In line with the President’s skinny budget, the FY2022 budget request for the Department of Energy (DOE) includes $46.189 billion for the Department of Energy (DOE), an increase of $6.6 billion over last year’s level.

The $46.189 billion request includes:

• $8 billion for applied energy technologies:
  • $4.7 billion for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
  • $201 million for Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response
  • $327 million for Electricity
  • $1.9 billion for Nuclear Energy
  • $890 million for Fossil Energy R&D
• $7.4 billion for the Office of Science
• $1.1 billion for “innovation” offices including the established Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E), a proposed ARPA-Climate, and a proposed Office for Clean Energy Demonstrations
• $27.9 billion for the National Nuclear Security Administration and environmental cleanup
• and the rest for various other programs and offices

The requested amounts above represent dramatic increases for DOE programs. Compared to what Congress appropriated for FY 2021, the request for Fossil Energy R&D is 19 percent greater, Nuclear Energy is 23 percent more, and the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy proposal is 65 percent higher. The President’s budget usually reflects hard choices that demonstrate an administration’s priorities. Instead, the FY 2022 budget takes the easy out and suggests spending more on everything and then some.

Even though it’s been more than a week since the President’s budget was released, DOE still hasn’t released its detailed budget justifications in full. Just two of the typical six volumes are public and some of the usual summary tables haven’t been posted either. The budget justifications are one of the best sources for information on where taxpayer dollars are being spent. Shielding that info while asking for billions of dollars is irresponsible and impedes needed oversight.

From the information that is available, the details of DOE’s budget raise multiple red flags, like the return of Title XVII loan guarantee program, the ever ballooning budget of the Nuclear Energy program, and the establishment of multiple new offices that seem duplicative of existing ones.