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[Focus Fusion Society]

Continuing to track ARPA-E:
EETimes article: Stimulus: Energy Department scrambles to build new R&D;agency notes that:

The stimulus package contains about $43 billion for energy efficiency and technology programs, including $4.3 billion for smart power grid R&D;. Industry groups and companies large and small are already lining up to win federal energy funding. Whoever is selected to head ARPA-E must be confirmed by the Senate, meaning the nominee will likely have to wait to get on a crowded Senate confirmation schedule. The director will report to Chu.

The chief congressional promoter of ARPA-E in Congress is Rep. Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.), chairman of the House Science Committee. Backers said the new energy R&D;agency would act as a “broker” that would bring together industry and university researchers with U.S. national laboratories. The stimulus package will fund “renewable energy technology development, standards-setting and deployment of smart grid technologies, demonstration of carbon capture and storage, grants for companies producing advanced batteries and loan guarantees for the deployment of existing clean technologies,” Gordon said in a statement.

Hmmm. No mention of fusion.

An industry source nevertheless expressed concern about how long it would take to set up the new energy research agency. “How do they expect to spend $400 million quickly if there is no one there?” the source said.

Gordon’s panel has created a Web site designed to track federal R&D;spending. Along with federal research agencies, the committee is also tracking funding designated for the America COMPETES Act, the legislation that created ARPA-E.

Visiting the website, we find Bart Gordon’s on twitter. Yay. We’ll send out a shout.