Lawmakers in the House and Senate are courting conferees on a long-term transportation reauthorization bill over funding for an embattled uranium enrichment project in Ohio.

Reps. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Steve Pearce (R-N.M.) are arguing that $150 million for DOE's American Centrifuge Plant in Piketon, Ohio, should be left out of the bill because the project has suffered technical setbacks and shaky investment. But an Ohio senator is asking the negotiators to approve the money.

Markey, ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee, and Pearce asked House Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) in a letter Monday to pull funding for the plant, which the U.S. Enrichment Corp. (USEC) would operate.

"The time has come to stop the expenditure of taxpayer dollars on USEC's failed ACP," the lawmakers wrote.

USEC, which currently operates demonstration centrifuges in Piketon, has repeatedly warned that it may be forced to demobilize the project by May 31 if the federal government does not inject more money.

Paul Jacobson, a spokesman for USEC, said in an email yesterday that USEC will be "faced with the prospect of ending the project" if federal dollars do not come through by the end of the month.

The plant has garnered national attention as it seeks a $2 billion federal loan guarantee in the wake of the bankruptcy of Solyndra, a solar company that also received federal backing from the Obama administration. Ohio lawmakers have been quick to point out that the project would create jobs in the hardest-hit areas of southern Ohio.

Ohio Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, an outspoken proponent of the project, asked more than 40 conferees in a letter last week to fund the project, noting that the Energy Department has set out a "comprehensive path" for funding research at the Piketon plant during a two-year period.

Brown was referring to a plan DOE outlined last year to launch a research and development program at the plant, which the agency said is the best way to help the centrifuge technology achieve commercial viability. DOE had asked for "transfer authority" to use $150 million of existing funds to bring the plant closer to commercial viability (E&ENews PM, Jan. 17).

Brown, who has aligned with Ohio GOP Sen. Rob Portman in supporting USEC, said appropriations bills moving through the House and Senate would also provide $150 million for the USEC project in fiscal 2013. The uranium enrichment plant will provide nuclear fuel for commercial reactors and material for tritium production, Brown wrote.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) has set an early June deadline for a deal on the highway bill (E&E Daily, May 9). Boxer says the House and Senate must reach a deal by then to move the legislation through both chambers before the June 30 expiration of existing policy.