To reauthorize the Steel and Aluminum Energy Conservation and Technology Competitiveness Act of 1988.
Key claim: This House bill would reauthorize $12 million a year from 2006 through 2010 for Department of Energy research on energy-saving steel and aluminum technologies, and add advanced sheet and bar steel plus greenhouse-gas reduction technologies to the program’s research priorities.
Abstract
(HR1158 · 109th Congress) Amends the Steel and Aluminum Energy Conservation and Technology Competitiveness Act of 1988 to authorize appropriations of $12 million for each of FY 2006 through 2010. Modifies the list of priorities that the Secretary of Energy must consider in reviewing research and development activities for possible inclusion in the Steel Initiative Research Plan. Includes on such list the development of: (1) advanced sheet and bar steel; and (2) technologies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Latest action (2005-07-01): HOUSE ACTIONS VACATED - By unanimous consent, the filing of the report by the Committee on Science to accompany H.R. 1158, and the referral thereof to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, are vacated.
Why this matters
This reauthorization illustrates the small, sector-specific DOE industrial R&D line items that quietly fund applied metallurgy and manufacturing energy-efficiency research, distinct from the larger NSF/NIH competitiveness debates dominating the era. The addition of greenhouse-gas reduction to the program’s priorities also marks an early attempt to fold climate-relevant goals into legacy industrial-technology authorizations.