15 U.S.C. § 3803: Duties of Secretary of Energy

Summary

Pick a part of the Department of Energy to run the methane vehicle research, development, and demonstration program before February 1, 1981. The Secretary must manage and watch over the program. The Secretary may make agreements with NASA, the Department of Transportation, the EPA, or other federal agencies to do parts of the work. The program must cover eight kinds of work: research on building, changing, and making methane vehicles safe; developing overall vehicle specifications; finding safe, cheap ways to store, move, and pump methane for vehicles; running demonstration projects with financial or technical help and with other partners; collecting performance and emissions data; making sure demo projects have enough methane; finding needed vehicle changes to improve efficiency and fleet use; and looking at fuel supply, tax, and manufacturing standard changes needed. Within 60 days after December 12, 1980, the Secretary must issue rules to ensure the program adds to, but does not replace or duplicate, private industry R&D. Each new contract, grant, or project must be certified as meeting these rules and must discuss related industry work, cost sharing, and patent rights. Those certifications go to the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology and the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Chapter 5 of title 5 does not apply and courts cannot review those certifications, but section 553 of title 5 and section 5916 of title 42 apply to public disclosure. The Secretary must describe compliance in the program report and in annual budget submissions. Contracts made before the law took effect, and their renewals, are not covered.

Title 15, §3803

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(a)Designation of management entity for program

The Secretary shall designate prior to February 1, 1981, an appropriate organizational entity within the Department of Energy to manage the methane vehicle research, development, and demonstration program.

(b)Monitoring and management of program; agreements with other Federal departments and agencies

The Secretary shall have the responsibility for monitoring and assuring proper management of the program. The Secretary may enter into agreements or arrangements with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Department of Transportation, the Environmental Protection Agency, or any other Federal department or agency, pursuant to which such department or agency shall conduct specified parts or aspects of the program as the Secretary deems necessary or appropriate and within the particular competence of such agency, to the extent that such agency has capabilities which would enable it to contribute to the success of the program and attainment of the purposes of this chapter.

(c)Assurances respecting scope of program activities

In assuring the effective management of this program, the Secretary shall have specific responsibility to ascertain that the program includes activities to—

(1)promote basic and applied research on methane-fueled vehicle construction, modification, and safety;

(2)conduct research and development on optimum overall specifications for methane-fueled vehicles;

(3)determine appropriate means and facilities for safely and economically storing, transporting, and dispensing methane for use as a vehicular fuel;

(4)conduct demonstration projects with respect to the feasibility of methane-fueled vehicles and methane transmission, storage and dispensing facilities (A) by providing necessary financial or technical assistance for the construction, modification, or operation of motor vehicles to be methane-fueled for practical use or of methane transmission, storage and dispensing facilities, and (B) by entering into agreements or arrangements with other entities, governmental and nongovernmental, for the demonstration of such vehicles and facilities;

(5)gather performance data, including but not limited to emissions data, on methane-fueled vehicles and related transmission and storage facilities;

(6)determine that the participants in each demonstration assisted under this chapter have made satisfactory arrangements to obtain an adequate supply of methane for vehicular use in the project;

(7)ascertain the need for modifications in available methane-fueled vehicles to improve their efficiency and performance and to facilitate their widespread use by fleet owners; and

(8)ascertain any changes in fuel supply patterns, tax policies, and standards governing the manufacture of vehicles which are needed to facilitate the manufacture and use of methane-fueled vehicles.

(d)Implementation of program; administrative procedures, etc., applicable

(1)The Secretary of Energy shall insure that the conduct of the research and development program of this chapter—

(A)supplements the automotive propulsion system research and development efforts of industry;

(B)is not formulated in a manner that will supplant private industry research and development or displace or lessen industry’s research and development; and

(C)avoids duplication of private research and development.

(2)To that end, the Secretary of Energy shall issue administrative regulations, within 60 days after December 12, 1980, which shall specify procedures, standards, and criteria for the timely review for compliance of each new contract, grant, Department of Energy project, or other agency project funded or to be funded under the authority of this chapter. Such regulations shall require that the Secretary of Energy or his designee shall certify that each such contract, grant, or project satisfies the requirement of this subsection, and shall include in such certification a discussion of the relationship of any related or comparable industry research and development, in terms of this subsection, to the proposed research and development under the authority of this chapter. The discussion shall also address related issues, such as cost sharing and patent rights.

(3)Such certifications shall be available to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate. The provisions of chapter 5 of title 5 shall not apply to such certifications and no court shall have any jurisdiction to review the preparation or adequacy of such certifications; but section 553 of title 5 and section 5916 of title 42 shall apply to public disclosure of such certifications.

(4)The Secretary of Energy also shall include in the report required by section 3808 of this title a detailed discussion of how each research and development contract, grant, or project funded under the authority of this chapter satisfies the requirement of this subsection.

(5)Further, the Secretary of Energy in each annual budget submission to the Congress, or amendment thereto, for the programs authorized by this chapter shall describe how each identified research and development effort in such submission satisfies the requirements of this subsection.

(6)The provisions and requirements of this subsection shall not apply with respect to any contract, grant, or project which was entered into, made, or formally approved and initiated prior to the enactment of this chapter, or with respect to any renewal or extension thereof.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

section 3808 of this title, referred to in subsec. (d)(4), was repealed by Pub. L. 104–66, title I, § 1051(p), Dec. 21, 1995, 109 Stat. 717.

Amendments

1994—Subsec. (d)(3). Pub. L. 103–437 substituted “Committee on Science, Space, and Technology” for “Committee on Science and Technology”. 1982—Subsec. (c)(8). Pub. L. 97–375 struck out “and report to the Congress on” after “ascertain”.

§3803 Duties of Secretary of Energy