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Week Ending September 9, 2005
H.R.1215 To provide for the implementation of a Green Chemistry Research and Development Program, and for other purposes.
BRIEF
The bill defines ‘green chemistry’ as “chemistry and chemical engineering to design chemical products and processes that reduce or eliminate the use or generation of hazardous substances…”. The accompanying report noted pesticide alternatives that kill targeted organisms but are benign to other organisms as an example of a green chemistry product. Also noted was ‘supercritical carbon dioxide’ as a non-polluting replacement for dry cleaning product called perchloroethylene.
Bill consideration noted that research efforts ongoing at different agencies and increase education and government participation in green chemistry are efforts in need of consolidation. The bill, then, would establish such a program and requires that the program provide for sustained research, development, demonstration, education and technology transfer and that it examines the government’s role in the process. The Act would expand education and training for students, chemists and engineers for green chemistry research, information dissemination and technology transfer to the private sector and the general public.
The program would be managed by the Director of the National Science Foundation and would award grants to universities to support research efforts. Other agencies to receive funding would be the Dept of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency.
Sponsor: Representative Phil Gingrey (R-GA-11th)
Vote: Passed House by voice vote (September 7, 2005)
Cost to the taxpayers: CBO estimates that implementing H.R. 1215 would cost $102 million over the 2006-2010 period.
National Science Foundation $7 million, 2006; $7.5 million 2007; $8 million 2008. National Institute of Standards $5 million 2006; $5.5 million 2007; $6 million 2008. Dept of Energy $7 million 2006; $7.5 million 2007; $8 million 2008. EPA $7 million 2006; $7.5 million 2007; $8 million 2008.
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MORE INFORMATION
SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS (From the Committee Report)
Sec. 1. Short title
`Green Chemistry Research and Development Act of 2005'
Sec. 2. Definitions
Defines terms used in the text.
Sec. 3. Green Chemistry Research and Development Program
Establishes an interagency R&D program to promote and coordinate federal green chemistry research, development, demonstration, education, and technology transfer activities. The program will provide sustained support for green chemistry R&D through merit-reviewed competitive grants to researchers, teams of researchers, and R&D partnerships of universities, industry, and nonprofit organizations, and through R&D conducted at federal laboratories.
The program will provide support for, and encouragement of, the application of green chemistry through encouragement of consideration of green chemistry in all federally-funded chemical science and engineering R&D; examination of methods to create incentives for the use of green chemistry; promotion of the education and training of undergraduate and graduate students and professional chemists and chemical engineers in green chemistry; collection and dissemination of information on green chemistry R&D and technology transfer; provision of venues for outreach and dissemination of green chemistry advances such as symposia, forums, conferences, and written materials; support for social science research to identify barriers to adoption of green chemistry; and provision for public input.
Establishes an interagency working group composed of representatives from the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency, and any other agency that the President may designate, to oversee the planning, management, and coordination of all federal green chemistry R&D activities. Names the Director of the National Science Foundation and the Assistant Administrator for R&D at the Environmental Protection Agency as co-chairs and requires the group to establish goals and priorities for the program and provide for interagency coordination, including budget coordination.
Requires that each participating agency submit to the Office of Management and Budget, as part of its annual request for appropriations, a report that identifies all activities that directly relate to the program. Also requires that, as part of the President's budget request, each agency list the portion of their budget that is dedicated to activities carried out under the program.
Requires the group to submit a report to the Committee on Science of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation of the Senate within two years that includes a summary of federally-funded green chemistry activities and an analysis of the progress made towards the goals and priorities established for the program, including recommendations for future program activities.
Sec. 4. Manufacturing Extension Center Green Suppliers Network Grant Program
Amends the National Institute of Standards and Technology Act to include as an authorized activity in the Manufacturing Extension Partnership Program the enabling of supply chain manufacturers to reduce the use or generation of hazardous substances.
Sec. 5. Undergraduate education in chemistry and chemical engineering
Creates a grant program at the National Science Foundation to award competitive grants to institutions of higher education for the purpose of revising their undergraduate chemistry and chemical engineering curricula to incorporate green chemistry. Cost sharing in cash is required of all participating institutions of higher education. In addition to the sums authorized in Section 7, the National Science Foundation is authorized from sums already authorized to be appropriated $7 million, $7.5 million, and $8 million in FY06-FY08, respectively.
Sec. 6. Study on commercialization of green chemistry
Requires the Director of the National Science Foundation to enter into an agreement with the National Research Council to conduct a study of the barriers to commercialization of green chemistry products and processes.
Sec. 7. Partnerships in green chemistry
Authorizes a program to award grants to institutions of higher education to establish partnerships with companies in the chemical industry to retrain chemists and chemical engineers in the use of green chemistry concepts and strategies.
Sec. 8. Authorization of appropriations
Authorizes appropriations for green chemistry R&D programs, from sums already authorized to be appropriated, at the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Department of Energy, and the Environmental Protection Agency.
Green chemistry is most commonly defined as chemistry that involves the design of chemical products and processes that reduce or eliminate the use or generation of hazardous substances. It is sometimes characterized as `benign by design.' Also known as sustainable chemistry or benign chemistry, green chemistry seeks to prevent the creation of hazards, instead of focusing on cleaning up waste after the fact.
Examples of green chemistry include the development of pesticide alternatives that are effective at killing target organisms, but are benign to non-target organisms and do not persist in the environment. Another example is the use of the benign solvent, supercritical carbon dioxide, in dry cleaning processes instead of toxic perchloroethylene.
In addition to the inherent advantages to human health and the environment, green chemistry can offer economic advantages and improvements to worker safety, public safety, and national security.
Many in the private sector have recognized the potential savings that green chemistry offers. For example, by using benign chemical processes, businesses can avoid the costs associated with treating or cleaning up pollutants. Other savings can come from simply making more efficient use of raw materials (sometimes referred to as `atom economy') and energy. Dow Chemical Company's Midland, Michigan facility is an example of the level of savings a company can achieve. In 1996 Dow partnered with the Natural Resources Defense Council to conduct a thorough review of the facility's processes to identify ways to implement more recycling and substitute benign materials for hazardous ones. By April 1999, after a one-time investment of $3.1 million, the facility had reduced emissions of targeted substances by 43 percent and the amount of targeted wastes by 37 percent primarily through green chemistry innovations. The improvements are saving Dow $5.4 million per year, a 174 percent annual return on investment. 1
[Footnote]
[Footnote 1: Amato, Invan, Fortune, New York: July 24, 2000, vol. 142, issue 3, pg. 270U]
Many other inherent advantages come from green chemistry in the areas of worker safety, public safety, and national security. For example, many chemical processes are conducted at extreme temperature and/or pressure, two conditions that present a potential hazard for workers. Also, many processes involve toxic substances. Green chemistry seeks to design processes that can be conducted at or near room temperature and pressure, and that use benign substances. Both of these steps can improve working conditions for employees, and reduce the costs of liability protections for employers.
The federal government supports activities related to green chemistry through agencies including the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Some agencies--EPA, for example--run programs that are focused directly on green chemistry. Other agencies, such as DOE, fund green chemistry as byproducts of efforts to achieve other goals, such as improving energy efficiency. Because some green chemistry investments are direct and some are indirect, and because green chemistry is not broken out in agency budgets, it is difficult to determine the precise level of Federal investment in green chemistry.
It is clear, however, that the investment in green chemistry and chemical engineering is small compared to the investment in chemistry and chemical engineering as a whole. In 2000, the four agencies mentioned above spent approximately $540 million on chemistry and chemical engineering research and development (R&D); investment in green chemistry R&D was probably close to $40 million. In addition, green chemistry activities are not fully coordinated among the agencies.
The following table (Table 1) indicates what each agency believes it is spending on green chemistry and chemical engineering activities. The table is followed by descriptions of how this money is spent.
TABLE 1
(In millions)
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EPA NSF NIST DOE
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FY04 funding $7 $24 $4 N/A
FY05 funding 3 25 4 N/A
FY06 proposal 4 23 4 N/A
Total Chemistry and Chemical Engineering (2000) 23 186 39 $292
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EPA supports both green chemistry R&D and outreach efforts to promote green chemistry. The R&D is funded through the Office of Research and Development; the outreach and promotion through the Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxic Substances (OPPTS).
In fiscal year 2004 (FY04), EPA spent approximately $5 million directly on green chemistry and chemical engineering R&D and approximately $2 million on other green chemistry activities. The R&D funding was split between internal R&D, conducted at EPA's lab in Cincinnati and external R&D through the Science to Achieve Results (STAR) program. As part of the STAR program, EPA and NSF developed a partnership, the Technologies for a Sustainable Environment (TSE) program, which primarily funded green chemistry and chemical engineering R&D. The other $2 million in funding for green chemistry activities supported green chemistry outreach programs such as the Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award Program.
The TSE program was the external R&D program most focused on green chemistry in the Federal government. EPA and NSF put out a joint request for proposals, and then each agency awarded grants based on its own mission. NSF funded more basic green chemistry R&D, while EPA funded more applied R&D. TSE was initiated in 1995 and awarded 204 grants totaling just over $56 million between 1995 and 2004.
However, in FY05, the Administration successfully proposed to eliminate EPA's funding for TSE, and in FY06 it has not requested any funding for this program. The result has been a large decrease in the amount of funding EPA spends on green chemistry activities. In FY05, EPA's green chemistry activities are funded at approximately $1 million for internal R&D and $2 million for outreach programs. The President's FY06 proposal would likely fund R&D at $1 million and outreach programs at $3 million.
Because EPA discontinued funding for the TSE program, NSF has also virtually eliminated specific funding under the TSE program which was NSF's only explicit green chemistry funding opportunity. While NSF does not put out specific solicitations for green chemistry R&D, NSF funds a wide range of investigator-driven green chemistry R&D. While NSF does not have a specific line item in the budget for green chemistry activities, NSF estimates that in FY04 it spent approximately $10.8 million on green chemistry activities in the Division of Chemistry and $13 million on green chemistry activities in the Division of Chemical Transport Systems. In FY05 and FY06, NSF estimates that this funding will not change dramatically, but may be lower due to the discontinuation of the TSE program. It is difficult to determine the precise level of investment because much of this funding may be used for `multi- purpose' fundamental research that has implications for green chemistry and other research areas.
DOE does not track spending on green chemistry activities, and does not conduct activities that it specifically identifies as green chemistry. However, DOE conducts R&D that has many green chemistry applications. DOE's fundamental research efforts in chemistry are focused on attaining an atomic and molecular level understanding of processes involved in the generation, storage, and use of energy.
NIST has no programs specifically focused on green chemistry but conducts R&D with implications for, and application to, green chemistry. For example, the Chemical Science and Technology Laboratory produces more accurate measurement methods and standards to enable the development and implementation of green technologies and assess their impact.
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