DOE - Fossil Energy Techline - Issued on:  December 10, 1999

Richardson Designates Fossil Center As Newest National Laboratory

Also Creates Center for Natural Gas Within New Laboratory

	With Senator Robert C. Byrd and laboratory director Rita Bajura looking on, Energy Secretary Richardson signs the document designating the Nation's newest national laboratory.

U.S. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson today designated the Federal Energy Technology Center in Morgantown, W.V., and Pittsburgh, Pa., as the department's 15th national laboratory.

The two research facilities, 65 miles apart but operated as a single entity, will be renamed the National Energy Technology Laboratory.

"It's time we elevate the profile and prestige of this world-class facility, which has been helping solve energy and environmental problems for more than 50 years," Richardson told employees in Morgantown and (by video link) in Pittsburgh. "By enhancing the stature of this lab, we're recognizing it as one of the Department's premier assets, and as an integral part of the U.S. research community.

"Through the innovation and hard work of the department's newest national laboratory," added Richardson, "we can help continue to fuel America's economy at the same time we help clean up the environment. These paired missions -- energy and the environment -- are and will continue to be key to our national and international security and quality of life."

"The action to make the Federal Energy Technology Center a national laboratory signals a recognition that fossil fuels must continue to be an important part of the energy reservoir both nationally and internationally," said U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd, who attended the ceremony. "Much of the Center's work is dedicated to the worthy goal of developing innovative, clean and efficient technologies that will allow our nation to meet its growing energy needs. As the nation's newest national laboratory, the Center will continue to help light a pathway for a new era of energy use that will ensure a comfortable standard of living for our children and our children's children."

Secretary Richardson noted that the new national laboratory is meant to complement the DOE's National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado. "Our energy portfolio must include a balanced mix of traditional and non-traditional fuels. We have established a national laboratory for renewable energy research; my action today will establish a complementary facility for fossil fuel research."

Senator Byrd echoed Richardson's endorsement of fossil fuel research. "If we are to continue to find new and better ways to strengthen our economy and protect our environment, we must also find ways to use fossil fuels cleanly. The skeptics will say that it cannot be done. But I believe that the talent, dedication, and know-how exist to solve our energy-ecology conundrum right here at the Federal Energy Technology Center," Byrd said.

Secretary Richardson also announced he is strengthening the new national laboratory's core capabilities by creating a Center for Advanced Natural Gas Studies.

"We're counting on natural gas to meet many of our energy and environmental goals for the next 10 or 20 years or more," Richardson said. "This new center will become the primary place within the Energy Department for natural gas research -- from the borehole to the burner tip."

The new gas center will coordinate development of new technologies to improve the way gas is found and produced, as well as new ways to make the future use of natural gas cleaner and more efficient. It will identify gaps in the Energy Department's natural gas portfolio and recommend new efforts to ensure that future gas supplies remain abundant and affordable. The center also will serve as the department's primary point-of-contact with the nation's natural gas industry.

Created more than a half-century ago, the U.S. Department of Energy's national laboratories constitute the largest research system of its kind in the world, with more than 30,000 engineers and scientists conducting research and leading-edge experiments.

The new facility will continue to operate with twin research campuses -- one in the South Park Township near Pittsburgh, the other on Collins Ferry Road in Morgantown. There will be no change in the employment status for any of the nearly 550 government scientists, engineers, technicians and administrative staff at the laboratory.

-End of TechLine -