July 23, 2018
Senator Richard Shelby
Chairman
Senate Committee on Appropriations Room S-128, United States Capitol Building Washington, DC 20510
Representative Rodney Frelinghuysen Chairman
House Committee on Appropriations
Room H-305, United States Capitol Building Washington, DC 20515
Senator Patrick Leahy
Ranking Member
Senate Committee on Appropriations Room S-128, United States Capitol Building Washington, DC 20510
Representative Nita Lowey
Ranking Member
House Committee on Appropriations
Room H-205, United States Capitol Building Washington, DC 20515
Dear Chairman Shelby, Ranking Member Leahy, Chairman Frelinghuysen and Ranking Member Lowey,
We fully support the Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) program. ARPA-E plays a unique and critical role in maintaining America’s global leadership in energy technologies and our energy security. As the House and Senate deliberate the Fiscal Year 2019 Energy and Water Appropriations conference bill, we urge you to support the Senate bill’s funding level of $375 million for this vital program.
ARPA-E is crucial for continuing American energy innovation. It is a highly effective program which enjoys strong bipartisan congressional support. Since its inception, ARPA-E has successfully sponsored a dynamic range of research projects, including technologies with potentially profound benefits for the nation’s energy security. Modeled after the highly successful Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), ARPA-E supports “high-risk, high-reward” research that has the potential to drastically alter how we make and use energy. It encourages researchers to take risks that the private sector by itself simply cannot, while encouraging projects to anticipate and address potential roadblocks they may face on the path to commercialization. ARPA-E’s widely lauded approach to R&D is now being copied in other federal agencies. The program uses a highly competitive selection process to identify innovative projects, pushes them to meet aggressive milestones, and helps technologies cross the valley of death so the private sector can then commercialize them. ARPA-E is a critical part of maintaining America’s competitive edge in energy technology.
Despite being less than a decade old, ARPA-E is already fostering groundbreaking technological innovations in energy storage, manufacturing efficiency, and advanced nuclear. In its nearly 10-year history, 136 of more than 340 completed projects supported by ARPA-E have attracted over $2.6 billion in private sector follow-on funding, and 71 projects have gone on to form new companies. The enthusiasm for ARPA-E’s vision and quality of work is evidenced by its ability to repeatedly draw more than 2,000 entrepreneurs, state and federal government officials, and large numbers of investors to its annual Energy Innovation Summit.
The importance of U.S. leadership in energy technologies to our economic growth and energy security makes ARPA-E a tremendous competitive advantage for our nation. ARPA-E is a smart investment for America’s future, but stable and sustained funding growth is necessary to ensure this successful program continues to spearhead high-impact energy research for the benefit of American consumers and businesses.
Sincerely,
American Chemical Society
American Council for Capital Formation (ACCF)
American Geophysical Union
American Society of Agronomy
Association of American Universities
Association of Public and Land-grant Universities
Bettergy Corp.
Boston University
BPC Action
Brayton Energy
Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions
Clean Energy Trust
Copper Development Association
Dioxide Materials
E2 (Environmental Entrepreneurs)
Florida State University
Georgia Institute of Technology
Georgia Tech Research Corporation
Greentown Labs
Industrial Microbes
Information Technology and Innovation Foundation
Invizyne Technologies, Inc.
Marine BioEnergy, Inc.
Michigan State University
Newton Energy Group LLC
Onboard Dynamics, Inc.
Penn State University
Phinix LLC
Plant Sensory Systems
Prospect Silicon Valley
ProsumerGrid, Inc.
SAFCell
Silicon Valley Leadership Group
SixPoint Materials, Inc.
Sloane, Offer, Weber and Dern, LLP
Spruce Capital Partners
Starfire Energy
Stony Brook University
Swift Coat, Inc.
TechNet
The State University of New York
The Texas A&M University System
Third Way
University of California System
University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Los Angeles
University of California, San Diego
University of Colorado
University of Delaware
University of Florida
University of Houston System
University of Maryland, College Park
University of New Mexico
University of Rochester
University of Vermont
University of Washington
University of Wisconsin – Madison
US Chamber of Commerce
Vanderbilt University
______________________________ Cc:
Senate Majority Leader McConnell
Senate Democratic Leader Schumer
Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Lamar Alexander
Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein
House Speaker Ryan
House Democratic Leader Pelosi
House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Mike Simpson
House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Marcy Kaptur
Senator John Boozman
Senator Steve Daines
Senator James Lankford
Senator Brian Schatz
Senator Chris Murphy
Representative Jaime Herrera Beutler
Representative John Carter
Representative Ken Calvert
Representative Chuck Fleischmann
Representative Jeff Fortenberry
Representative Tim Ryan
Representative Scott W. Taylor
Representative Pete Visclosky
Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz