Bush's Empty Legacy
by Frank N. Laird
Meanwhile, back at the ranch in Crawford...
While we've been talking about the scale of innovation that a clean energy economy needs, the Bush administration has long since submitted its proposed budget for fiscal year 2009, which starts on October 1, 2008. It's sobering to realize how far from a serious R&D policy for clean energy it is. Whatever President Bush is trying to secure for his legacy, it certainly won't be innovation in clean energy.
The Environmental and Energy Study Institute, a non-partisan group on Capitol Hill, has put out a detailed breakdown of energy R&D for FY09 in the proposed budget. The administration wants to cut the energy efficiency and renewable energy budget in the Department of Energy (DOE) by 27% from last year's (FY08) appropriations. Down are the budgets for solar and hydrogen R&D. Gone entirely is the Renewable Energy Production Incentive, which was only a piddling $5 million in FY08. There are small increases in biomass, buildings, geothermal, and vehicle technologies.
Perhaps most outrageously, the proposed budget zeros out the Weatherization Assistance Program, which had $225 million last year. This program provides financial assistance to make the homes of low-income people more energy efficient. It won't lead to an energy revolution, but it is crucial to helping people who are struggling economically to reduce their energy consumption in the face of rising energy prices, which makes this budget both pathetic and callous, quite a feat.
It's not like energy R&D or subsidies are down overall. Au contraire, nuclear is slated to get a 37% increase and fossil fuels a 25% increase. Yes, the federal budget, outside of defense, is tight, but the support for clean energy is still pathetically small. The overall proposed R&D budget for the federal government, including the Defense Department, is $145.4 billion. Support for energy efficiency and renewable energy R&D (and some other costs) is less than 1% of that. It's going to be a long road to a clean energy future at that rate.