Chu previews budget cuts to help offset green energy spending increase

“But while we are making these investments, we are taking responsible steps to cut wasteful spending and reduce expenses.
Fiscal responsibility demands shared sacrifice – it means cutting programs we would not cut in better fiscal times,” Chu writes.

He said the plan calls for cutting roughly $70 million in hydrogen energy research, or more than 40 percent of that program, “in order to focus on technologies deployable at large scale in the near term.”

Elsewhere, he writes that the plan takes aim at fossil energy programs.

“The Department is reducing the budget for the Office of Fossil Energy by 45 percent, or $418 million. This includes zeroing out the Fuels Program, the Fuel Cells Program, the Oil and Gas Research and Development Program, and the Unconventional Fossil Technology Program,” he wrote.

Chu’s post also reiterates President Obama proposal — which faces large hurdles on Capitol Hill — to end billions of dollars in oil-and-gas industry tax incentives that administration officials call unneeded.

“In accordance with the President’s agreement at the G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh to phase out subsidies for fossil fuels so that the country can transition to a 21st century energy economy, the Administration proposes to repeal a number of tax preferences available for fossil fuels. Repeal of these preferences will save the taxpayer approximately $3.6 billion in FY 2012. The ten-year estimate (FY2012 to FY2021) is $46.2 billion,” Chu wrote.