|
[Your information will be inserted here]
Prefix Firstname Lastname
123 Street Address
MyCity, St 12345
November 7, 2009
Dear [Official's Title and Name will be inserted here]:
As a professional nuclear physicist, a member of the American Physical Society, and one of your constituents, I am writing first to express my appreciation for the strong support Congress has provided for the Department of Energy's Office of Science (DOE Sci) in the FY2009 appropriations act and in the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act stimulus. Funding of DOE's Office of Nuclear Physics, within the Office of Science, has advanced basic research critical to the Nation's interests: maintaining our scientific leadership; training the next generation of much needed nuclear scientists; fostering important applications of nuclear science to national security, medicine, technology, and the economy; and developing new and more efficient approaches to isotope production. The FY 2010 Energy and Water Development appropriations bills in the House and Senate, although more modest in their increases for DOE Science, still maintain a positive funding trajectory within an overall budget that is fiscally constrained. Nonetheless, I would be remiss if I failed to call your attention to two budget actions - perhaps unintended - in the FY 2010 Energy and Water Development Appropriations Bill that will have significant adverse consequences for DOE's Nuclear Physics program.
The President's budget request of $552M for the Office of Nuclear Physics includes $510M for the program of basic research in nuclear physics, $19.2M for the isotope program, and $22M for construction. This request is consistent both with the Long Range Plan for Nuclear Science developed by the nuclear physics community in an inclusive, peer-reviewed process and with the Strategic Plan of the DOE Office of Nuclear Physics. A complementary long range plan for the Isotopes program that moved to DOE NP in FY 2009 is nearing completion.
My concerns are as follows:
- First, the Senate bill transfers responsibility for the Department's $17.5M nuclear medicine activity, currently housed in the Office of Biological and Environmental Research (OBER), to the Nuclear Physics program, but fails to transfer the associated funding from the OBER budget.
- Second, the House bill reduces FY 2010 construction funding for the Jefferson Lab 12 GeV Upgrade budget by $10M, redirecting this funding to the Isotopes program. The 12 GeV Upgrade project is the top construction priority of the nuclear physics community, and timely completion of the project needs the planned $10M in FY2010.
- Third, these two actions are exacerbated by an overall reduction in funding for the Office of Nuclear Physics of $15.5M and $12M in the House and Senate marks, respectively. The net impact of all of these actions will reduce funding for nuclear physics research by $28.5M and $29.5M in the House and Senate marks, respectively.
The nuclear physics community, the Administration and Congress have worked hard to develop and support this key area of basic research, and I urge you to ensure that these efforts are not undermined.
I thank you again for your attention to this matter and for your continued support.
Sincerely,
[Your name will appear here.]
|
