Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee

Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs

The Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub program will fund grants or cooperative agreements for six to ten hydrogen hubs, which are intended to develop a network of hydrogen producers, consumers, and transportation infrastructure. The Department of Energy (DOE) must fund at least one hub using fossil fuels, nuclear energy, and renewable energy and at least one […]

1872 Mining Law Reform

The 1872 Mining Law charges mining companies no royalties for the minerals they remove from federal lands and allows them to purchase federal land for between $2.50 and $5.00 per acre. There have been temporary bans on new sales in each appropriations bill since 1995, but no permanent ban. Taxpayers receive no rent or royalties […]

Fair Value Grazing Fees

The formula for determining the grazing fee for lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service uses a base value set in 1966 that the lease rates for grazing on private lands, beef cattle prices and the cost of livestock production adjusts annually. By law, the grazing fee per animal unit […]

Fuel Cycle Research and Development

The Fuel Cycle Research and Development program (formerly the Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative) supports long-term research and development of nuclear fuel and waste management technologies. The goal of the program is to develop and demonstrate advanced, proliferation-resistant fuel cell technologies, to reduce nuclear fuel waste and to demonstrate that these technologies would allow commercial development […]

Gas Royalty Relief – Deep and Shallow Water Gas

Oil and gas companies that drill on public lands or in federal waters pay royalties for the oil and gas they extract. The amount of royalties they pay depends on the amount extracted, the market price for oil and gas, and the royalty rate. The Deepwater Royalty Relief Act of 1995 (DWRRA) allowed the Secretary […]

Nuclear Energy Enabling Technologies

The Nuclear Energy Enabling Technologies (NEET) program is designed to support early stage research and development of advanced nuclear technologies. In particular, it is intended to support these areas of nuclear technology research and development (R&D): (1) “crosscutting” R&D of advanced fuels and advanced reactors; (2) advanced modeling R&D through Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and […]

Oil Royalty Relief – Deep Water

Oil and gas companies that drill on public lands or in federal waters pay royalties for the oil and gas they extract. The amount of royalties they pay depends on the amount extracted, the market price for oil and gas, and the royalty rate. Typically, the government sets limits on the amount of oil and […]

Biological and Environmental Research – Biological Systems Science

The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Biological and Environmental Research (BER) program conducts peer-reviewed scientific research, involving studying health and environmental issues. In 2007, the DOE established three Bioenergy Research Centers (BRCs) in order to focus advanced biotechnology-based resources on biofuel production. According to the DOE, the BRCs are presently conducting research on processes needed for […]