The House will begin debating the fiscal 2013 energy and water spending bill as soon as Friday, with a vote expected next week.

The House Rules Committee will meet today to set the ground rules for floor debate on the bill, which establishes fiscal 2013 spending levels for the Energy Department, Army Corps of Engineers and Bureau of Reclamation.

The bill was approved by the House Appropriations Committee last month. The $32.1 billion proposal represents a $965 million dip below President Obama's fiscal 2013 request (E&ENews PM, April 25).

The measure sets aside $26.3 billion for DOE, down from the president's proposal of $27.2 billion. House Republicans included money for the agency to investigate high gas prices and research mini-nuclear reactors but slashed funding for clean energy, a point of contention among House Democrats.

On that point, Rep. Pete Visclosky (D-Ind.), ranking member of the Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee, has called for more research to help renewable energy achieve cost-competitiveness (E&ENews PM, April 25).

The spending bill would provide $25 million to support the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's licensing of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada. House Republicans are firmly backing the project and investigating why NRC halted its review of the waste dump under outgoing NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko's direction.

The bill would also provide millions of dollars to support research at a controversial uranium enrichment plant in Ohio (Greenwire, Feb. 27).

Sportsmen and environmentalists have blasted a provision in the bill inserted by Republican House appropriators that would block funding for proposed policy to strengthen federal Clean Water Act protections (E&E Daily, April 27).

Last month, committee Republicans also approved an amendment to the bill to prevent the country's four power marketing administrations from using appropriations to implement a memo that Energy Secretary Steven Chu issued earlier this year. The order directed the administrations to make upgrades to the grid using a variety of tools, but House Republicans warned that the directive would cause power prices to spike (E&E Daily, April 23).

Army Corps funding

For the Army Corps, the bill would provide $4.8 billion, or slightly more than the $4.731 billion requested by Obama. Congress typically pads the president's request for the agency.

The bill would provide $1.89 billion for navigation projects and studies, including $1 billion for harbor maintenance. It also would fund flood control efforts at $1.45 billion, including $451 million for critical dam safety improvements.

Citing the large number of ongoing Army Corps projects, House appropriators included $324 million for essential flood control and navigation projects, to be prioritized by the corps.

The bill also would put a hold on 50 percent of the money allocated to the Ohio River's Olmsted Locks and Dam project, the poster child for lock and dam construction mismanagement. Originally estimated to cost $775 million when the project began in 1988, Olmsted was recently projected to cost $3.1 billion and take another decade or longer to complete.

The bill would require the Army Corps to complete a review of the project, including methods of construction, and to develop a plan for its expeditious completion, and deliver both to the appropriate congressional committees.

Reclamation, under the bill, would receive $988 million, or $89 million below last year's level and $47 million below the president's request.

The Senate Appropriations Committee approved its version of the energy and water 2013 spending bill last month, but it has not yet had a floor vote.

Schedule: The meeting is today at 5 p.m. in H-313 of the Capitol.