A House Appropriations subcommittee today unanimously approved a fiscal 2013 energy and water spending bill that would cut funding for energy efficiency and renewables, resurrect the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump and set aside money to study high gas prices.

No changes were made by the Energy and Water Development subpanel to the $32.1 billion proposal House Republicans unveiled yesterday for the Energy Department, Army Corps of Engineers and Bureau of Reclamation. The subpanel said a more detailed report about allocations to specific agencies will be released next week when the bill moves to the full House Appropriations Committee.

Although supporting the bill, Democrats expressed concern that the measure would cut funding for water and clean energy programs, as well as DOE's Office of Science.

"I am convinced that if we do not make proactive investments in our physical and research infrastructure, we are risking the economic competitiveness of our nation," said subpanel ranking Democrat Pete Visclosky of Indiana.

The spending request represents a $965 million dip from President Obama's budget proposal (Greenwire, April 17).

Subcommittee Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.) said that while the bill's total is an increase of $88 million from 2012 levels, taking into account recissions made in 2012 that won't be made this year, it actually is $623 million below 2012 levels. He said "hard choices" had to be made to reach that level.

Rep. Norm Dicks of Washington, the full committee's ranking Democrat, said he supports the bill but worries that the measure's hefty price tag could complicate the appropriations process for other agencies because House lawmakers will have fewer funds left.

"We just want to make it clear to them that we're going to support their bill, but ... that the implications for other bills are serious," Dicks told reporters after the markup. "But this bill is OK."

Republicans and Democrats on the subcommittee applauded the inclusion of $25 million to continue licensing of the nuclear waste repository under Yucca Mountain in Nevada, which the Obama administration has abandoned financially and politically. The government is legally required to continue licensing the repository to accept nuclear waste from reactors around the country, an issue that is currently wrapped up in several lawsuits, subcommittee members said.

"The courts are ultimately going to have to decide Yucca Mountain, that's where it's going to get resolved," Dicks said. "But I still believe the law of the land is Yucca Mountain" and it should go forward.

The legislation would cut funding for DOE's energy efficiency and renewable energy program but boost funding for research into high gas prices and shale oil. Frelinghuysen said the newly funded research "would make a major dent in oil prices and reduce our dependency on foreign sources of oil."

The legislation also would provide $114 million for DOE to research small modular reactors but reduce the department's energy efficiency and renewable energy program to $1.38 billion, $428 million below the current spending levels, Frelinghuysen said.

"Some of us believe it is time to pull the government back a step from such strong involvement in the private sector," he said.

The Army Corps of Engineers would receive $4.8 billion, or slightly more than the $4.731 billion requested by Obama. Congress typically pads the president's request for the agency (Greenwire, April 17).

Frelinghuysen also said the bill would include up to $100 million for the nation's uranium enrichment capability but would not clarify how the money would be used. He said those details would be released next week.