When Congress received the current Department of Energy budget, Bush administration officials had failed to include $4 million promised to support a high-energy physics program under way at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory near Batavia.
The missing money for Fermilab sent shock waves rippling through the Capitol Hill office of U.S. Rep. J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), forcing staff to scurry to rescue the money for the largest federal facility in his district.
”It was a real nightmare. We had to contact DOE and say, `You guys made a real mistake here,` ” said Tom Thornton, a Hastert aide assigned to monitor Fermilab-related projects.
Ultimately, the funding was restored after much haggling, but the mixup illustrates some of the obstacles lawmakers frequently confront as they attempt to steer federal dollars toward important constituents.
For Hastert, next year`s budget season will represent a time in which he can least afford to run around plugging funding holes. The same holds true-but to a greater extent-for another Illinois Republican, Rep. Harris Fawell, whose district includes Argonne National Laboratory, near Lemont.
Much is at stake in the 1990s for the Chicago area facilities. Argonne and Fermilab are earmarked to receive hundreds of millions of dollars for new projects aimed at putting the U.S. in the forefront of physics research, while creating thousands of jobs for construction workers and scientists.
The Energy Department`s projected commitment to Fermilab and Argonne is to exceed $1 billion in the next seven years, an amount that excludes, among other things, yearly operating costs at the labs and costs associated with environmental cleanup.
With so much federal money nearly within their grasp, the Illinois congressional delegation-backed by staff from Gov. James Thompson`s Washington office-is vigilant to see that Fermilab and Argonne funding doesn`t fall through the cracks at the Energy Department.
”The signs that they will fund the projects are good,” said Terri Moreland, who is overseeing Fermilab and Argonne projects in the governor`s Washington office.
But Moreland and others involved with obtaining lab money have more than enough to fret about.
On one level, the federal government continues to run gaping budget deficits, which negotiators from Capitol Hill and the White House could try to patch in a grand compromise that drains money from multiyear science construction projects. In case budget talks fail and trigger across-the-board cuts, the Energy Department has told lab officials to brace for a 30 percent slash in operations. But that`s the nightmare scenario.
On another level, Illinois officials fear that Fermilab and Argonne could feel the pinch in the ongoing congressional debate over whether to devote billions for the manned exploration of Mars, $8.6 billion for the
superconducting supercollider, and $20 billion for the space station, or focus on ”small science” projects.
”That`s the kind of debate that`s going to go on: How many of these big- ticket items can we afford?” said Egils Milbergs, president of the Washington-based Institute for Illinois, which is also helping in the effort to secure Fermilab and Argonne funding.
In the next three years, Hastert will be seeking $216.7 million for completion of Fermilab III, which includes a $23 million linear accelerator and a $160 million main injector, in addition to millions more in research and development money.
Fermilab III is intended to help physicists advance human knowledge on the structure of matter, an area so theoretical that a Fermilab spokeswoman recently said only time would tell the practical spinoffs.
A key Energy Department panel, looking at critical programs for the 1990s, released a study last April in which Fermilab III was recommended for
”immediate commencement and speedy completion.”
”Generally, the DOE has been supportive of Fermilab III . . . at the same time you always get the feeling the budget is tough,” said Dr. Ken Stanfield, Fermilab deputy director.
But Dr. James F. Decker, acting director of Department of Energy Research, was quick to add that funding for the main injector was still a pending decision.
”I think there are very good scientific arguments that can be made for upgrading Fermilab. Whether or not in the budget process, given the constraints, we`ll be able to do what Fermi wants, that`s another question and it will be some time before that`s resolved,” Decker said.
Fawell, a member of the House Science and Technology Committee, is seeking funding for the $456 million Advanced Photon Source, a giant X-ray machine with a wide array of commercial applications, ranging from computers to pharmaceuticals. Private sector investment in the machine is expected to reach $300 million.
But $456 million for the Advanced Photon Source, which had its groundbreaking ceremony in June, represents construction funding alone.
Another $136 million will be required to pay for such things as preconstruction engineering, ongoing research and general supplies the scientists will be using in their work.
However, the House Energy and Water Development Subcommittee, the panel that determines Advanced Photon Source funding levels, is willing to turn aside requests for additional funding, despite evidence of foreign challenges to U.S. predominance in physics research. The Japanese and a European consortium are building the machines.
Japan`s should be up and running about the same time as Argonne`s-1996-but Europe`s machine is scheduled to come on line a year earlier.
Fawell, concerned about the foreign challenge, asked the House panel this year for additional $50 million to the existing $75 million requested by the Energy Department to complete Argonne`s machine at the same time as Europe`s. But the panel, headed by U.S. Rep. Tom Bevill (D-Ala.), said the lab would have to make do with the amount originally requested by the Bush administration.
With that lesson fresh in mind, Illinois officials are lobbying the Energy Department and the Office of Management and Budget to be sure that the next budget going to Congress has full funding for Fermilab and Argonne, so as to avoid having to lobby the Bevill panel for extra funds.
