[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 154 (Thursday, December 14, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11789-S11791]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS

      Mr. BINGAMAN:
  S. 3277. A bill to amend the National Energy Conservation Policy Act 
to enhance and extend authority relating to energy savings performed 
contracts of the Federal Government; to the Committee on Energy and 
Natural Resources.


         energy efficient cost savings improvement act of 2001

  Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce important 
legislation, to amend the National Energy Conservation Policy Act of 
1986. This legislation, the ``Energy Efficient Cost Savings Improvement 
Act of 2001'' will improve the current law by enhancing and extending 
the authority relating to energy savings performance contracts of the 
Federal Government. The benefit to the taxpayer will be not only the 
realization of greater cost savings as they pertain to older, 
inefficient Federal buildings but, more importantly, the reduction in 
the waste of monies spent trying to improve these buildings when other, 
more cost effective alternatives are available.
  The National Energy Conservation Policy Act, as amended by the Energy 
Policy Act of 1992, established a mandate for energy savings in Federal 
buildings and facilities. Aggressive energy conservation goals were 
subsequently established by Executive Order 12902, stating that, by 
2005, Federal agencies must reduce their energy consumption in their 
buildings by 30 percent per square foot when compared to 1985 levels. 
Executive Order 13123 increased this goal to 35 percent by 2010.
  To help attain these objectives, the Energy Policy Act of 1992 
created Energy Savings Performance Contracting, ESPC, which offered a 
means of achieving this energy reduction goal at no capital cost to the 
government. That's right--no capital cost to the government, since ESPC 
is an alternative to the traditional method of Federal appropriations 
to finance these types of improvements in Federal buildings. Under the 
ESPC authority, Federal agencies contract with energy service 
companies, ESCO, which pay all the up-front costs. These costs relate 
to evaluation, design, financing, acquisition, installation, and 
maintenance of energy efficient equipment; altered operation and 
maintenance improvements; and technical services. The ESCO guarantees a 
fixed amount of energy cost savings throughout the life of the contract 
and is paid directly from those cost savings. Agencies retain the 
remainder of the cost savings for themselves and, at the end of the 
contract, ownership of all property, along with the additional cost 
savings, reverts to the Federal government. Currently, contracts may 
range up to 25 years. Over the entire contract period, Federal monies 
are neither required nor appropriated for the improvements.
  But, as innovative as the ESPC alternative may be, there is one area 
in which it falls short--and that is, how to avoid wasting valuable 
funds improving energy efficiency in a building that has long since 
passed its useful life. How do you justify energy conservation measures 
in buildings that are in constant need of maintenance or repair? 
Facilities that, no matter how much money is invested for renovation, 
will never meet existing building code requirements? You may save money 
by improving energy efficiency, but then turn around and reinvest even 
larger amounts in operating and maintaining a very old facility. 
Somewhere there has to be a point where we decide there must be other 
alternatives--and that is exactly what my legislation offers.
  The most important element of my legislation is in the way it 
proposes to fund the construction of replacement Federal facilities. 
The legislation builds upon the existing Energy Savings Performance 
Contracting and takes it one logical step further--to include savings 
anticipated from operation and maintenance efficiencies of a new 
replacement Federal building. Perhaps the easiest way to explain the 
benefits of this change is by citing an example. In my home state of 
New Mexico, the Department of Energy Albuquerque Operations office 
resides in a complex of buildings constructed originally as Army 
barracks during the Korean War. Although these facilities have been 
renovated and modified throughout the years, they remain energy 
inefficient and require high maintenance and operation costs when 
compared to more contemporary buildings. What's more, over the next 
seven years, the Operations office will institute additional 
modifications to meet compliance requirements for seismic, energy 
savings, and other facility infrastructure concerns (maintenance, 
environmental, safety and health, etc.) at a cost of $34.2 million. 
Even with these modifications, we end up with a modernized 50-year-old 
building that will continue to require expensive maintenance dollars. 
The estimate to replace the office complex with a new facility, by the 
way, is $35.3 million. While Congress cannot afford to appropriate 
funds to build a new facility, we're willing to spend--no, we're forced 
to waste--almost as much in maintaining an old one.
  As requested by the National Defense Authorization Act for FY2000, 
the Department of Energy conducted a feasibility study for replacing 
the Albuquerque Operations office using an ESPC. The results of the 
study are enlightening, for it demonstrated that by using anticipated 
energy, operations, and maintenance efficiencies of a new

[[Page S11790]]

replacement building over the old one, the cost savings alone pay for 
the new facility. What's more, the analysis forecasts that after the 
annual ESPC loan payment is made to the contractor, there is a $1 
million per year surplus. Over a 25-year contract, the savings to the 
taxpayer is $25 million.
  Finally, I want to draw your attention to the broader implications 
that this legislation has for Federal agencies and taxpayers alike. The 
application of authority created by this legislation in the replacement 
of other Federal buildings could result in billions of dollars of 
avoided waste. Simply by considering operation and maintenance cost 
savings, we would reap a double benefit of newer facilities and much 
needed improvements to the Federal infrastructure at a fraction of the 
cost. And, since ESCOs typically use local companies to provide 
construction services, this type of program would have a very 
beneficial effect on local economies.
  There is certainly enough work within the Federal government to move 
forward on this ESPC legislation. To this end, I urge my colleagues to 
support the bill.
                                 ______
                                 
      Mr. BINGAMAN:
  S. 3278. A bill to authorize funding for nanoscale science and 
engineering research and development at the Department of Energy for 
fiscal years 2002 through 2006; to the Committee on Energy and Natural 
Resources.


       department of energy nanoscale science and engineering act

  Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce a bill 
authorizing the Secretary of Energy to provide for a long term 
commitment in its Office of Science to the area of nanoscience and 
nanoengineering. This new area is of fundamental importance for 
maintaining our global economic leadership in energy technology as well 
in areas such as microchip design, space and transportation, medicines 
and biomedical devices. The fields of nanoscience and nanoengineering 
are so new and broad in their reach that no one industry can support 
them. They are a perfect example how we in Congress can make a 
difference to support our nation's technological leadership, a key 
element of the 21st century global economy.
  The fields of nanoscience and engineering encompass the ability to 
create new states of matter by prepositioning the atoms that make up 
their structure. The physical features that nanoscale R&D will develop 
are on the order of about 10 nanometers or 1000 times smaller than the 
diameter of a human hair. What we are talking about is making materials 
and devices not by miniaturization, which is a top down approach. 
Nanoscience is the bottom up fabrication of materials, atom by atom. 
When you build materials at this level, amazing things begin to happen. 
We are talking about microchips whose features will shrink by a factor 
of 100 below where industry projects they will be in the year 2010. 
These chip features will lead to radical breakthroughs in speed, cost 
and density of information storage. In the field of medicine and 
health, we are talking about drugs whose routes of delivery are 
literally at the molecular level. It will be possible to custom build 
proteins and other biological materials for future biomedical devices. 
In the field of energy efficiency, batteries and fuel cells can be 
built with storage capacities far exceeding our current state of the 
art. In the transportation industry, it will be possible to make ultra 
strong and light materials reducing the weight in airplanes, cars and 
space vehicles. All these breakthroughs in the diverse industries I 
have discussed will keep the United States' as a global leader in the 
21st century economy.
  The Department of Energy and its Office of Science are uniquely 
suited to support this critical research. The Office of Science has 
been at the forefront of conducting nanotechnology research for the 
past decade through its broad array of materials, physics, chemistry 
and biology programs. This authorization bill will carry forth four 
broad objectives of the Office of Science's existing nanotechnology 
effort, (1) attain a fundamental understanding of nanoscale phenomena, 
(2) achieve the ability to design bulk materials with desired 
properties using nanoscale manipulation, (3) study how living organisms 
produce materials naturally by arranging their atomic structure and 
implement it into the design process for nanomaterials, (4) develop 
experimental and computer tools with a national infrastructure to carry 
out nanoscience. Let me briefly comment on the fourth area in this 
list. The Office of Science is the nation's leader in developing and 
managing national user facilities across the broad range of physical 
sciences. It would be a natural progression for the Office of Science 
to develop similar user facilities to advance nanoscience. These 
facilities, located across the United States, will contain unique 
equipment and computers which will be accessible to individuals as well 
as multi-disciplinary teams. In the past, Office of Science national 
user facilities have served as crossing points between the transition 
from fundamental science to industrial capability. I expect that these 
nanoscience user facilities will serve as a similar transition point 
from long term fundamental research into applied industrial know-how. 
Accordingly, in this authorization bill I have allotted portions of the 
yearly budget towards developing these unique user facilities.
  This bill is an important first step in a combined national 
nanoscience effort which will help to maintain the technological edge 
of our U.S. industry. I hope that the other federal R&D agencies will 
make similar commitments in their areas of expertise. Maintaining this 
edge, by promoting these long term and high risk investigations is 
something which we cannot expect in the short time frame world of 
today's industry. It is critical that our U.S. government step into 
this void, particularly in the area of nanoscience, and provide the 
necessary intellectual capital to propel our national economy as a 
leader in the 21st century.
  I ask for unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in 
the Record.
  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                S. 3278

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Department of Energy 
     Nanoscale Science and Engineering Act''.

     SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

       The Congress finds the following:
       (1) The emerging fields of nanoscience and nanoengineering 
     address the ability to create materials with fundamentally 
     new compositions by prepositioning atoms within an overall 
     molecular composition.
       (2) The ability of the United States to respond to the 
     energy and economic challenges of the 21st century will be 
     driven by science and technology. Nanoscience and 
     nanoengineering will enable the United States to develop new 
     technologies for energy exploration and production, for 
     monitoring energy infrastructure, for increasing energy 
     efficiency in end-use application, and for developing new 
     technologies applicable to other Department of Energy 
     statutory missions. These advances will also enhance the 
     strength of U.S. science, technology, and medicine generally.
       (3) The fundamental intellectual challenges inherent in 
     nanoscience and nanoengineering are considerable, and require 
     public support for basic and applied research and 
     development. Significant advances in areas such as the self-
     assembly of atom clusters will be required before nanoscience 
     or nanoengineering will be useful to the energy or 
     manufacturing industries.
       (4) The development of new scientific instruments will also 
     be required to advance nanoscience and nanoengineering. Such 
     instruments are likely to be large and costly. Specialized 
     facilities are also likely to be required in order to advance 
     the field and to realize its promise. Such facilities will be 
     sufficiently expensive that they will have to be located and 
     constructed on a centralized basis, similar to a number of 
     unique facilities already managed by the Department of 
     Energy.
       (5) Contributions from individual researchers as well as 
     multidisciplinary research teams will be required to advance 
     nanoscience and nanoengineering.
       (6) The Department of Energy's Office of Science is well 
     suited to manage nanoscience and nanoengineering research and 
     development for the Department. Through its support of 
     research and development pursuant to the Department's 
     statutory authorities, the Office of Science is the principal 
     federal supporter of the research and development in the 
     physical and computational sciences. The Office is also a 
     significant source of federal support for research in 
     genomics and the life sciences. The Office supports 
     research and development by individual investigators and 
     multidisciplinary teams, and manages special user 
     facilities that serve investigators in both university and 
     industry.

[[Page S11791]]

     SEC. 3. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY PROGRAM.

       (a) Establishment.--The Secretary of Energy, through the 
     Office of Science of the Department of Energy, shall support 
     a program of research and development in nanoscience and 
     nanoengineering consistent with the Department's statutory 
     authorities related to research and development. The program 
     shall include efforts to further the understanding of the 
     chemistry, physics, materials science and engineering of 
     phenomena on the scale of 1 to 100 nanometers.
       (b) Duties of the Office of Science.--In carrying out the 
     program under this Act, the Director of the Office of Science 
     shall--
       (1) support both individual investigators and 
     multidisciplinary teams of investigators;
       (2) pursuant to subsection (c), develop, plan, construct, 
     acquire, or operate special equipment or facilities for the 
     use of investigators conducting research and development in 
     nanoscience and nanoengineering;
       (3) support technology transfer activities to benefit 
     industry and other users of nanoscience and nanoengineering; 
     and
       (4) coordinate research and development activities with 
     industry and other federal agencies.
       (c) Nanoscience and Nanoengineering Research Centers and 
     Major Instrumentation.--
       (1) Authorization.--Within the funds authorized to be 
     appropriated pursuant to this Act, the amounts specified 
     under section 4(b) shall, subject to appropriations, be 
     available for projects to develop, plan, construct, acquire, 
     or operate special equipment, instrumentation, or facilities 
     for investigators conducting research and development in 
     nanoscience and nanoengineering.
       (2) Projects.--Projects under paragraph (1) may include the 
     measurement of properties at the scale of 1 to 100 
     nanometers, manipulation at such scales, and the integration 
     of technologies based on nanoscience or nanoengineering into 
     bulk materials or other technologies.
       (3) Facilities.--Facilities under paragraph (1) may include 
     electron microcharacterization facilities, microlithography 
     facilities, scanning probe facilities and related 
     instrumentation.
       (4) Collaboration.--The Secretary shall encourage 
     collaborations among universities, laboratories and industry 
     at facilities under this subsection. At least one 
     Departmental facility under this subsection shall have a 
     specific mission of technology transfer to other institutions 
     and to industry.
       (d) Merit Review Required.--All grants, contracts, 
     cooperative agreements, or other financial assistance awards 
     under this Act shall be made only after independent merit 
     review.

     SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

       (a) Total Authorization.--The following sums are authorized 
     to be appropriated to the Secretary Of Energy, to remain 
     available until expended, for the purposes of carrying out 
     this Act:
       (1) $160,000,000 for fiscal year 2002.
       (2) $270,000,000 for fiscal year 2003.
       (3) $290,000,000 for fiscal year 2004.
       (4) $310,000,000 for fiscal year 2005.
       (5) $330,000,000 for fiscal year 2006.
       (b) Nanoscience and Nanoengineering Research Centers and 
     Major Instrumentation.--Of the funds under subsection (a), 
     the following sums are authorized to be appropriated to carry 
     out section 3(c):
       (1) $55,000,000 for fiscal year 2002.
       (2) $135,000,000 for fiscal year 2003.
       (3) $150,000,000 for fiscal year 2004.
       (4) $120,000,000 for fiscal year 2005.
       (5) $160,000,000 for fiscal year 2006.

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