Layoffs at energy lab to be less than feared

Jeff Smith, Rocky Mountain News

Published January 12, 2006 at midnight

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Layoffs at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden will be less than the 100 feared, but final numbers won't be determined until the end of the month, the lab's director said Wednesday.

NREL Director Dan Arvizu said the 950-employee lab - which he said faces a budget cut of roughly $25 million - is working hard to make sure it doesn't lose key scientists in core research areas such as hydrogen, solar and wind energy.

The lab is making progress in "mitigating" potentially "Draconian measures," Arvizu said at a news conference that was part of Sen. Ken Salazar's Colorado Renewable Energy Summit.

Among other things, the lab has the flexibility to reduce some subcontracts with university and industry partners, he said.

NREL spokesman George Douglas said a committee is looking at all options, including cutting travel and overhead expenses, and will make recommendations to Arvizu this month.

The task is more difficult because the lab didn't find out about the budget cuts until December - more than two months after the fiscal year started on Oct. 1, 2005. That means NREL, which had a budget of $200 million in fiscal 2005, likely was spending at its former rate for the first few months of the new fiscal year.

Earlier, a conference attendee said she was "sick at heart" about the cuts at NREL and wondered what Salazar was going to do about the situation.

Salazar, D-Colo., said he was in contact with David Garman, undersecretary of the U.S. Department of Energy, as soon as he heard of the potential layoffs and agreed that Congress must ensure NREL gets the resources it needs in the future.

Garman blamed the cuts in part on lawmakers steering research and development funds to colleges and universities in their districts.

"It's almost as if renewable energy is a victim of being loved to death," Garman said at the news conference.

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