THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY FY2001 BUDGET
The Department of Energy's FY 2001 budget requestis $18.1 billion. This is nearly $1.5 billion over this year's appropriation-- a nine percent increase.

 We propose the following increases to helpthe Department meet its missions:

 
• Advancing science and technology, an increase of $337million;
• Protecting our national security, by keeping our nuclearweapons stockpile safe, secure, and reliable; and addressing the proliferationof weapons of mass destruction -- a $500 million increase; 
• Expanding our energy options, to ensure our supply isdependable and our use of resources is more efficient and affordable, anincrease of $90 million; and 
• Cleaning up the environmental legacy of the Cold Warera, a $511 million increase. 

$7.6 billion, or 40 percent, of our request is includedas research and development in the President's Budget, and it is up nearlyeight percent over the FY 2000 level. This is the largest increase in ourscience budget since 1992, and reflects our commitment to keeping Americaat the cutting edge.

SCIENCE
For our Office of Science, we request $3.2 billion,an increase of $337 million, or 12 percent above the comparable FY 2000level. This includes $91 million for research and development into"nanotechnologies"-- extreme miniaturizations that give us the ability to manipulate matterat the atomic level. 

This work will acutely affect information technology,energy and the environment, medicine, and national security. It could resultin supercomputers that fit into the palm of your hand, or tiny devicesto fight disease and repair injuries from inside our bodies. 

We will continue our Spallation Neutron Source, investing$281 million in FY2001. This state-of-the-art neutron scattering facilitywill help us develop stronger and lighter materials and more efficientmotors, and better understand the structure of matter. 

With $247 million dollars for fusion, we will sustainefforts begun this year that, for example, have already produced substantialresults at our Princeton Plasma Physics Lab.

OUR NATIONAL SECURITY WORK
As you know, on March 1, we unveiled the new NationalNuclear Security Administration, or "NNSA," which will consolidate theDefense Programs, Non-proliferation and National Security, Fissile MaterialsDisposition, and Naval Reactors offices. The FY 2001 budget for the NNSAwill total $6.2 billion, an increase of $432 million over this year's level. 

DEFENSE PROGRAMS
One of my most important responsibilities to thePresident, the Congress, and the American people is to ensure the safety,security and reliability of the nation's nuclear stockpile – which remainsthe cornerstone of the United States' national security policy. It is essentialthat the Congress approve the $273 million increase for Stockpile Stewardshipin the FY2001 budget.

This program is working today to ensure the continuedsafety and reliability of the stockpile without underground testing. Itdraws upon the best scientific resources in our complex, allowing me, andthe Secretary of Defense, to annually certify to the President that thenuclear deterrent does not require underground testing at this time. Threeannual certifications – and a soon-to-be-completed fourth -- are proofof its abiding success. 

Last October, we carried out a top-to-bottom reviewassessing Stockpile Stewardship. This comprehensive evaluation confirmedthat science-based stockpile stewardship was on the right track.

Yet the review also found that the Program was "woundtoo tight" – meaning that at projected personnel and funding levels, itwould be unable to meet mid-term stockpile requirements and maintain plantfacilities, introduce new technologies and assemble the next generationof plant technicians. 

To remedy that, we're working with Secretary Cohenand the Department of Defense to ensure that we are in agreement on whatconstitute our highest national priorities.

In addition, our supplemental budget request forFY2000 -- $55 million -- will allow us to address infrastructure issues.It will specifically apply to the workforce, production readiness, requiredinfrastructure, and safety challenges at the three production plants:

 
• the Y-12 Plant in Tennessee; 
• the Kansas City Plant in Kansas; and 
• the Pantex Plant in Texas. 

NONPROLIFERATION
Another crucial component of our national securitybudget is our nonproliferation work, which helps ensure that Americansenjoy a future that is safe and secure.

To help do so, the Administration is proposing anew, $100 million Long-Term Nonproliferation Program for Russia, dramaticallyexpanding our work there. It can be broken into two parts.

The first attempts to plug gaps in handling fissilematerial from various stages in the fuel cycle. We propose to work withRussia to construct a dry-storage facility for their nuclear power plantspent fuel to prevent the further accumulation of separated civil plutonium. 

The Russian Minister of Atomic Energy has agreedto begin talks on a moratorium on the removal of plutonium through reprocessingof spent fuel. If we implement this agreement, the stockpile of civilianplutonium in Russia -- which is more than 30 metric tons and grows at arate of two additional tons per year -- would get no larger.

We would also conduct joint research into modernnuclear reactor technologies and fuels, for more proliferation-resistantsystems. 

Finally, we would conduct a program of technicalcooperation with Russia to examine the issue of geologic repositories,and the many complicated questions before us relating to disposition ofspent fuel and nuclear wastes.

SECURITY AND COUNTERINTELLIGENCE
The FY2001 budget also expands the measures I undertooklast year to improve security at all Energy Department sites with nationalsecurity missions. Our national laboratories are now governed by dramaticallydifferent security procedures, and, over the past two years, we doubledthe budget of the Office of Counterintelligence.

We have made progress – but we need to do more tokeep our critical assets safe and secure. For our Office of Security andEmergency Operations, we request $320 million, an increase of 21 percent,which will allow us to augment protections at all our facilities. 

We also request $45.2 million for our Office of Counterintelligence,which protects our most-sensitive technologies and information. As theDepartment remains an attractive target for foreign intelligence services,this increase will help us to continue ensuring the strength of our strategiccounterintelligence fortifications. Once again, we will need your helpin the Supplemental mark-up. We have asked for an additional $8 millionfor cyber-security improvements and additional security personnel. We needthese fixes to ensure our that Department's security is the best it canbe.

ENERGY RESOURCES
In its 1997 review of the national energy R&Dportfolio, the President's Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology,or "PCAST," recommended expanding a number of national energy R&D programs,calling our current investments "inadequate."

Another of my major missions is in ensuring thatAmerica has the ability to draw from a diverse energy resource pallette.To help do so, we are requesting $2.2 billion for our energy resourcesbudget. This is $175 million more than this year -- an eight-percent increase.For our solar and renewable energy programs, there is an increase of nearly28 percent.

To help boost our national energy research, our solarand renewable programs will expand work in:

 
• solar power technology;
• photovoltaic systems;
• biomass and biofuels; and
• wind energy, to name just a few.

ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
For FY 2001, we request $6.8 billion for EnvironmentalQuality programs. $6.3 billion is requested for Environmental Managementprograms, helping us ensure that each of our cleanup sites meets safetyand legal requirements, supports accelerated cleanup and site closure,and maintains other critical environmental priorities.

Our FY 2001 request continues an aggressive approachto address the immediate and long-term environmental and health risks ofthe weapons complex, and resolve the issues surrounding spent nuclear fuelstorage. Please consider this crucial commitment also when you mark-upthe FY2000 Supplemental Appropriation Bill. We have requested an additional$10 million to continue investigating health and safety issues; and another$16 million to accelerate cleanup at the Gaseous Diffusion Plants.

We reached a significant milestone in March 1999,when we opened the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico as a safe,permanent disposal location for transuranic nuclear wastes. Also last year,I reached agreement with the Governors of Colorado, South Carolina, Tennessee,and Washington on a Statement of Principles laying the foundation for acooperative working relationship between the Energy Department and thosestates with Department cleanup sites.

This year we have also taken strong action to addressreports of alleged health and environmental problems at our Gaseous DiffusionPlants. I announced a strategy to investigate, identify, and remedy anypast or remaining health, safety, and environmental problems at the plants-- and, in addition to our FY2001 budget, the Administration has also submitteda $26 million FY 2000 Supplemental Budget Request to Congress to addressadditional concerns.

And I have also forwarded legislation -- and am requesting$17 million -- for an Energy Employees' Compensation Initiative. This isthe government's opportunity to compensate eligible workers for occupationalhealth hazards associated with their work on behalf of our nation at theDepartment's facilities.

MANAGEMENT
As any good business, we're serious about havingonly the best management and fiscal administration in place. As you mayhave read, the Department of Energy recently received a "clean opinion"on its statutorily-required audited financial statement for Fiscal Year1999, which in the words of the Energy Department Inspector General is"a reflection of the Department's dedication to sound financial management."

We're functioning smarter and leaner today. A side-effect,however, has been a critical skill gap, and we are proposing a new ScientificRecruitment Initiative to begin filling it. And we will continue to developefforts to target waste, fraud and abuse.

In the past year, a top priority has been to improvethe way the Department of Energy manages its people, its resources, andits programs. We listened to Congress, we studied the Department's businessoperations, we designed needed management reforms and we put them intoaction:

 
• We changed the way headquarters and the field interrelate,and hired new managers at almost all our sites throughout the complex;
• We increased the accountability of our top managers;
• We regained control of assigning M&O contract employeesto the Washington area;
• We're applying sound business principles to managementof our construction and environmental remediation projects, creating anOffice of Engineering and Construction Management to make fundamental changesin our project management procedures, principles, and practices; And 
• As I mentioned, we initiated immediate actions to upgradesecurity and counterintelligence.

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee, thankyou for your attention. With your help, we can advance the Department ofEnergy's commitment to success into 2001 and beyond.

Source:  Department of Energy Home Page - www.doe.gov