Subsidy cuts to spur energy research?

WASHINGTON, March 3 (UPI) -- The U.S. Department of Energy needs more research money that could be raised if Washington cuts fossil fuel and renewable energy subsidies, a lawmaker said.

U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said more money could fund research programs in the Energy Department by doing away with subsidies for conventional and alternative forms of energy.

He said at an energy innovation meeting in Washington that the U.S. government has poured billions of dollars into tax subsidies for renewable energy during the past 30 years with few results.

He said ethanol was subsidized to the point that around 30 percent of the nation's corn supply is winding up in the gas tanks of consumers.

"This has raised food prices and caused shortages all around the world," he said in his prepared remarks. "At the same time, we have subsidized mature energy technologies such as coal, oil, and gas that don't really need our support."

A resolution proposed in February by the Republican-led House of Representatives would cut funding for the Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy to around $50 million per year. U.S. President Barack Obama wants $300 million for ARPA-E by 2011 and $650 million in 2012, the Platts news service notes.

Alexander helped created ARPA-E in 2007. It received $400 million in federal stimulus funds in 2009. The program supports high-risk clean energy research.