.

The Administration decided to abandon the 30 year, $11 billion effort to create a final repository for spent nuclear fuel and created the Blue Ribbon Commission to determine a path forward in how to deal with the nations spent nuclear fuel. The Commission submitted the final report in January.

Simpson asked Secretary Chu whether DOE has embraced the Blue Ribbon Commission’s recommendations and whether the department intends to submit legislation to Congress for review or implement changes through administrative fiat, as the Administration did by abandoning Yucca Mountain. Chu responded that a number of the recommendations will require congressional action.

“Don’t let this turn into a Simpson-Bowles proposal, where we go out and make recommendations and then no one pushes it forward,” warned Simpson. “If you’re going to act on the recommendations, then push them forward and come and work with Congress to get it done.”

Simpson also expressed concern about proposals in the budget to impose huge increases for renewable energies while the administration has requested decreases in funding for advanced reactor technology like small module reactors that have the potential to be safer and easier to finance compared to existing reactors.

“Fifty percent of our electricity is produced by coal, 20 percent by nuclear power. Yet, when I look at your budget, I look at huge increases in renewable energy funding, which makes up only a small portion of our energy portfolio and cuts in the other area that’s producing most the electricity and frankly I’m disappointed,” Simpson said. “Seems to me like there is an agenda of trying to push green technology, when I think nuclear energy is green technology … you’re really going to address global climate change, you had better adopt nuclear energy and it doesn’t seem like we’re doing that in this budget. This is the first time I’ve seen a retrenchment in this administration in advancing nuclear energy. The talk is all there, but the budget doesn’t reflect that.”

 The Subcommittee will be hearing from multiple offices within the Department of Energy in the coming weeks.