[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 873 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
108th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 873
To authorize funding for catalysis science and engineering research and
development at the Department of Energy for fiscal years 2004 through
2009, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
April 10, 2003
Mr. Bingaman introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To authorize funding for catalysis science and engineering research and
development at the Department of Energy for fiscal years 2004 through
2009, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Department of Energy Catalysis
Research and Development Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds that catalysis science is critical to the
production of fuels for energy generation, the reduction of toxic waste
streams, and the development of compounds to reduce global warming.
SEC. 3. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY PROGRAM.
(a) Establishment.--The Secretary of Energy, through the Director
of the Office of Science of the Department of Energy, shall establish a
program of research and development in catalysis science consistent
with the Secretary's statutory authorities related to research and
development.
(b) Scope of the Program.--The program shall include efforts to--
(1) enable catalyst design using--
(A) combined experimental and mechanistic
methodologies, and
(B) computational modeling of catalytic reactions
at the molecular level;
(2) develop techniques for--
(A) high throughput synthesis of catalysts and
novel assays for rapid throughput catalyst testing of
small quantities of catalysts on diverse processes, and
(B) reducing the analytical cycle time by parallel
operation and automation,
(C) characterizing catalysts at the 0.1 to 2
nanometer scale, and
(D) characterizing catalysts in-situ under actual
operating conditions at high temperature and pressure,
(3) synthesize catalysts with specific site architecture,
(4) conduct research for the use of precious metals for
catalysis (excluding platinum, palladium, and rhodium),
(5) translate molecular (picoscale) and nanoscale
fundamentals to the design of catalytic compounds.
(c) Duties of the Director of the Office of Science.--In carrying
out the program under this Act, the Director of the Office of Science
shall--
(1) support both individual investigators and
multidisciplinary teams of investigators that include teams
drawing upon the expertise of homogeneous, heterogeneous, and
biocatalyic investigators to pioneer new approaches in
catalytic design;
(2) develop, plan, construct, acquire, share, or operate
special equipment or facilities for the use of investigators
conducting research and development in catalysis science in
collaboration with national user facilities such as nanoscience
and engineering centers;
(3) support technology transfer activites to benefit
industry and other users of catalysis science and engineering;
and
(4) coordinate research and development activities with
industry and other federal agencies.
(d) Merit Review Required.--All grants, contracts, cooperative
agreements, or other financial assistance awards under this Act shall
be made only after independent merit review.
(e) Triennial Assessment.--The National Academy of Sciences shall
review the catalysis program every three years to report on gains made
in the fundamental science of catalysis and its progress made towards
developing new fuels for energy production, material fabrication
processes and methods to reduce global warming.
SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
The following sums are authorized to be appropriated to the
Secretary of Energy, to remain available until expended, for the
purposes of carrying out this Act:
(1) $33,000,000 for fiscal year 2004.
(2) $35,000,000 for fiscal year 2005.
(3) $36,500,000 for fiscal year 2006.
(4) $38,200,000 for fiscal year 2007.
(5) $40,100,000 for fiscal year 2008.
(6) $42,100,000 for fiscal year 2009.
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