Science:
In a hearing discussing a
recent
bipartisan proposal for reforms to the Department of
Energy's 17 national laboratories, members of the US House
of Representative's Committee on Science, Space, and Technology
expressed support for many of the ideas in the proposal.
Congress is considering options to improve the efficiency of
the labs and to increase their partnerships with industry. To
do that, the proposal suggests making commercialization a
bigger consideration in determining contracts and reducing the
amount of red tape involved in managing such partnerships. In
testimony to the committee, lab directors Thom Mason of
the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee and Dan Arvizu
of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado
supported both of those ideas and highlighted a new DOE program
that is already beginning to address those issues. The
committee members did not say whether they would formally
propose any reform policies, but did indicate that they were
interested to see if new Energy secretary Ernest Moniz would
put into place any reforms on his own.
