WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water today secured critical resources to support the American Centrifuge Plant (ACP) in Piketon. U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, applauded today’s vote to approve $150 million in funds – through transfer authority - for ACP in 2013. Brown led the effort to include $150 million in the Senate-passed highway bill for 2012 to help ensure that the ACP is in the strongest position possible to receive a loan guarantee from Department of Energy (DOE), which would help create 4,000 jobs in Southern Ohio. Brown is now urging the House to join the Senate in passing resources to keep ACP moving forward throughout 2012.

“Once again, the Senate is working to support the ACP and the 4,000 jobs it could create in Southern Ohio,” Brown said. “As we work on funding levels for 2013, it is important that we

provide ACP with adequate funds that can pass both the House and the Senate.  On the Senate Appropriations Committee, I will work to ensure ACP has the resources and authority it needs to succeed.  But first things first—the House must join the Senate in passing resources to keep ACP going this year. As the House and Senate meet to finalize the highway bill, I’m hopeful that the House will support the $150 million we passed in the Senate to ensure that ACP is in the strongest possible position.”

As part of the Senate-passed, bipartisan highway bill, Brown secured $150 million to keep Piketon’s American Centrifuge Plant (ACP) going through 2012. Working with members of Senate leadership from both sides of the aisle, Brown led the effort to include $150 million in merit-based funding for the DOE research, development, or deployment (RD&D) program in 2012.

The funds will help ensure that the ACP is in the strongest position possible to receive a loan guarantee from DOE, which would help create 4,000 jobs in Southern Ohio. Instead of voting on the bipartisan Senate highway bill, the House passed its own version of the bill that did not include the funding for ACP for 2012. The two bills must now be reconciled through a House-Senate conference committee. The RD&D funding will keep Ohioans at work, expedite commercialization of ACP technology, and protect our national security. President Obama’s budget, proposed earlier this year, includes $150 million in RD&D funds for the ACP.

###