🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <930126163947_72240.1256_EHL56-1@CompuServe.COM> Jed Rothwell <ub-gate.UB.com!compuserve.com!72240.1256> writes:
>To: >INTERNET:fusion@zorch.sf-bay.org
>
>Rusty Perrin and J. A. Carr have questioned whether the DoE has any legal
>authority to conduct CF experiments in the first place, without authorization
>from Congress. This is a reasonable question. I have discussed it with

I did not say anything of the sort, Jed.  I said that DOE *contractors* 
must be careful to operate within their contracts, which is a bit different 
from the situation for an NSF grantee.  Congress only enters at the 
appropriation level (and could ban or mandate CF research, but has 
done neither) and this level is far removed from the level of all but 
the larger DOE contracts and the largest NSF programs.  Congress does 
micromanage DOE more than NSF, although that changed this past year 
with the LIGO earmark that has led to large (>10%) cuts in nuclear and 
materials research (plus others of which I am unaware).  

All contracts have some discretionary funds, but contractors, especially 
small ones, must act within the limits of their contract.  As Jed notes:

>Under normal circumstances, if a scientist at LANL, Fermilab or some other
>DoE lab had some level of discretionary spending authority, and he or she
>wished to, he could conduct experiments relating to energy. As long as the
>experiments stayed within the allowed budget, there would be no problem.

Further, with Congressional oversight the way it has been, I believe 
there has been a general reduction in the discretionary funds 
available at national labs.  Probably goes back to LAMPF, where they 
managed to excavate the accelerator hall with spare change and the 
soils testing money during the "pre-design" stage of the project. 

The situation is different when you are a university researcher with a 
$60,000 or $100,000 contract to explore some particular project.  One 
needs approval from the contract monitor to shift the entire focus of 
the contract to some other project. 

--
J. A. Carr                                    |  "The New Frontier of which I  
jac@gw.scri.fsu.edu                           |  speak is not a set of promises
Florida State University  B-186               |  -- it is a set of challenges."
Supercomputer Computations Research Institute |   John F. Kennedy (15 July 60)