104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4138

AN ACT

To authorize the hydrogen research, development,

of Energy, and for other purposes.and demonstration programs of the Department
104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4138

AN ACT

To authorize the hydrogen research, development, and demonstration programs of the Department of Energy, and

for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Hydrogen Future Act

5 of 1996’’.
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1 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

2 For purposes of titles II and III—

3 (1) the term ‘‘Department’’ means the Depart4 ment of Energy; and

5 (2) the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary

6 of Energy.

7 TITLE I—HYDROGEN

8 SEC. 101. PURPOSES AND DEFINITIONS.

9 (a) Section 102(b)(1) of Public Law 101–566 (42

10 U.S.C. 12401(b)(1)) is amended to read as follows:

11 ‘‘(1) to direct the Secretary of Energy to conduct a

12 research, development, and demonstration program lead13 ing to the production, storage, transport, and use of hy14 drogen for industrial, residential, transportation, and util15 ity applications;’’.

16 (b) Section 102(c) of Public Law 101–566 (42 U.S.C.

17 12401(c)) is amended—

18 (1) in subsection (1) by striking ‘‘; and’’ insert19 ing ‘‘;’’;

20 (2) by redesignating subsection (2) as sub21 section (3); and

22 (3) by inserting before subsection (3) (as redes23 ignated) the following new subsection:

24 ‘‘(2) ‘Department’ means the Department of Energy;

25 and’’.
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1 SEC. 102. REPORTS TO CONGRESS.

2 (a) Section 103 of Public Law 101–566 (42 U.S.C.

3 12402) is amended to read as follows:

4 ‘‘§ 103. Report to Congress

5 ‘‘(a) Not later than January 1, 1999, the Secretary

6 shall transmit to Congress a detailed report on the status

7 and progress of the programs authorized under this Act.

8 ‘‘(b) A report under subsection (a) shall include, in

9 addition to any views and recommendations of the Sec10 retary—

11 ‘‘(1) an analysis of the effectiveness of the pro12 grams authorized under this chapter, to be prepared

13 and submitted to the Secretary by the Hydrogen

14 Technical Advisory Panel established under section

15 108 of this Act; and

16 ‘‘(2) recommendations of the Hydrogen Tech17 nical Advisory Panel for any improvements in the

18 program that are needed, including recommenda19 tions for additional legislation.’’.

20 (b) Section 108(d) of Public Law 101–566 (42

21 U.S.C. 12407(d)) is amended—

22 (1) by adding ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph

23 (1);

24 (2) by striking ‘‘; and’’ at the end of paragraph

25 (2) and inserting a period; and

26 (3) by striking paragraph (3).
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1 SEC. 103. HYDROGEN RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT.

2 (a) Section 104 of Public Law 101–566 (42 U.S.C.

3 12403) is amended to read as follows:

4 ‘‘§ 104. Hydrogen research and development

5 ‘‘(a) The Secretary shall conduct a hydrogen research

6 and development program relating to production, storage,

7 transportation, and use of hydrogen, with the goal of ena8 bling the private sector to demonstrate the technical fea9 sibility of using hydrogen for industrial, residential, trans10 portation, and utility applications.

11 ‘‘(b) In conducting the program authorized by this

12 section, the Secretary shall—

13 ‘‘(1) give particular attention to developing an

14 understanding and resolution of critical technical is15 sues preventing the introduction of hydrogen into

16 the marketplace;

17 ‘‘(2) initiate or accelerate existing research in

18 critical technical issues that will contribute to the

19 development of more economic hydrogen production

20 and use, including, but not limited to, critical tech21 nical issues with respect to production (giving prior22 ity to those production techniques that use renew23 able energy resources as their primary source of en24 ergy for hydrogen production), liquefaction, trans25 mission, distribution, storage, and use (including use

26 of hydrogen in surface transportation); and
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1 ‘‘(3) survey private sector hydrogen activities

2 and take steps to ensure that research and develop3 ment activities under this section do not displace or

4 compete with the privately funded hydrogen research

5 and development activities of United States industry.

6 ‘‘(c) The Secretary is authorized to evaluate any rea7 sonable new or improved technology, including basic re8 search on highly innovative energy technologies, that could

9 lead or contribute to the development of economic hydro10 gen production, storage, and utilization.

11 ‘‘(d) The Secretary is authorized to evaluate any rea12 sonable new or improved technology that could lead or

13 contribute to, or demonstrate the use of, advanced renew14 able energy systems or hybrid systems for use in isolated

15 communities that currently import diesel fuel as the pri16 mary fuel for electric power production.

17 ‘‘(e) The Secretary is authorized to arrange for tests

18 and demonstrations and to disseminate to researchers and

19 developers information, data, and other materials nec20 essary to support the research and development activities

21 authorized under this section and other efforts authorized

22 under this chapter, consistent with section 106 of this Act.

23 ‘‘(f) The Secretary shall carry out the research and

24 development activities authorized under this section only

25 through the funding of research and development propos-
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1 als submitted by interested persons according to such pro2 cedures as the Secretary may require and evaluate on a

3 competitive basis using peer review. Such funding shall be

4 in the form of a grant agreement, procurement contract,

5 or cooperative agreement (as those terms are used in

6 chapter 63 of title 31, United States Code).

7 ‘‘(g) The Secretary shall not consider a proposal sub8 mitted by a person from industry unless the proposal con9 tains a certification that reasonable efforts to obtain non10 Federal funding for the entire cost of the project have

11 been made, and that such non-Federal funding could not

12 be reasonably obtained. As appropriate, the Secretary

13 shall require a commitment from non-Federal sources of

14 at least 50 percent of the cost of the development portion

15 of such a proposal.

16 ‘‘(h) The Secretary shall not carry out any activities

17 under this section that unnecessarily duplicate activities

18 carried out elsewhere by the Federal Government or indus19 try.

20 ‘‘(i) The Secretary shall establish, after consultation

21 with other Federal agencies, terms and conditions under

22 which Federal funding will be provided under this chapter

23 that are consistent with the Agreement on Subsidies and

24 Countervailing Measures referred to in section 101(d)(12)
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1 of the Uruguay Round Agreement Act (19 U.S.C.

2 3511(d)(12)).’’.

3 (b)(1) Section 2026(a) of the Energy Policy Act of

4 1992 (42 U.S.C. 13436(a)) is amended by striking ‘‘, in

5 accordance with sections 3001 and 3002 of this Act,’’.

6 (2) Effective October 1, 1998, section 2026 of the

7 Energy Policy Act of 1992 (42 U.S.C. 13436) is repealed.

8 SEC. 104. DEMONSTRATIONS.

9 Section 105 of Public Law 101–566 (42 U.S.C.

10 12404) is amended by adding at the end the following new

11 subsection:

12 ‘‘(c) The Secretary shall require a commitment from

13 non-Federal sources of at least 50 percent of the cost of

14 any demonstration conducted under this section.’’.

15 SEC. 105. TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER.

16 Section 106(b) of Public Law 101–566 (42 U.S.C.

17 12405(b)) is amended by adding to the end of the sub18 section the following:

19 ‘‘The Secretary shall also foster the exchange of generic,

20 nonproprietary information and technology, developed

21 pursuant to this chapter, among industry, academia, and

22 the Federal Government, to help the United States econ23 omy attain the economic benefits of this information and

24 technology.’’.
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1 SEC. 106. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

2 Section 109 of Public Law 101–566 (42 U.S.C.

3 12408) is amended—

4 (1) by striking ‘‘to other Acts’’ and inserting

5 ‘‘under other Acts’’;

6 (2) by striking ‘‘and’’ from the end of para7 graph (2);

8 (3) by striking the period from the end of para9 graph (3) and inserting ‘‘;’’; and

10 (4) by adding at the end of the section the fol11 lowing:

12 ‘‘(4) $14,500,000 for fiscal year 1996;

13 ‘‘(5) $20,000,000 for fiscal year 1997;

14 ‘‘(6) $25,000,000 for fiscal year 1998;

15 ‘‘(7) $30,000,000 for fiscal year 1999;

16 ‘‘(8) $35,000,000 for fiscal year 2000; and

17 ‘‘(9) $40,000,000 for fiscal year 2001.’’.

18 TITLE II—FUEL CELLS

19 SEC. 201. INTEGRATION OF FUEL CELLS WITH HYDROGEN

20 PRODUCTION SYSTEMS.

21 (a) Not later than 180 days after the date of enact22 ment of this section, and subject to the availability of ap23 propriations made specifically for this section, the Sec24 retary of Energy shall solicit proposals for projects to

25 prove the feasibility of integrating fuel cells with—
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1 (1) photovoltaic systems for hydrogen produc2 tion; or

3 (2) systems for hydrogen production from solid

4 waste via gasification or steam reforming.

5 (b) Each proposal submitted in response to the solici6 tation under this section shall be evaluated on a competi7 tive gas is using peer review. The Secretary is not required

8 to make an award under this section in the absence of

9 a meritorious proposals.

10 (c) The Secretary shall give preference, in making an

11 award under this section, to proposals that—

12 (1) are submitted jointly from consortia includ13 ing academic institutions, industry, State or local

14 governments, and Federal laboratories; and

15 (2) reflect proven experience and capability with

16 technologies relevant to the systems described in

17 subsections (a)(1) and (a)(2).

18 (d) In the case of a proposal involving development

19 or demonstration, the Secretary shall require a commit20 ment from non-Federal sources of at least 50 percent of

21 the cost of the development or demonstration portion of

22 the proposal.

23 (e) The Secretary shall establish, after consultation

24 with other Federal agencies, terms and conditions under

25 which Federal funding will be provided under this title
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1 that are consistent with the Agreement on Subsidies and

2 Countervailing Measures referred to in section 101(d)(12)

3 of the Uruguay Round Agreement Act (19 U.S.C.

4 3511(d)(12)).

5 SEC. 202. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

6 There are authorized to be appropriated, for activities

7 under this section, a total of $50,000,000 for fiscal years

8 1997 and 1998, to remain available until September 30,

9 1999.

10 TITLE III—DOE SCIENTIFIC AND

11 TECHNICAL PROGRAM QUALITY

12 SEC. 301. TEMPORARY APPOINTMENTS FOR SCIENTIFIC

13 AND TECHNICAL EXPERTS IN DEPARTMENT

14 OF ENERGY RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

15 PROGRAMS.

16 (a) The Secretary, utilizing authority under other ap17 plicable law and the authority of this section, may appoint

18 for a limited term, or on a temporary basis, scientists, en19 gineers, and other technical and professional personnel on

20 leave of absence from academic, industrial, or research in21 stitutions to work for the Department.

22 (b) The Department may pay, to the extent author23 ized for certain other Federal employees by section 5723

24 of title 5, United States Code, travel expenses for any indi25 vidual appointed for a limited term or on a temporary
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1 basis and transportation expenses of his or her immediate

2 family and his or her household goods and personal effects

3 from that individual’s residence at the time of selection

4 or assignment to his or her duty station. The Department

5 may pay such travel expenses to the same extent for such

6 an individual’s return to the former place of residence

7 from his or her duty station, upon separation from the

8 Federal service following an agreed period of service. The

9 Department may also pay a per diem allowance at a rate

10 not to exceed the daily amounts prescribed under section

11 5702 of title 5 to such an individual, in lieu of transpor12 tation expenses of the immediate family and household

13 goods and personal effects, for the period of his or her

14 employment with the Department. Notwithstanding any

15 other provision of law, the employer’s contribution to any

16 retirement, life insurance, or health benefit plan for an

17 individual appointed for a term of one year or less, which

18 could be extended for no more than one additional year,

19 may be made or reimbursed from appropriations available

20 to the Department.

Passed the House of Representatives September 26,

1996.

Attest:

Clerk.