“Musings of My Own” -Sen. Johnston’s Worries About DOE Science Program
The November 3 confirmation hearing of Martha Krebs to be Director of the Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Research gave Senator J. Bennett Johnston (D-Louisiana) an opportunity to express some of his concerns about the future of the department’s science program. Clearly upset about the recent decision to terminate the SSC, Johnston warned that other DOE science programs could be threatened.
This one hour hearing before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee was called to receive testimony from Martha Krebs, nominated by President Clinton to be new director of the Office of Energy Research. Krebs should have no trouble in receiving confirmation; Johnston and Ranking Republican Senator Larry Craig (R-Idaho) were very supportive of the nominee. Krebs has served as the Associate Director at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory for the last ten years, chiefly involved in strategic planning. She was once staff director of a House science subcommittee with oversight responsibility for high energy and nuclear physics programs. Krebs’ prepared testimony outlined the need for the U.S. to maintain its strength in energy research, the need to balance basic and applied research, and other major challenges facing DOE.
Most of the hearing revolved around Johnston’s “musings” about the future of DOE’s science program. Saying that the SSC cancellation is a “good indication of what trouble science is in,” Johnston emphatically warned that the U.S. fusion program is at risk. He is a fusion supporter, but characterized the program as “extremely expensive” and controversial, which thus far has proceeded “willy-nilly.” Johnston called for congressional debate on fusion, specifically the ITER program, before a decision is made to proceed with the TPX program at Princeton. Although the Senate has passed Johnston’s fusion bill focusing U.S. efforts on ITER, he is critical of the administration, saying, “I suspect the message has not gotten through.” Without stronger administration and congressional commitments on fusion, Johnston said he would be “implacably opposed” to funding the TPX experiment.
Warning scientists that it is “just not good enough any more” for a project to receive congressional support on its merits alone, Johnston warned of significant funding problems next year for ITER. All that most Members of Congress know about fusion, he warned, is that funding for it seems endless. The U.S. contribution to the ITER project could eventually reach $10 billion.
Turning to high energy physics, Johnston warned that the SSC termination portends much for the field, and for science. He cited recent conference report language calling for a orderly termination of the SSC, requiring DOE to develop a plan for high energy physics research. Johnston said that Europeans might be less likely to continue efforts at CERN, since they might conclude “we [Europe] can’t fund something they [the U.S.] can’t.” While there is speculation that the U.S. and CERN might work together, he said that it would be “extremely hard” for Congress to fund CERN after it voted to cancel the SSC.
Johnston said no assumptions should be made about the certainty of future funding for the B-Factory and Fermilab’s Main Injector programs. He was also troubled about the lack of legislation widening the role of DOE’s national laboratories.
Senator Craig said he would underscore everything Johnston had said. Warning that the “days of the mega-projects may be gone,” Craig cautioned that Congress may now focus on the next level down of science funding. Particular care needs to be given, he stressed, to management issues and to a project’s tangible benefits to the taxpayer. Craig also lectured Krebs about DOE’s refusal to fund a controversial Boron Neutron Capture Therapy experiment at its power burst reactor in Idaho for the treatment of brain tumors.
At the conclusion of the hearing, Krebs said that Johnston’s message had been very clear. No doubt his musings were also intended as a signal to the science community.
