House Republicans today proposed to slash almost a billion dollars from President Obama's fiscal 2013 budget request for the Energy Department, while directing funds to research high gas prices and resurrect the abandoned nuclear waste dump under Yucca Mountain.

The House Appropriations Committee today released its 2013 energy and water spending bill, which will be marked up tomorrow by the Energy and Water Development subpanel that oversees funding for DOE, the Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation (E&E Daily, April 16).

Republicans say the spending request of $32.1 billion for the agencies represents a $965 million dip from Obama's spending request. The bill would cut DOE's funding to $26.3 billion in fiscal 2013, down from the president's proposal of $27.2 billion.

House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) said the bill makes "responsible choices to cut spending where appropriate" while maintaining federal support for nuclear security, economic competitiveness, water and power infrastructure, and research into the rising price of gasoline.

"While cutting spending in lower priority programs, the bill focuses taxpayer dollars where they are most needed and best used," Rogers said in a statement.

Rep. Norm Dicks of Washington, the committee's ranking Democrat, said he was encouraged that the appropriations process was beginning and that the Republican measure represents a boost from current spending levels.

But Dicks also expressed concern that several national energy priorities were underfunded and that more cuts are looming.

"Despite the dangerously low overall allocation, Republicans fund the Energy and Water bill above last year's level and within the range of what would have been expected if Republicans had stuck to the agreement they voted for in the [Budget Control Act agreement]," Dicks said in a statement. "This subcommittee's relatively decent allocation raises serious concerns about what funding levels will be assigned to the remaining bills."

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who chairs the Senate Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee, said yesterday in an interview that the Senate's version of the measure will be ready next week.

The House GOP spending bill would create a new $25 million shale oil program to fill "a major hole in the [DOE's] research and development efforts," Republicans said.

The bill would also infuse $25 million to support ongoing licensing of the nuclear waste repository under Yucca Mountain in Nevada, which the Obama administration has abandoned both politically and financially. Republicans said the legislation would continue efforts to "roll back" the administration's "politically motivated Yucca Mountain policy that runs contrary to the will of the Congress and the American people."

The GOP measure would also provide $554 million for research and development to advance coal, natural gas, oil and other fossil energy technologies, a boost of $207 million from 2012 spending levels. The bill would provide $765 million for nuclear energy research, development and demonstration activities and $200 million for the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy.

Funding for nuclear security would increase by almost $300 million from the current spending level of $11 billion. Republicans said the legislation would fulfill Obama's request to modernize the nation's nuclear weapons stockpile by providing the National Nuclear Security Administration -- a semiautonomous agency within DOE -- $10 million.

"To protect the interests of the taxpayer, our legislation enhances Congressional oversight of the agencies under our jurisdiction and cuts spending on lower priority programs, ensuring that every hard-earned taxpayer dollar will be well spent," Subcommittee Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.) said in a statement.

Army Corps and Bureau of Reclamation

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 committee noted that the bill includes no congressionally earmarked projects, in keeping with Congress' self-imposed earmark ban. The ban, however, does not mean that lawmakers have no other means by which to wrangle funding for a project in their districts. Lawmakers now lobby the agency and the administration directly on behalf of projects. The agency determines which will be funded when it releases its work plan (Greenwire, Feb. 8).

Committee staff highlighted that the bill would provide $1.89 billion for navigation projects and studies, including $1 billion for harbor maintenance "to help increase commerce through the nation's ports and other waterways."

The bill also funds flood control efforts at $1.45 billion, including $451 million for critical dam safety improvements.

The committee made significant, albeit small, changes to the funding levels sought by the administration for various corps accounts. Operations and maintenance would receive $2.507 billion, up from the presidentially requested $2.398 billion. Construction would receive $1.477 billion, up slightly from the $1.471 billion requested.

The flood control and coastal emergencies account would receive $27 million, as opposed to the $30 million sought. The Mississippi River and Tributaries program would see $224 million, down from the requested $234 million. And regulatory programs would get $190 million, as opposed to the $205 million sought. General investigations would be funded at the level sought by the administration, $102 million.

The committee noted that the bill "does not fund all presidentially-requested projects, instead focusing funding on navigation and flood control activities that will have a more immediate impact on job creation and the economy."

Citing the large number of ongoing corps projects, staff said the bill provides $324 million for essential flood control and navigation projects to be prioritized by the corps.

"This additional flexibility will help address critical navigation and flood control needs across the country, while improving Administration transparency and maintaining Congressional authority over budget decisions," the committee said.

The bill also puts a hold on 50 percent of the money allocated to the Ohio River's Olmsted Locks and Dam project, which has become the poster child for lock and dam construction project 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 requires the 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.

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

Reporter Nick Juliano contributed.