API Supports Reauthorization of ARPA-E Program

WASHINGTON, October 18, 2019—The American Petroleum Institute (API) released the below statement in support of reauthorizing the Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E), which the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee voted on to the full House yesterday.

“We’re pleased to support the reauthorization of ARPA-E, in addition to a substantial funding increase for this flagship program,” said API’s Director of Market Development, Dustin Meyer. “The U.S. currently leads the world in emissions reductions, and this program ensures that we will continue to introduce new solutions to the world’s most pressing energy challenges for decades to come.”

ARPA-E was created in 2007 when President George W. Bush signed the “America COMPETES Act” into law, and it received its first appropriation of $400 million in 2009. The agency’s purpose is to invest in nascent advanced energy technologies, promoting and funding research. 

The bipartisan bill (H.R. 4091) would authorize a substantial increase in ARPA-E’s authorization level, starting with the FY 2020 House-passed and Senate Appropriations Committee mark of $428 million, and then rising to $750 million in FY 2024 – important because, to, date, ARPA-E has only been able to support 1 percent of the proposals submitted for its Open Funding Opportunity Announcements, and 12 percent of the proposals submitted for its Focused Funding Opportunity Announcements. The reauthorization would also help ARPA-E to support projects to improve the resilience, reliability, and security of American energy infrastructure.

API represents all segments of America’s oil and natural gas industry. Our more than 600 members produce, process and distribute most of the nation’s energy. The industry supports more than ten million U.S. jobs and is backed by a growing grassroots movement of millions of Americans. API was formed in 1919 as a standards-setting organization. In our first 100 years, API has developed more than 700 standards to enhance operational and environmental safety, efficiency and sustainability.