ENERGY AND WATER DEVELOPMENT APPROPRIATIONS FOR 1995 HEARINGS BEFORE A SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS ONE HUNDRED THIRD CONGRESS SECOND SESSION SUBCOMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND WATER DEVELOPMENT HUNTER L. SPILLAN, Aaron D. EDMONDSON, BOB SCHMIDT, and JEANNE WILSON, Staff Assistants PART 5 DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Nuclear Regulatory Commission .... Secretary of Energy Departmental Administration Energy Research Commercial Waste Management Solar, Renewables, and Nuclear Energy 77-789 O Printed for the use of the Committee on Appropriations U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON: 1994 Page 1 83 393 693 1015 1469 1761 KF27 A64 COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS 1994 WILLIAM H. NATCHER, Kentucky, Chairman JAMIE L. WHITTEN, Mississippi, Vice Chairman NEAL SMITH, Iowa SIDNEY R. YATES, Illinois DAVID R. OBEY, Wisconsin JOHN P. MURTHA, Pennsylvania W. G. (BILL) HEFNER, North Carolina BOB CARR, Michigan RICHARD J. DURBIN, Illinois ALAN B. MOLLOHAN, West Virginia DAVID E. PRICE, North Carolina PETER J. VISCLOSKY, Indiana THOMAS M. FOGLIETTA, Pennsylvania ESTEBAN EDWARD TORRES, California GEORGE (BUDDY) DARDEN, Georgia NITA M. LOWEY, New York RAY THORNTON, Arkansas JOSÉ E. SERRANO, New York ROSA L. DELAURO, Connecticut JAMES P. MORAN, Virginia DOUGLAS "PETE” PETERSON, Florida JOHN W. OLVER, Massachusetts ED PASTOR, Arizona CARRIE P. MEEK, Florida pl.5 JOSEPH M. McDADE, Pennsylvania BOB LIVINGSTON, Louisiana JOE SKEEN, New Mexico JIM KOLBE, Arizona DEAN A. GALLO, New Jersey BARBARA F. VUCANOVICH, Nevada RON PACKARD, California HELEN DELICH BENTLEY, Maryland CHARLES H. TAYLOR, North Carolina ERNEST J. ISTOOK, JR., Oklahoma FREDERICK G. MOHRMAN, Clerk and Staff Director ENERGY AND WATER DEVELOPMENT APPROPRIATIONS FOR 1995 THURSDAY, MARCH 17, 1994. FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION WITNESS ELIZABETH A. MOLER, CHAIR Mr. BEVILL. Next we will hear from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Ms. MOLER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am glad to be here. Mr. BEVILL. Madam Chairman, we are pleased to have you with us again, and you may proceed as you wish. Your prepared written statement will be made a part of the record. OVERVIEW Ms. MOLER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the opportunity to present the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's fiscal year 1995 budget request to the subcommittee. We are requesting $166.7 million for fiscal year 1995, an increase of less than 1 percent over our appropriation for the current fiscal year. Significantly, our budget increase actually represents a decrease of 3 percent in our current services level. One way in which we are holding down costs is through reductions in staff, primarily in administrative areas. I am proposing to decrease our full-time equivalent ceiling for the second year in a row and to reduce the administrative costs of supporting the program offices by more than 10 percent. These reductions show our continued commitment to the Administration's initiative to reduce the size of the Federal work force, even in light of significant new responsibilities that Congress has given to the Commission under the Energy Policy Act of 1992. Since I appeared before this subcommittee last year, President Clinton nominated four new members of the Commission last April. Everyone else left. They were confirmed by the Senate in May and promptly sworn in. The new Commission has focused primarily on four major tasks: First, we have implemented a major restructuring of the interstate natural gas industry pursuant to Order No. 636. The restructured natural gas industry passed a very severe test, with flying colors I might add, this January with the extreme winter weather conditions. Order No. 636, I am pleased to say, worked as intended by providing the natural gas industry with the tools it needed to solve problems as they arose without Commission intervention. (1) |