(Washington, D.C.) – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) announced that the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in Richland, Washington will be awarded $22.5 million in funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The funding will go to establishing an Energy Frontier Research Center (EFRC) to pursue advanced scientific research on energy. PNNL will be one of 46 EFRCs nationwide that will lead efforts to develop alternative and renewable energy sources to help reduce dependence on foreign oil and improve the environment.
“PNNL is clearly out in front of efforts to find the clean-energy solutions we need,” said Senator Murray. “This funding will sustain high-tech jobs in the Tri-Cities today and will help make our state home to the green jobs of the future. It also gives PNNL an enormous opportunity to help develop clean energy alternatives that will end our addiction to foreign oil and improve our environment.”
As a senior member of the Senate committee overseeing Energy funding, Sen. Murray worked to ensure that investments in energy research and technology were included in the Recovery Act. Senator Murray voted to pass the Recovery Act on February 13th. The bill was signed into law by President Obama on February 17th.
The $22.5 million in funding for PNNL will be distributed over five years and go to efforts to develop a comprehensive understanding of how chemical and electrical energy contained in fuels is exchanged, stored and released.
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