[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 20 (Wednesday, February 3, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Pages S617-S618]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SA 3262. Mr. DONNELLY submitted an amendment intended to be proposed
to amendment SA 2953 proposed by Ms. Murkowski to the bill S. 2012, to
provide for the modernization of the energy policy of the United
States, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table;
as follows:
At the end of subtitle B of title III, add the following:
PART II--ENERGY INNOVATION AND PRODUCTION
SEC. 3111. SHORT TITLE.
This part may be cited as the ``American Energy Innovation
and Production Act''.
SEC. 3112. ENERGY SECURITY TRUST FUND.
(a) Establishment.--Not later than 180 days after the date
of enactment of this Act, there shall be established in the
Treasury of the United States a trust fund, to be known as
the ``Energy Security Trust Fund'' (referred to in this
section as the ``Fund''), consisting of such amounts as are
transferred to the Fund pursuant to subsection (b), to be
administered by the Secretary in accordance with this
section.
(b) Funding.--
(1) Transfers.--
(A) In general.--Notwithstanding any other provision of
law, subject to paragraph (2), the Secretary of the Treasury
shall transfer to the Fund for each fiscal year an amount
equal to 50 percent of the revenues received during the
preceding fiscal year in the form of bonus bids, lease rental
receipts, and production royalties from oil and gas
development or production in any other Federal territory or
area that becomes available for oil or gas leasing after the
date of enactment of this Act.
(B) Availability.--The amounts in the Fund--
(i) shall be available without fiscal year limitation; and
(ii) shall not be subject to appropriation.
(2) Maximum annual amount.--The total amount transferred to
the Fund pursuant to paragraph (1) for any 1 fiscal year
shall not exceed $500,000,000.
(3) Use of excess revenues.--Any revenues described in
paragraph (1)(A) that are received for a fiscal year in
excess of the maximum annual amount referred to in paragraph
(2) shall be used to reduce the debt of the Federal
Government.
(4) Lack of sufficient revenues.--If, during an applicable
fiscal year, the development or production activities
described in paragraph (1)(A) are obstructed for any reason,
and no amounts are generated from activities described in
paragraph (1)(A), no amounts shall be transferred to the Fund
pursuant to this subsection for the following fiscal year.
(c) Use.--
(1) In general.--The Secretary shall use amounts in the
Fund to make grants in accordance with this section to pay
the Federal share of the cost of conducting research on
precommercial sciences and technologies with the near- and
medium-term potential for reducing petroleum use and
increasing fuel diversity in the transportation sector.
(2) Requirement.--Amounts in the Fund shall be used only
for research and development activities focused on
transportation-related technologies and fuels.
(3) Advisory board.--
(A) In general.--The Secretary shall establish an advisory
board, to be composed of representatives from the private
sector and
[[Page S618]]
relevant sectors of academia, to evaluate the technologies to
be eligible for funding under this section.
(B) Annual reviews.--The advisory board established under
subparagraph (A) shall, not less frequently than once each
year--
(i) review relevant technologies to determine whether the
technologies should be eligible to receive funding under this
section; and
(ii) submit to the Secretary recommendations regarding the
allocation of finding for each technology determined to be
eligible under clause (i).
(d) Allocation.--
(1) In general.--For each applicable fiscal year, of the
amounts in the Fund, the Secretary shall allocate--
(A) 50 percent to make grants to national laboratories that
are federally funded research and development centers or
institutions of higher education to enhance the ability of
the national laboratories to create opportunities for
relevant public-private research partnerships;
(B) 15 percent to the Secretary of Defense to fund research
and development programs of the Department of Defense that
are focused on reducing transportation-related oil
consumption; and
(C) 35 percent to make grants to eligible entities, as
determined by the Secretary, to enhance existing research
programs and establish new fields of research relevant to the
eligible technologies described in subsection (c)(3)(B).
(2) Limitations.--
(A) Maximum amount.--The amount of a grant provided under
this section shall not exceed $25,000,000.
(B) Per Project.--Not more than 1 grant shall be provided
for a single project under this section.
(e) Use of Grants.--
(1) In general.--A national laboratory or other eligible
entity described in subparagraph (A) or (C) of subsection
(d)(1) may use a grant provided under this section to carry
out activities relating to--
(A) research or development regarding vehicles and fuels
that has a demonstrable market application, such as advanced-
technology vehicle components and associated infrastructure,
including--
(i) storage tanks for compressed natural gas vehicles;
(ii) onboard energy storage for electric and plug-in hybrid
electric vehicles;
(iii) hydrogen fuel cells;
(iv) advanced liquid fuels;
(v) increased fuel efficiency in combustion engines; and
(vi) advancements to alternative fuel storage and
dispensing;
(B) field or market research and development of the
comprehensive systems required to support new vehicles and
fuels that differ significantly from conventional vehicles,
which shall--
(i) focus on determining best practices in comprehensive
vehicle and infrastructure deployments;
(ii) have a strong experimental design to ensure that
different deployment activities can be tested using
quantitative metrics for various fuels; and
(iii) be structured and used to provide valuable lessons
and best practices for use throughout the United States to
ensure smooth, widespread deployment of alternative fuel
vehicles; or
(C) increased public-private research and development
collaboration and more-rapid technology transfer from the
Federal Government to the private sector, with a focus on
removing unnecessary obstacles in bringing to the private
sector oil-reduction technologies with commercial
applications that are developed by the national laboratories
or eligible entities.
(2) Limitations.--A grant provided under this section may
not be--
(A) sold;
(B) transferred; or
(C) used to repay a Federal loan.
(3) National laboratories.--A national laboratory that
receives a grant under this section--
(A) shall be encouraged to enter into cooperative research
and development agreements and other mechanisms to facilitate
public-private partnerships in accordance with this section;
and
(B) may serve as a program or funding manager for any such
partnership.
(f) Cost Sharing and Review.--Amounts disbursed from the
Fund under this section shall be subject to the cost sharing
and merit review requirements of section 988 of the Energy
Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 16352), including the
requirement under subsection (c)(1) of that section that not
less than 50 percent of the cost of a project or activity
carried out using the amounts shall be provided by a non-
Federal source.
(g) Reports.--
(1) Secretary.--The Secretary shall prepare and submit to
Congress--
(A) not less frequently than once each year, a report that
describes, with respect to the preceding fiscal year--
(i) the amounts deposited in the Fund;
(ii) expenditures from the Fund; and
(iii) the means in which grants from the Fund were used by
recipients, including a description of each project funded
using such a grant; and
(B) not less frequently than once every 5 years, a report
that describes, with respect to the preceding 5-year period--
(i) any breakthroughs that occurred as a result of grants
from the Fund; and
(ii) the quantity of technology transfer that took place as
a result of activities funded by the Fund.
(2) GAO.--Not less frequently than once every 5 years, the
Comptroller General of the United States shall submit to
Congress a report that describes the results of the projects
that received grants from the Fund during the preceding 5-
year period, including an assessment of progress resulting
from those projects with respect to developing and bringing
to market oil-saving technologies.
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