New solar-energy research pushed by President Bush last year is on hold in Colorado labs because the last Congress failed to pass several budget bills.
Funding for a proposal to build a $300 million underground laboratory near Empire could be delayed for a year.
And federal research groups across the state have frozen hiring, limited travel and delayed computer updates.
From the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Boulder, scientists are spending conservatively as they wait to see how the new Congress appropriates funds.
In December, the outgoing Congress passed a “continuing resolution,” which holds budgets at about 2006 levels through Feb. 15, said Drew Nannis, spokesman for U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo.
Later this month, Congress will probably continue the resolution through the end of September, Nannis said, but it may make some exceptions for programs expecting major increases.
“It’s going to be austere,” Nannis said.
University of Colorado physicist Tricia Rankin said it would be a “shame” if the continuing resolution delays the start of new science projects.
“We need to be putting more money in science and technology from a long-term competitiveness viewpoint,” she said.
Rankin is a member of a Colorado team bidding to build the nation’s first underground physics laboratory for the National Science Foundation.
That agency was supposed to award an initial $15 million contract to one bidder this spring.
Jeff Nesbit, director of NSF’s legislative and public-affairs office, said that money is currently in the budget.
“But once the dust settles … everything gets looked at. Nothing is guaranteed,” Nesbit said.
Chris Fox, director of the National Geophysical Data Center in Boulder, said he’s “anxious” to get some budget clarity.
The center, with about 42 federal employees, is the nation’s repository for sonar maps of the sea floor, weather-satellite data, radar and other images.
He said he’s restricting travel, delaying purchases and holding about eight vacant positions unfilled while waiting to see what the new Congress does.
NREL spokesman George Douglas said the lab was poised to expand programs.
President Bush visited last year after calling for a major increase in solar-energy research.
U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., helped secure a $211 million increase in federal funding for energy efficiency and renewables, some of which would have gone to boost NREL’s budget.
“We were looking forward to a period in which we’d be able to expand some facilities and hire some people,” Douglas said. “We won’t be able to do that right now.”
Staff writer Katy Human can be reached at 303-954-1910 or khuman@denverpost.com.
