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What’s Ahead
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| A supercell thunderstorm in Kansas on May 27. (Image credit – NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory / Mike Coniglio) |
NOAA Charting Out New Collaborative Weather Modeling Platform
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is convening a workshop this week in Boulder, Colorado, to consider the strategic vision for the agency’s planned Earth Prediction Innovation Center (EPIC). Authorized last year through an amendment to the 2017 Weather Research Forecasting and Innovation Act, the “virtual center” will aim to improve the translation of research advances into operational weather forecasting models by developing a cloud-based “community model” that integrates the efforts of researchers and forecasters and the public and private sectors. Workshop sessions will focus on subjects such as the center’s computing needs and its governance structure. Acting NOAA Administrator Neil Jacobs will deliver a keynote address on Wednesday.
Top Scientists to Reflect on Geoengineering Options
The University of Colorado Boulder is hosting a workshop this week that will consider potential research directions for geoengineering strategies that involve reflecting sunlight to cool the Earth, including stratospheric aerosol injection, marine cloud brightening, and cirrus cloud thinning. The workshop will inform a National Academies study committee that is developing a research agenda and governance approaches for solar geoengineering. That committee is due to complete its report in the first half of 2020. The workshop comes as interest in the ethical, environmental, and political implications of field experiments is on the rise. Harvard University, for instance, recently created an advisory panel to evaluate plans for an experiment that would release small amounts of reflective molecules in the upper atmosphere.
Senate Appropriators Preparing September ‘Minibus’
With a two-year budget framework now signed into law, Senate appropriations staff plan to work over the August recess to prepare a set of funding bills for when Congress returns in September. The Senate Appropriations Committee is expected to announce soon how it will divide the framework’s overarching defense and non-defense spending levels among its 12 subcommittees. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), who chairs the appropriations subcommittee responsible for the Department of Energy budget and has advocated for large spending increases for research, is pushing for his panel’s bill to be among the first the Senate considers. Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Richard Shelby (R-AL) has said he is amenable to including the DOE bill in a “minibus” package that also includes funding for the Departments of Defense and National Institutes of Health, among other agencies. Though any such package would still have to be reconciled with the House’s proposals and signed by the president, if it moves quickly, DOE, DOD, and NIH could receive timely funding for a second year in a row.
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In Case You Missed It
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| Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) addresses the 2018 ARPA–E Energy Innovation Summit by video feed. (Image credit – ARPA–E) |
Science Committee Democrats Propose $1 Billion ARPA–E Budget
House Science Committee Chair Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) and Energy Subcommittee Chair Conor Lamb (D-PA) introduced legislation on July 30 that recommends a five-year ramp up in the Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy’s annual funding from its current level of $366 million to $1 billion. Not adjusting for inflation, this amount would meet the budget proposed in the landmark 2005 National Academies report, “Rising Above the Gathering Storm,” which originally recommended ARPA–E’s creation. Committee Ranking Member Frank Lucas (R-OK) has introduced a separate bill that would recommend increasing ARPA–E’s budget to $500 million over the same period, whereas the Trump administration has repeatedly sought to terminate the agency. Beyond their funding recommendations, both bills would also expand ARPA–E’s mission to encompass not only pathbreaking energy technologies but also technology in areas such as nuclear waste management and cleanup and the resiliency, reliability, and security of energy infrastructure.
Nuclear Energy R&D Policy Bill Introduced in Senate
Sens. Chris Coons (D-DE) and Martha McSally (R-AZ) introduced a bill called the Nuclear Energy Renewal Act on July 31 that would update policy for many programs within the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy. The legislation aims to expand R&D related to sustaining the existing U.S. fleet of nuclear reactors, disposing of used nuclear fuel, and easing the deployment of new “advanced” nuclear reactor designs. In addition to specifying R&D priorities, it would recommend steady funding levels for the programs it addresses from fiscal year 2020 through fiscal year 2029. The bill’s provisions do not overlap extensively with the Nuclear Energy Leadership Act, a bipartisan bill sponsored by Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chair Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and 18 other senators, including Coons, that would set goals and establish policies that encourage the development of advanced reactors.
‘Victory Bonds’ Bill Looks to Drum Up Dollars for Energy R&D
On July 25, Reps. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) and Doris Matsui (D-CA) reintroduced their Clean Energy Victory Bond Act, a bill inspired by World War II-era victory bonds that aims to raise “up to $50 billion” to support clean energy projects. The legislation points to ARPA–E, among other Department of Energy grant programs, as likely recipients of funds raised through the program. Sen. Tom Udall (D-NM) has introduced a companion bill in the Senate. Neither version currently has a Republican cosponsor. Previous versions of the bill have failed to advance in prior congresses.
Moniz Releases Framework for ‘Green Real Deal’
Speaking at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce last week, former Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz unveiled a report that fleshes out his proposal for a “Green Real Deal,” which he bills as a more detailed and pragmatic approach to tackling climate change than the Green New Deal concept advocated by many congressional Democrats. While applauding Green New Deal proponents for jumpstarting a national conversation on climate policy, the report emphasizes the need for coalition-building and warns that “siloed approaches have spurred unrealistic ‘magical thinking’ on both sides of the issue.” Building on an assessment of the energy innovation landscape released in February by his think tank, the Energy Futures Initiative, the Green Real Deal framework stresses the need for “optionality and flexibility” in technology investments and policies that address regional differences in energy use.
Construction on Advanced Photon Source Upgrade to Begin
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| A major upgrade project at the Advanced Photon Source facility at Argonne National Laboratory has received approval to begin construction. The existing facility will be temporarily shut down as early as 2022 to accommodate the work. (Image credit – ANL) |
Late last month, the Department of Energy granted approval for Argonne National Laboratory to begin construction on an $815 million upgrade to its Advanced Photon Source user facility. The project, which has been in the works for a decade, will multiply the brightness of the facility’s beamlines by a factor of between 100 and 1,000. Targeted for completion in 2026, it will enable cutting-edge research capabilities, such as probing and manipulating matter at the atomic level in three dimensions. It will also keep the facility competitive with peer facilities abroad, most notably the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in France, which is set to complete a similar upgrade next year. The Advanced Photon Source project is the first of several user facility upgrades that DOE is currently planning with strong budgetary support from Congress.
NSF Formalizes Divestment Plans for Green Bank Observatory
The National Science Foundation announced last week that its preferred option for divesting from the Green Bank radio astronomy observatory in West Virginia is to continue science-focused operations with reduced NSF support, instead of mothballing the facility or converting it into a “technology and education park.” In a report accompanying the announcement, NSF indicated that selecting this option was enabled by it identifying “an additional viable external collaborator who seeks to use [the observatory] for basic and applied research.” NSF states it expects this new collaborator “would contribute significantly to the annual operations cost of [the observatory], allowing NSF to reduce its funding of the facility.”
First Lunar Science Lander in Planned Series Cancelled
NASA announced on July 29 it has cancelled its $97 million task order with commercial contractor Orbit Beyond for a robotic lunar lander that was to launch in September 2020 with up to four science and technology demonstration payloads. According to NASA, the company requested the cancellation due to “internal corporate challenges” that would prevent it from carrying out the mission on schedule. The task order had attracted some attention in Congress because NASA requires the spacecraft in its Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program to be built in the U.S., but the design for Orbit Beyond’s lander was originally developed by India-based company TeamIndus. The lander was one of three lunar missions that NASA selected in May, with the other two still expected to launch by July 2021. Separately, NASA announced July 30 it is seeking new commercial partners to participate in the CLPS program, in addition to the nine selected last year, now with the specific aim of conveying heavier payloads than those on its initial series of landers.
Investigation of Weather Satellite Instrument ‘Mishap’ Released
NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released a joint investigative report last week on the cause of cooling issues affecting a key instrument on GOES-17, one of NOAA’s new flagship geostationary weather satellites. The investigation concluded the problem was likely caused by a pipe blockage resulting from a “design issue or failure on-orbit.” Though the instrument is able to provide 97% data availability despite the cooling problem, the event is considered a “mishap” because the instrument could not meet a requirement that data outages last no more than six hours per year. The report offers several recommendations on how such issues could be mitigated in the future, such as by directing certain personnel to “actively seek out issues and alternate viewpoints” from subject matter experts and requiring contractors have mitigation plans in place “down to the component level for all instrument subsystems.”
Kratsios Confirmed as US Chief Technology Officer
By a voice vote last week, the Senate confirmed Michael Kratsios as the U.S. Chief Technology Officer, an associate director position in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. The confirmation cements Kratsios as OSTP’s lead for technology policy, a role he has held on a de facto basis since the early days of the Trump administration. In response to questions posed by senators, Kratsios indicated his top priorities include promoting U.S. leadership in emerging technologies through public-private partnerships, implementing flexible regulatory approaches, and retraining workers.
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Events This Week
All times are Eastern Daylight Time and all congressional hearings are webcast, unless otherwise noted. Listings do not imply endorsement.
Monday, August 5
Tuesday, August 6
Wednesday, August 7
Thursday, August 8
Friday, August 9
No events start today.
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Opportunities Microgrants Available for Science Policy Student Groups
Research!America is accepting proposals from graduate-level science policy student groups for “microgrants” that will support non-partisan civic engagement activities. Applicants are also invited to request funding through a new “Science Meets Science” initiative that aims to increase collaboration between natural and social scientists engaging with public officials. Awards will range from $1,000 to $3,000, and applications are due Sept. 20.
Potomac Institute Hiring S&T Policy Fellow
The Potomac Institute for Policy Studies is accepting applications from mid-to-senior career professionals to serve as a science and technology research fellow at their headquarters in Arlington, Virginia. The institute is seeking individuals who are capable of “deep thinking about the impacts of emerging sciences and technologies” and are willing to make “bold policy recommendations.” Ideal candidates will also have a technical background and a doctoral degree.
AAAS Hiring Diversity and Inclusion Project Director
The American Association for the Advancement of Science is hiring a project director within its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Program. The director will support the STEM Equity Achievement (SEA) Change initiative, with a focus on engaging with the biomedical research community. Applications are due Aug. 26. For additional opportunities, please visit www.aip.org/fyi/opportunities. Know of an opportunity for scientists to engage in science policy? Email us at fyi@aip.org.Know of an upcoming science policy event either inside or outside the Beltway? Email us at fyi@aip.org.
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