Energy

Surface Transportation Research and Development Act of 2005

United States · United States Congress · 6 January 2005

Surface Transportation Research and Development Act of 2005 - Authorizes appropriations for FY 2005 through 2010 for certain surface transportation research and development (R&D) activities. Amends Federal highway law to revise requirements for transportation: (1) research strategic planning, requiring development of a five-year transportation R&D strategic plan to guide Federal transportation R&D activities; and (2) deployment grants, cooperative agreements, and contracts. Directs the Secretary of Transportation to establish a National Multimodal Trends Policy Research Program that systematically addresses critical short-term, medium-term, and long-term social science issues affecting and affected by the transportation system. Directs the Secretary to implement programs to promote and demonstrate the application of innovative pavement technologies and technologies in highway safety. Establishes the Garrett A. Morgan Technology and Transportation Education Program. Directs the Secretary to arrange with the National Research Council to develop a National Transportation Information Needs Assessment. Requires the Director of the Bureau of Transportation Statistics to establish an Advisory Council on Transportation Statistics. Directs the Secretary to establish a Future Strategic Highway Research Program. Amends the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century to revise the Intelligent Transportation Systems Act of 1998 and rename it the Intelligent Transportation Systems Act of 2005. Authorizes appropriations for FY 2005 through 2010 for: (1) transit R&D; (2) highway safety R&D; and (3) motor carrier R&D. Directs the Secretary to establish an Innovative Practices and Technologies Demonstration and Deployment Program. Amends Federal transportation law to authorize the Secretary (or the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development when required for urban transportation planning) to make grants to nonprofit institutions of higher learning to: (1) conduct competent R&D and investigations into the theoretical or practical problems of urban transportation; and (2) train individuals to conduct further R&D or obtain employment in an organization that plans, builds, operates, or manages an urban transportation system. Directs the Secretary to establish: (1) a motor carrier R&D program; (2) a multimodal energy and climate change program to study the relationship of transportation, energy, and climate change as part of the National Climate Change Technology Initiative and the Climate Change Research Initiative; (3) a national cooperative freight transportation R&D program; (4) data exchange formats to ensure that highway and transit monitoring systems data, including statewide incident reporting systems, can readily be exchanged across jurisdictional boundaries; and (5) a planning capacity building initiative to support enhancements in transportation planning. Directs the President shall establish a Next Generation National Transportation Policy Study Commission.

Electing Members, Delegates, and Resident Commissioners to standing committees of the House of Representatives.

United States · United States Congress · 6 January 2005

Elects specified Members to the following standing committees of the House of Representatives: (1) Agriculture; (2) Appropriations; (3) Armed Services; (4) Budget; (5) Education and the Workforce; (6) Energy and Commerce; (7) Financial Services; (8) Government Reform; (9) Homeland Security; (10) House Administration; (11) International Relations; (12) Judiciary; (13) Resources; (14) Rules, (15) Science; (16) Small Business; (17) Transportation and Infrastructure; (18) Veterans' Affairs; and (19) Ways and Means.

Electing Members to certain standing committees of the House of Representatives.

United States · United States Congress · 6 January 2005

Elects specified Members to the following standing committees of the House of Representatives: (1) Agriculture; (2) Appropriations; (3) Armed Services; (4) Budget; (5) Education and the Workforce; (6) Energy and Commerce; (7) Financial Services; (8) Government Reform; (9) Homeland Security; (10) International Relations; (11) Judiciary; (12) Resources; (13) Rules; (14) Science; (15) Small Business; (16) Transportation and Infrastructure; (17) Veterans' Affairs; and (18) Ways and Means.

Samuel W. Bodman, of Massachusetts, to be Secretary of Energy, vice Spencer Abraham, resigned.

United States · United States Senate · 4 January 2005

Geothermal Energy Initiative Act of 2005

United States · United States Congress · 4 January 2005

Geothermal Energy Initiative Act of 2005 - Directs the Secretary of Energy to: (1) review and publish annually the available assessments of geothermal energy resources available within the United States; and (2) undertake new assessments as necessary, taking into account changes in market conditions, available technologies, and other relevant factors. Directs the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture to expedite development of geothermal energy in making revisions to certain land use plans for public lands and National Forest System lands, respectively. Directs the Secretary of the Interior to report to Congress any recommendations for statutory or regulatory changes that would assist geothermal energy development on Federal land, including: (1) a five-year plan for encouraging such development; and (2) a list, developed in consultation with the Secretaries of Energy and of Defense, of lands under their jurisdictions, that would be suitable for development for geothermal energy, as well as recommended statutory and regulatory mechanisms for such development. Instructs the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture to enter into and submit to Congress a memorandum of understanding regarding leasing (including a five-year leasing plan) and permitting for geothermal development of public lands under their respective jurisdictions. Amends the Geothermal Steam Act of 1970 to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to reimburse certain persons through royalty credits for reasonable amounts paid for preparation by the Secretary (or a Secretary-selected contractor or other person) of project-level analysis, documentation, or related study required under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 with respect to the lease.

High-Performance Computing Revitalization Act of 2005

United States · United States Congress · 4 January 2005

High-Performance Computing Revitalization Act of 2005 - Amends the High-Performance Computing Act of 1991 to direct the President to implement a High-Performance Computing Research and Development Program (current law provides for a National High-Performance Computing Program) and revise program requirements. Requires the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy to: (1) establish the goals and priorities for Federal high-performance computing research, development, networking, and other activities; (2) establish Program Component Areas that implement such goals and identify the Grand Challenges (i.e., fundamental problems in science or engineering, with broad economic and scientific impact, whose solutions will require the application of high-performance computing resources) that the Program should address; and (3) develop and maintain a research, development, and deployment road map for the provision of high-performance computing systems. Requires the advisory committee on high-performance computing to conduct periodic evaluations of the funding, management, coordination, implementation, and activities of the Program, and report at least once every two fiscal years to specified congressional committees. Modifies provisions regarding responsibilities of the National Science Foundation, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Secretary of Energy, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Environmental Protection Agency.

Smarter Funding for All of America's Homeland Security Act of 2005

United States · United States Congress · 4 January 2005

Smarter Funding for All of America's Homeland Security Act of 2005 - Amends the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish a State and Regional First Responder Grant Program under which the Secretary may make grants to States and eligible regional entities on the basis of the threat to a State or region's population and critical infrastructure, as determined by the Under Secretary for Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection. Requires the Secretary, acting through the Under Secretary, to evaluate and prioritize grant applications, considering factors such as threats to the population, specific economic sectors, major communications nodes and transportation systems, specific elements of the food supply, the water and energy supplies, civic infrastructure and emergency response capabilities, and specific structures of symbolic national importance. Bars the use of grant funds to supplant State or local funds that would otherwise be available for homeland security or first responder projects. Directs the Secretary to: (1) establish the Advisory Council on First Responders, which shall report to the Secretary through the head of the Office of State and Local Government Coordination; and (2) revise the Homeland Security Advisory System to require that any designation of a threat level or other warning be accompanied by a designation of the geographic regions and economic sectors to which it applies. Directs the Under Secretary for Science and Technology to conduct a study of whether there is a need to assign additional bands of frequencies of electromagnetic spectrum to assist first responders.

To promote the use of anaerobic digesters by agricultural producers and rural small businesses to produce renewable energy and improve environmental quality.

United States · United States Congress · 4 January 2005

Amends the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 to require the Secretary of Agriculture to make loans, loan guarantees, and grants to farmers, ranchers, and rural small businesses to promote the use of anaerobic digesters to produce renewable energy. Amends the Food Security Act of 1985 to include the establishment of anaerobic digesters in the list of structural practices recognized under the environmental quality incentives program for agriculture.

LIHEAP Equity Act of 2005

United States · United States Congress · 4 January 2005

LIHEAP Equity Act of 2005 - Amends the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Act of 1981 with respect to State allotments under the low-income energy assistance program to limit to 50 percent the earmark for home heating purposes of amounts appropriated for program implementation.

Acid Rain Control Act

United States · United States Congress · 4 January 2005

Acid Rain Control Act - Amends the Clean Air Act to require further reductions in total annual emissions of sulfur dioxide by utility units and nitrogen oxides by facilities with one or more combustion units serving at least one electricity generator with a capacity of at least 25 megawatts. Permits emissions trading and allocation. Requires the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to promulgate regulations controlling electric utility and industrial source emissions of mercury. Prohibits mercury emission allowance transfers. States that regulations promulgated to carry out emissions reduction and control under this Act shall prevent localized adverse effects and ensure significant reductions in both the Eastern and Western Regions of the United States. Directs the Administrator to identify objectives for and report to Congress on scientifically credible environmental indicators sufficient to protect sensitive ecosystems of the Adirondack, mid-Appalachian, Rocky, and Southern Blue Ridge Mountains as well as the Great Lakes, Lake Champlain, Long Island Sound, and the Chesapeake Bay.

Cleveland National Forest Responsible Electricity Transmission Act

United States · United States Congress · 4 January 2005

Cleveland National Forest Responsible Electricity Transmission Act - Directs the Secretaries of the Interior and of Agriculture (the "Secretaries") to issue the necessary grants, easements, permits, plan amendments, and other approvals to allow for the siting and construction of a high-voltage electricity transmission line in part of the Cleveland National Forest in California and adjacent lands (except any identified wilderness area) under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service. Instructs the Secretaries to give a preference to any application or preapplication proposal for a transmission line right-of-way submitted before December 31, 2002, over all other applications and proposals for the same or similar right-of-way submitted on or after that date.

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide for a permanent extension of the credit for producing electricity from wind.

United States · United States Congress · 4 January 2005

Amends the Internal Revenue Code to make permanent the tax credit for producing electricity from wind facilities.

Residential Solar Energy Tax Credit Act

United States · United States Congress · 4 January 2005

Residential Solar Energy Tax Credit Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a tax credit through tax year 2010 for residential solar energy property equal to the sum of: (1) 15 percent of the taxpayer's qualified photovoltaic property expenditures during the taxable year; and (2) 15 percent of the taxpayer's qualified solar water heating property expenditures during the same year. Limits the amount of such credit to $2,000.

Arctic Coastal Plain Domestic Energy Security Act of 2005

United States · United States Congress · 4 January 2005

Arctic Coastal Plain Domestic Energy Security Act of 2005 - Instructs the Secretary of the Interior to establish and implement a competitive oil and gas leasing program that will result in an environmentally sound program for the exploration, development, and production of the oil and gas resources of the Coastal Plain. Amends the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980 to repeal the prohibition against production of oil and gas from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and any leasing or development leading to such production. States that, for purposes of the National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act of 1966, the Coastal Plain oil and gas leasing program is compatible with the purposes for which ANWR was established, and that no further findings or decisions are required to implement this determination. Authorizes the Secretary to: (1) designate a maximum total of Coastal Plain acreage as "Special Areas;" (2) permit oil and gas exploration leasing in such Areas (but prohibit surface occupancy); and (3) permit horizontal drilling technology from lease sites located outside the Special Areas. States that this Act constitutes the Secretary's sole authority to close Coastal Plain lands to oil and gas leasing and to exploration, development, and production. Prescribes procedures for: (1) lease sales; (2) grants of leases; (3) lease terms and conditions; and (4) coastal plain environmental protection. Shields rights-of-way and easements issued by the Secretary for the transportation of oil and gas across the Coastal Plain from Title XI of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980. Directs the Secretary to convey: (1) the surface estate of specified lands to the Kaktovik Inupiat Corporation; and (2) the remaining subsurface estate of specified lands to the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation. Establishes the Coastal Plain Local Government Impact Aid Assistance Fund to provide financial assistance to specified entities that are directly impacted by oil and gas production and exploration on the coastal Plain.