[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3301 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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118th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 3301
To provide for Department of Energy and Department of Agriculture joint
research and development activities, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
November 14 (legislative day, November 13), 2023
Mr. Lujan (for himself and Mr. Hoeven) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and
Natural Resources
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To provide for Department of Energy and Department of Agriculture joint
research and development activities, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``DOE and USDA Interagency Research
Act''.
SEC. 2. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY AND DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE JOINT
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES.
(a) In General.--The Secretary of Energy and the Secretary of
Agriculture (referred to in this section as the ``Secretaries'') shall
carry out cross-cutting and collaborative research and development
activities focused on the joint advancement of Department of Energy and
Department of Agriculture mission requirements and priorities.
(b) Memorandum of Understanding.--
(1) In general.--The Secretaries shall carry out and
coordinate the activities under subsection (a) through the
establishment of a memorandum of understanding or other
appropriate interagency agreement.
(2) Requirements.--The memorandum or agreement described in
paragraph (1) shall require the use of a competitive, merit-
reviewed process that considers applications from Federal
agencies, National Laboratories, institutions of higher
education, nonprofit institutions, and other appropriate
entities.
(c) Coordination.--In carrying out the activities under subsection
(a), the Secretaries may--
(1) conduct collaborative research relating to a variety of
focus areas, such as--
(A) modeling and simulation, machine learning,
artificial intelligence, data assimilation, large-scale
data analytics, and predictive analysis in order to
optimize algorithms for purposes relating to
agriculture and energy, such as life-cycle analyses of
agricultural or energy systems;
(B) fundamental agricultural, biological,
computational, and environmental science and
engineering, including advanced crop science, crop
protection, breeding, and biological pest control, in
collaboration with the program authorized under section
306 of the Department of Energy Research and Innovation
Act (42 U.S.C. 18644);
(C) integrated natural resources and the energy-
water nexus, including in collaboration with the
program authorized under section 1010 of the Energy Act
of 2020 (42 U.S.C. 16183);
(D) advanced biomass, biobased products, and
biofuels, including in collaboration with the
activities authorized under section 9008(b) of the Farm
Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (7 U.S.C.
8108(b));
(E) diverse feedstocks for economically and
environmentally sustainable fuels, including aviation
and naval fuels;
(F) colocation of agricultural resources and
activities and ecosystem services with diverse energy
technologies and resources, such as geothermal energy,
nuclear energy, solar energy, wind energy, natural gas,
hydropower, and energy storage;
(G) colocation of agricultural resources and
activities with carbon storage and utilization
technologies;
(H) invasive species management to further the work
done by the Federal Interagency Committee for the
Management of Noxious and Exotic Weeds;
(I) long-term and high-risk technological barriers
in the development of transformative science and
technology solutions in the agriculture and energy
sectors, including in collaboration with the program
authorized under section 5012 of the America COMPETES
Act (42 U.S.C. 16538);
(J) grid modernization and grid security;
(K) rural technology development, including
manufacturing, precision agriculture technologies, and
mechanization and automation technologies; and
(L) wildfire risks and prevention, including the
role of the power sector in fire prevention and
mitigation and wildfire impacts on energy
infrastructure;
(2) develop methods to accommodate large voluntary
standardized and integrated data sets on agricultural,
environmental, supply chain, and economic information with
variable accuracy and scale;
(3) promote collaboration, open community-based
development, and data and information sharing between Federal
agencies, National Laboratories, institutions of higher
education, nonprofit institutions, industry partners, and other
appropriate entities by providing reliable access to secure
data and information that are in compliance with Federal laws
(including regulations);
(4) support research infrastructure and workforce
development as the Secretaries determine to be necessary; and
(5) conduct collaborative research, development, and
demonstration of methods and technologies--
(A) to improve the efficiency of agriculture
operations and processing of agricultural products; and
(B) to reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated
with the operations and processing described in
subparagraph (A).
(d) Agreements.--In carrying out the activities under subsection
(a), the Secretaries may--
(1) carry out reimbursable agreements between the
Department of Energy, the Department of Agriculture, and other
entities in order to maximize the effectiveness of research and
development; and
(2) collaborate with other Federal agencies as appropriate.
(e) Report.--Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of
this Act, the Secretaries shall submit to the Committee on Energy and
Natural Resources and the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and
Forestry of the Senate and the Committee on Science, Space, and
Technology and the Committee on Agriculture of the House of
Representatives a report describing the following:
(1) Interagency coordination between each Federal agency
involved in the research and development activities carried out
under this section.
(2) Potential opportunities to expand the technical
capabilities of the Department of Energy and the Department of
Agriculture.
(3) Collaborative research achievements.
(4) Areas of future mutually beneficial successes.
(5) Continuation of coordination activities between the
Department of Energy and the Department of Agriculture.
(f) Research Security.--The activities authorized under this
section shall be applied in a manner consistent with subtitle D of
title VI of the Research and Development, Competition, and Innovation
Act (42 U.S.C. 19231 et seq.).
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