DeLay Hits Pay Dirt

doi:10.1126/science.309.5736.863b

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Several science policy experts are criticizing a $550 million program for oil studies created as part of the energy bill passed last week (see story on this page). Three-quarters of the funds in the 11-year program--whose research mission includes drilling, exploration, and other petroleum technology--are to be managed by a "corporation that is a consortium" chosen by the Department of Energy. But Representative Henry Waxman (D-CA) says the language is tailor-made for the Research Partnership to Secure Energy for America, an industry group located in the district of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX), who supported the measure.

The Bush Administration has sought to cut oil and gas research, but the program will bypass congressional appropriators, drawing its funds directly from oil-lease income the government collects until the money runs out. Economist James Sweeney of Stanford University called the new program "pork" whose funding mechanism could set a harmful precedent for other energy research efforts.