The Omnibus package also increases the President's vision of rebuilding and restoring the Nation's security through robust investments to modernize the nuclear security enterprise by requesting $13.9 billion for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and a $6.5 billion request for Environmental Management.

Prior to the signing of the bill, DOE Secretary Rick Perry said in Congressional Testimony "As a former appropriator, I am keenly aware of the work that goes into the budget process, and I am grateful for the certainty that this FY 2018 Budget will bring our Department. This package funds our missions and will allow us to do great work for American energy. DOE will now be focused on executing our work under this budget in the most effective way possible."

Overall, DOE's energy programs receive $12.9 billion, up $1.6 billion from the fiscal 2017 levels and $5.4 billion more than the Trump administration requested. The Department of Energy's Office of Environmental Management (DOE-EM) would get just over $7 billion for 2018. That is better than a 10-percent year-over-year increase. The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) would take home the biggest increase for the current budget year. NNSA's budget would increase 13 percent above 2017 levels under the new budget.

The big loser in the bill was Yucca Mountain: the proposed nuclear waste repository in Nevada that the nuclear industry has been waiting for the government to build for about 30 years. The President's budget request sought $120 million for Yucca, which the DOE would have used to resume its application to license the repository with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). Instead, the omnibus zeroes out funding for the project.

The omnibus continues to fund construction of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MOX) at the Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina until the end of FY2018. The funding for the facility stays flat at $335 million. That is 20 percent more than the President's request to close the project. However, language in the Bill includes a new provision that allows for the possibility that DOE could use those funds to actually move away from MOX. The new language borrows from the FY18 National Defense Authorization Act and stipulates that if the Secretary of Energy certifies and submits a plan for a suitable MOX alternative to Congress, complete with a life-cycle cost estimate that is less than half of MOX's, DOE can begin spending money to "eliminate" the project 30 days later. To do so, the Secretary would also have to ensure SRS has a "sustainable future," a key roadblock in past defunding efforts.

More to come from impacts from the Omnibus bill on SRS missions as site employees "scrub" the 2,232-page omnibus spending bill for specific impacts to site activities.

Related to the story above, there comes some good news for local governments regarding the status of Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) made by the Department of Energy (DOE). The 2018 omnibus bill will fully fund the Federal PILT program at an estimated $530 million, a $65 million increase over 2017 funding levels.
 
In a previous House Appropriations Committee report, the Committee directed DOE to undertake a "full overhaul" of the PILT program. The Committee instructed that "DOE shall terminate all existing PILT agreements and enter into new PILT agreements that are consistent across all eligible sites and are in compliance with the requirement that payments are not made in excess of the taxes that would have been payable for such property in the condition in which it was originally acquired."

PILT payments are an essential source of income that compensates communities which host DOE national defense facilities for the loss of tax revenues on properties condemned or acquired for DOE purposes, where such properties had previously been subject to state and local taxes. PILT payments are used to support schools, hospital districts, critical infrastructure, and to provide fire, police, and other vital municipal services in DOE-host communities.
 
New language accompanying the FY18 Omnibus reads:

Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) - ln lieu of House direction, DOE shall conduct a review of its current PILT agreements and provide to the Committees on Appropriations of both Houses of Congress not later than 180 days after enactment of this Act a report that describes the following:
The agreement includes direction in the House report for the Comptroller General to provide an update on any changes to DOE's PILT program since the issue was last examined by the Government Accountability Office.

It appears DOE can continue with current negotiated PILT payments to local governments while it prepares its report to Congress.