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February
4, 2003
The Muskegon Chronicle
By Dave Alexander
Grand Valley State University's alternative energy initiative
in the Muskegon Lakeshore SmartZone can expect to benefit
from the President Bush's emphasis on fuel cell research.
Government labs, auto suppliers and universities would
get millions of dollars for fuel cell research in the
proposed budget released Monday by President Bush, which
places a new emphasis on the infrastructure needed to
move and store hydrogen fuel.
But the proposed $2.2 trillion federal budget will do
little to ease Michigan's fiscal woes, and in some cases
it might make them worse. The 2004 federal budget invests
heavily in homeland security, the Pentagon and tax cuts,
and it looks for savings in domestic programs such as
education aid and highway funding.
That's bad news for Michigan, facing massive budget
cuts in its own budget.
Locally, GVSU alternative energy research has been focused
on stationary fuel cells that power homes and businesses.
But even vehicle-based fuel cell research funding would
help the local effort, according to James Wolter, a
GVSU professor and director of alternative energy research.
"It is not the case of one or the other,"
Wolter said. "Fuel cell technology is scalable.
The (auto) technology can transfer to stationary fuel
cells, which is actually easier because it doesn't have
to be crash-hardened.
"These technologies are complementary, not competitive,"
Wolter said. "We welcome any fuel cell research."
Bush wants to set aside around $273 million in 2004
- and around $1.7 billion over five years - for fuel
cell research from his $2.23 trillion budget, which
must still be approved by Congress. The money would
be split between developing hydrogen-powered cars and
researching the infrastructure needed to drive them.
The $273 million request is an increase of $101 million
from the 2003 budget, according to Energy Department
documents distributed Monday. Most of that increase
will go to fuel cell infrastructure research, which
would double from $40 million in 2003 to $88 million
in 2004. GVSU sees the possibility of tapping federal
research dollars at the national level through the Department
of Energy. However, there are already fuel cell initiatives
in the federal funding pipeline that have nothing to
do with President Bush's auto fuel cell emphasis.
GVSU is working with the Chicago regional office of
DOE that has ongoing fuel cell programs and through
the U.S. Department of Agriculture that has fuel cell
initiatives in the new farm bill, Wolter said. Energy
Secretary Spencer Abraham, a former Michigan senator,
said the administration decided last year that it needed
to support infrastructure research so it keeps up with
the development of hydrogen-powered vehicles.
Besides federal assistance, GVSU - through the Seidman
School of Business and the Padnos School of Engineering
- has tapped state alternative energy programs. The
GVSU "office building of the future" is now
under construction on the Muskegon SmartZone, a high-tech
business park called Edison Landing on the former Teledyne
factory site on Muskegon Lake.
In Washington, Democrats said Bush's the budget spends
so much delivering on the 10-year tax cut proposal that
it ends up stripping billions of dollars from key agencies
and programs.
"The president's fiscal year 2004 budget request
highlights his misplaced domestic and economic priorities,"
said Sen. Carl Levin, a Democrat. "While we clearly
need to fully fund the war against terrorism and protect
our homeland, the president's risky $674 billion tax
cut proposal jeopardizes the domestic priorities of
the American people." Bush administration documents
show that 3.2 million Michigan taxpayers would see their
federal taxes go down in 2003 under his plan.
Additionally, more than 900,000 Michigan households
would benefit from the acceleration of the child tax
credit from $600 to $1,000. |
