Recovery Act Reports

Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act), the Department of
Energy's Geothermal Technologies Program received $400 million to promote the exploration
and development of new geothermal fields and innovative research into advanced geothermal
technologies. This funding represents an almost ten-fold increase over the $44 million originally
appropriated to the Geothermal Technologies Program for 2009. As of January 2011, the
Department had awarded $368 million in financial assistance agreements for 135 geothermal
technologies projects, with about $68 million having been expended.
Recovery Act funding supports geothermal projects undertaken by private industry, academic
institutions, tribal entities, local governments, and the Department's National Laboratories. The
projects, covering activities in 39 states, represent a significant expansion of the U.S. geothermal
industry and are intended to create or save thousands of jobs in drilling, exploration,
construction, and operation of geothermal power facilities and manufacturing of ground source
heat pump equipment.
We initiated this audit to determine whether the Department had effectively managed the
geothermal awards funded under the Recovery Act.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) was enacted on February 17, 2009. The goals of the Recovery Act are to retain or create jobs, increase economic efficiency, and invest in infrastructure that will provide long-term economic benefits. The Recovery Act provided just over $36 billion for the Department of Energy (Department), including $198 million to be used by the Office of Science (Science) for infrastructure modernization initiatives. According to Science officials, modernization was needed to many Department laboratories, offices, and other facilities due to their age. Science's Recovery Act Infrastructure Modernization initiatives include:
• Science Laboratories Infrastructure (SLI) projects totaling $108 million to accelerate existing construction projects under Science's Infrastructure Modernization Initiative; and,
• General Plant Projects (GPP) totaling $90 million to improve high-priority facilities, increase economy and efficiency of laboratories, reduce safety hazards, and reduce operating costs at our national laboratories.
We initiated this audit to determine if the Department is efficiently and effectively managing its Recovery Act infrastructure modernization projects.

As part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) the Department of Energy (Department) awarded Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) approximately $324 million to accelerate completion of infrastructure upgrades for the Hanford Site's tank farms during the Fiscal Year (FY) 2009-2011 timeframe. These funds were applied by the Department's Office of Environmental Management to the existing contract with WRPS to manage the operations and construction activities necessary to store, retrieve, treat, and dispose of the 53 million gallons of Hanford tank waste.