"What's New" Feb-22-91
W...@psuvm.psu.edu
1. BROMLEY TAKES THE HEAT FOR BUSH'S "NATIONAL ENERGY STRATEGY."
An hour before the President officially unveiled his plan to deal
with the nation's growing dependence on imported fossil fuels,
his Science Advisor was given a taste of Congressional reaction.
Allan Bromley was the sole witness at the opening hearing of the
House Science, Space and Technology Committee on the President's
FY 92 budget request. The committee chair, Rep. George Brown (D-
CA), opened the hearing by praising Bromley's written statement,
but from there on it was downhill. Rep. James Scheuer (D-NY)
commented on the irony of an energy policy that fails to make
full use of science and technology to reduce dependence on oil
while a half million men are at risk in a war to protect access
to foreign sources. But, the energy strategy was in the works
before Allan Bromley was even nominated. The strategy was
produced by DOE after months of study and public hearings held
across the country--and then trashed by the White House economic
purists. Fearing conservation would further damage the economy,
Darman, Sununu and Boskin changed the emphasis to production.
2. CONGRESS EARMARKED $427M FOR UNIVERSITY SCIENCE IN FY 1991,
according to Bromley, who promised to work with Congress on ways
to reduce the perceived need for earmarking. He was challenged
by Rep. Rhodes (R-AZ) who asked, "Isn't encouraging excellence an
appropriate role for government?" Bromley responded by calling
attention to NSF's Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive
Research (EPSCoR), which assists states that have been relatively
less competitive in obtaining Federal R&D support. He could have
said that pork-barrel science has little to do with excellence;
the billions of dollars spent on pet projects of powerful members
of Congress in recent years have yielded insignificant scientific
returns. Besides, most of the pork goes to the already fat. To
avoid being identified, recipients have taken to wearing masks.
Last year, for example, $24M went to Competitive Research Inc, a
pseudonym for Lehigh University (you can't help but admire their
choice of names). The entire FY 91 EPSCoR program is only $11M.
The request for FY 92 is $15M, but the increase is intended to
stimulate science and engineering education as well as research.
3. THE "INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY" SHOWS A BIG INCREASE IN FY 92.
The President's budget proposes $638M for the High Performance
Computing and Communications program, an increase of $149M, or
30%. This initiative was generated by the Federal Coordinating
Council on Science and Engineering Technology (FCCSET, which is
pronounced "fix it") and involves eight Federal agencies. The
project has been pushed both by Bromley and Sen. Gore (D-TN),
whose father launched the superhighway program. The High Perform-
ance Computing program includes the National Research and Educa-
tion Network which will connect the Nation's educational and
research organizations to Federal libraries, databases, super-
computers and such facilities as telescopes and accelerators.
Robert L. Park (202) 232-0189 The American Physical Society