Energy Secretary Rick Perry pledged to Congress Thursday he would keep the government’s ARPA-E program going, despite the Trump administration’s proposal to end it.
“If it’s the will of this committee for ARPA-E to exist going forward, I hope you will have confidence I have not only done this before as governor, but we’ll have good success and can stand up together and say how this is supposed to work, this is a good return on investment,” Perry said during a hearing before the House Committee on Appropriations.
The Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy funds research into cutting edge forms of energy at universities and labs across the country. Among the technologies currently being funded are new, water-based car batteries at the University of Houston and a catalyst that converts methane into ammonia at Rice University.
Congress funded the program at more than $300 million this year – despite efforts by the Trump administration to cancel it last year.
In his testimony Thursday, Perry maintained he was “an all off the above energy person” and said the administration’s proposed budget should not be seen as a signal of their interest in developing new technology.
“Just because a line item was reduced didn’t necessarily mean that particular line item had fallen out of favor,” he said. “I am pushing in some particular areas. Battery storage, I’m on the record, that’s the holy grail.”
The administration’s 2019 budget calls for cutting funding for energy storage by $23 million – a 74 percent decrease from this year.
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