Participating in a group of 88 organizations, the CleanTech Alliance signed on to a letter to Congress in support of ARPA-E funding. The text is below:
The Honorable Lamar Alexander
Chairman
Senate Energy & Water Subcommittee
184 Senate Dirksen Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
The Honorable Marcy Kaptur
Chairwoman
House Energy & Water Subcommittee
2186 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
The Honorable Dianne Feinstein The Honorable Mike Simpson
Ranking Member Ranking Member
Senate Energy & Water Subcommittee House Energy & Water Subcommittee
184 Senate Dirksen Office Building 2084 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20510 Washington, DC 20515
The Honorable Dianne Feinstein
Ranking Member
Senate Energy & Water Subcommittee
184 Senate Dirksen Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
The Honorable Mike Simpson
Ranking Member
House Energy & Water Subcommittee
2084 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Chairman Alexander, Ranking Member Feinstein, Chairwoman Kaptur and Ranking Member Simpson,
As diverse organizations interested in the Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) program, we thank you for the significant funding for this vital program in Fiscal Years 2018 and 2019. ARPA-E plays a unique and critical role in maintaining America’s global leadership in energy technologies. As you begin drafting the Fiscal Year 2020 Energy and Water Appropriations bills, the undersigned organizations, companies and institutions urge you to enhance our competitiveness and energy security by supporting robust funding for ARPA-E in the Fiscal Year 2020 appropriations bill. We support funding ARPA-E at least at $400 million in Fiscal Year 2020. This is roughly $35 million higher than in Fiscal Year 2019 and would allow for one additional program solicitation to pioneer advances in a high-impact energy technology area.
ARPA-E is a highly innovative and effective program which enjoys strong bipartisan congressional support. Since its inception, ARPA-E has successfully sponsored a dynamic range of research, including technologies with potentially profound benefits for the nation’s future energy security. Modeled after the highly successful Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), ARPA-E supports “high-risk, high-reward” research which has the potential to drastically alter how we make and use energy in the future. The program utilizes a unique organizational structure and highly successful selection process to identify innovative technologies, pushes them to meet aggressive milestones and helps them to cross the valley of death so the private sector can then commercialize them.
Despite being just ten years old, ARPA-E is already fostering technological breakthroughs in energy storage, transportation fuels, and industrial efficiency. To date, 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, state and federal agencies and large numbers of investors to its annual Energy Innovation Summit.
The importance of U.S. leadership in energy technologies to our economic and energy security makes ARPA-E a tremendous competitive advantage for our nation. Stable and sustained funding growth is necessary to ensure this successful program continues to enhance America’s ability to pioneer the energy technologies of tomorrow.
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
BASF Corporation
Bettergy Corp.
BPC Action
Brayton Energy
Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions
Clean Energy Business Network
Clean Energy Trust
Cleantech Alliance
ClearPath Action
Copper Development Association
Crop Science Society of America
Dioxide Materials
Duke University
E2 (Environmental Entrepreneurs)
Elemental Excelerator, Inc.
Energy Technology Savings, Inc.
Environmental Defense Fund
Fearless Fund
Flash Steelworks, Inc
Florida State University
General Electric
Georgia Institute of Technology
Gnosys, Inc.
Greentown Labs
Industrial Microbes, Inc.
Information Technology and Innovation
Foundation
Intel Corporation
Introspective Systems
Ionic Materials, Inc.
LEEDCo
Malta Inc
Marine BioEnergy, Inc.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Michigan State University
Michigan Technological University
National Audubon Society
National Venture Capital Association
National Wildlife Federation
Natron Energy, Inc.
Natural Resources Defense Council
Newton Energy Group LLC
Nuclear Energy Institute
Onboard Dynamics, Inc.
Otherlab
Pajarito Powder, LLC.
Penn State University
Powerhouse
Princeton University
Prospect Silicon Valley
RedWave Energy, Inc.
SAFCell
SixPoint Materials, Inc.
Soil Science Society of America
Solar Energy Industries Association
Spruce Capital Partners
SSTI
Starfire Energy
Stony Brook University
Swift Coat, Inc.
TechNet
Tenley Consulting
The Nature Conservancy
The State University of New York System
The Texas A&M University System
Third Way
United Technologies Corporation
University of California System
University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Los Angeles
University of California, Merced
University of California, San Diego
University of Colorado Boulder
University of Houston System
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
University of Illinois System
University of Maryland, College Park
University of North Carolina System
University of Oregon
University of Rochester
Urban Future Lab/ ACRE Incubator
US Chamber of Commerce
Vanderbilt University
______________________________
Cc:
Senate Majority Leader McConnell
Senate Democratic Leader Schumer
Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby
Senate Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Patrick Leahy
House Speaker Pelosi
House Republican Leader McCarthy
House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey
House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Kay Grang