Members of Congress call for continued funding of clean energy innovation programs

Reps. Don Beyer (D-VA) and Carlos Curbelo (R-FL) led a bipartisan group of 84 members of Congress in urging the House Appropriations Committee to continue funding for the Department of Energy’s (DOE) clean energy innovation programs.

Specifically, the representatives called for support for the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) program, Energy Innovation Hubs and Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRCs).

The Trump Administration’s FY19 budget proposal proposes zeroing out the ARPA-E program, which incentivizes researchers to pursue promising “high-risk, high-reward” research into potential new energy technologies.

“America’s innovation history is built on a foundation of robust federal investment in fundamental scientific research,” the letter to the committee said. “At the same time, the public sector has a deep history of working hand-in-hand with the private sector to bring the fruits of this research to market, address market failures, provide needed expertise, and raise capital for high-payoff, though riskier, projects in which industry would not otherwise invest. Without such partnerships, the stories of the transcontinental railroad, the aviation sector, and biotechnology industries would be dramatically different. As in these past projects, the government has a critical role to play in helping to support and foster the new ideas that will serve as the foundation for the nation’s future energy economy.”