Latest news with #NETL
South China Morning Post
18-04-2025
- Science
- South China Morning Post
Senior scientist Yi Shouliang leaves US Department of Energy for China
Senior scientist Yi Shouliang has returned to China to take up a new role at Sichuan University , after permanently leaving the US where he previously worked at the federal government's Department of Energy. Advertisement The career decision, which follows this year's escalating China-US tensions , saw him leave his academic role as adjunct professor at the University of Pittsburgh after less than 12 months and dissolve his commercial ventures. Previously, he was a principal scientist and project leader at the DOE's National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) where he focused on the Water-Energy Programme but resigned in June 2023 after five years at the helm. He then founded American Sustainable Membrane Technology, serving as its CEO. At NETL, Yi's research focused on developing novel membranes and adsorption materials for the Carbon Capture, Utilisation, and Storage (CCUS) programme and water management initiatives. Senior scientist Yi Shouliang has left the US where he was working as an adjunct professor at the University of Pittsburgh to return to China. Photo: TNS The circumstances surrounding his departure remain undisclosed and there are no listed records of Yi as a chief researcher on the DOE and NETL's official websites, despite his lengthy tenure. His name now only appears in patent filing and project proposals.
South China Morning Post
18-04-2025
- Science
- South China Morning Post
DOE senior scientist Yi Shouliang leaves US for China
Senior scientist Yi Shouliang has returned to China to take up a new role at Sichuan University , after permanently leaving the US where he previously worked at the federal government's Department of Energy. Advertisement The career decision, which follows this year's escalating Sino-US tensions , saw him leave his academic role as adjunct professor at the University of Pittsburgh after less than 12 months and dissolve his commercial ventures. Previously, he was a principal scientist and project leader at the DOE's National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) where he focused on the Water-Energy Programme but resigned in June 2023 after five years at the helm. He then founded American Sustainable Membrane Technology LLC, serving as its CEO. At NETL, Yi's research focused on developing novel membranes and adsorption materials for the Carbon Capture, Utilisation, and Storage (CCUS) programme and water management initiatives. Senior scientist Yi Shouliang has left the US where he was working as an adjunct professor at the University of Pittsburgh to return to China. Photo: TNS The circumstances surrounding his departure remain undisclosed and there are no listed records of Yi as a chief researcher on the DOE and NETL's official websites, despite his lengthy tenure. Currently, his name only appears in patent filing and project proposals.
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Capito addresses job cuts at NIOSH, NETL during call with West Virginia reporters
Apr. 3—dbeard @ MORGANTOWN — Sen. Shelley Moore Capito fielded some questions during her Thursday briefing with West Virginia reporters on this week's job cuts at the Morgantown NIOSH office, and the earlier cuts at the Morgantown National Energy Technology Laboratory. About 185 researchers in the NIOSH division in Morgantown received layoff notices on Tuesday as part of the Department of Health and Human Services plan to cut about 10, 000 employees from the department. "I am extremely concerned about this, " Capito said. "This is impacting and will impact not only the folks that were let go, and their families, but also the health and safety of our coal miners and firefighters." She said she talked to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. last week about his plan in general, urging him to avoid cutting HHS to the bone. She understands the desire to trim duplication and bloating, "but in this case I have strong disagreements with the administration." And she was slated for another call with RFK Jr. on Thursday afternoon to delve into the issue again. Asked if she looked for any jobs being restored, she said she's concerned about the people and what they do — how they keep the miners and firefighters safe. "I'm hoping to effect a brighter outlook from him, that you have cut into the bone here in an essential service for workplace safety." She hopes he will restore the functions and the people, she said. She's seen layoffs and administrative leaves reversed earlier in this Trump administration government trimming process. She's been in contact with some of those who've lost jobs, she said, to offer assistance. She believes agencies have offered assistance as well. Some might take up the standing offer of early retirement. MetroNews' Mike Nolting asked Capito if she knows how many are left at NIOSH. She said, "We're trying to get clarification, precisely. It appears that there's not much left." The question is on the nature of the jobs — do they duplicate functions provided elsewhere at HHS. The Dominion Post asked Capito about the probationary employees laid off at NETL in February as part of the nationwide elimination of probationary positions. As it turned out, the NETL director was in her office before the press call, she said. The employees were asked to return, and of 51 cut, 41 are back to work. "The goal of what's going on here, " she said, "as painful as it is, is to shrink government, to make it right sized ... to make it work more efficiently and better." If those goals are met, the services delivered will be as good as they've been, possibly better. The press call came between Capito trips to the Senate floor for votes, and she noted that the Senate was starting work on the reconciliation measure to extend the 2017 Trump tax bill, the Tax and Jobs Investment Act. This one is called the Job Creation and Tax Act. "It created a lot of prosperity across the country, " she said. "Everybody got tax relief and I want to continue that." The measure also addresses border security, national security and — a topic crucial to West Virginia, she said — unleashing American energy. It's an extended process, and the next step is to craft policies to match the aspirational goals they're formulating now.
Yahoo
07-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Capito fields questions on DOGE, effects on West Virginia, during weekly briefing
Mar. 6—dbeard @ MORGANTOWN — President Trump's DOGE effort to count government waste is popular among the public — with a poll by left-leaning CNN saying 54 % of voters believe DOGE should have at least some influence over government spending and operations. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito offered some thoughts on the topic in response to a question from The Dominion Post during her weekly West Virginia press briefing. Acknowledging the fits and starts of some of actions taken to trim some government office overstaffing, she said, "The goals are great. The methods are good. But the execution is probably a little rough at this point, the president's only been in [office ] between five to six weeks." Our question came in the context of West Virginia's dependence on federal jobs — with NETL and NIOSH in Morgantown, the FBI in Harrison county, and the Forest Service and more across the state — and a high proportion of the state's population on Medicaid. On the jobs portion, Capito said that according to the information they have, probably the hardest hit area has been Parkersburg, where the Bureau of Fiscal Service lost more than 100 probationary jobs — people hired into jobs within the last year. [The Dominion Post received reports that NETL in Morgantown also lost more than 100 probationers, but the Department of Energy did not respond to several requests to confirm that and provide an accurate figure.] "The big goal, " Capito said, "is government efficiencies. is making the bloated bureaucracies that we have match better what our needs are, and to slim it down. So I support DOGE. ... There's a lot of [public ] enthusiasm. When it starts to hit close to home, like at NETL, or Bureau of Fiscal Service, or Forest Service, it hurts." Capito said that she thinks what we'll see in the long run is everything settling out, finding the jobs that are critical, and if people have been cut from them, they'll get hired back. "You're already seeing some of that happen. I saw CDC was hiring back some of the folks that they had originally let go." On the Medicaid issue, Capito said "Almost one third, 28 %, of West Virginians are on Medicaid. Quite a healthy number, and anytime somebody starts talking about Medicaid, I become very concerned about what the impacts will have on families." Congress plans to extend the Trump tax relief legislation passed back in 2017, she said, and try to get a hold on the $34 trillion national debt "and make some meaningful tightening of our belt. And because of that, other programs are going to be looked at. But President Trump himself has said Medicaid and Medicare will not be touched." But, Capito said, they will review Medicaid for any abuse or waste, to make the program run better without cutting anybody's benefits. "And I think this can be done. I think there are certain areas, and all the conversations that I've had, that can make Medicaid, which is now the largest of the government programs, run more efficiently and work better for people without cutting benefits." She cautioned that lowering the total costs of this massive program "is very much a moving target. As the weeks go by, this will become clearer. It may be that Medicaid is totally off the table." HIDTA Enhancement Act Among other topics covered during the briefing, Capito mentioned her co-sponsorship of the HIDTA Enhancement Act. The High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas program is administered by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy and supports collaboration between federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies to reduce drug trafficking and misuse. There are 33 regional HIDTAs across the U.S., and Capito said there are three in West Virginia, with 24 counties that are designated a HIDTA. "They do great work. And I wanted to see us capitalize on that because I'm very committed to making sure that West Virginians become healthier and addiction free. The HIDTA Enhancement Act would reauthorize the HIDTA program and provide them with greater resources to cover more activities to enhance fentanyl prevention and seizures. The HIDTA Enhancement Act reauthorizes the HIDTA program at $333 million annually through 2030 ; increases authorization for competitive grants to $14, 224, 000 and expands use of funds to include enhanced fentanyl seizure and interdiction activities.
Yahoo
07-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Capito fields questions on DOGE, effects on West Virginia, during weekly briefing
Mar. 6—dbeard @ MORGANTOWN — President Trump's DOGE effort to count government waste is popular among the public — with a poll by left-leaning CNN saying 54 % of voters believe DOGE should have at least some influence over government spending and operations. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito offered some thoughts on the topic in response to a question from The Dominion Post during her weekly West Virginia press briefing. Acknowledging the fits and starts of some of actions taken to trim some government office overstaffing, she said, "The goals are great. The methods are good. But the execution is probably a little rough at this point, the president's only been in [office ] between five to six weeks." Our question came in the context of West Virginia's dependence on federal jobs — with NETL and NIOSH in Morgantown, the FBI in Harrison county, and the Forest Service and more across the state — and a high proportion of the state's population on Medicaid. On the jobs portion, Capito said that according to the information they have, probably the hardest hit area has been Parkersburg, where the Bureau of Fiscal Service lost more than 100 probationary jobs — people hired into jobs within the last year. [The Dominion Post received reports that NETL in Morgantown also lost more than 100 probationers, but the Department of Energy did not respond to several requests to confirm that and provide an accurate figure.] "The big goal, " Capito said, "is government efficiencies. is making the bloated bureaucracies that we have match better what our needs are, and to slim it down. So I support DOGE. ... There's a lot of [public ] enthusiasm. When it starts to hit close to home, like at NETL, or Bureau of Fiscal Service, or Forest Service, it hurts." Capito said that she thinks what we'll see in the long run is everything settling out, finding the jobs that are critical, and if people have been cut from them, they'll get hired back. "You're already seeing some of that happen. I saw CDC was hiring back some of the folks that they had originally let go." On the Medicaid issue, Capito said "Almost one third, 28 %, of West Virginians are on Medicaid. Quite a healthy number, and anytime somebody starts talking about Medicaid, I become very concerned about what the impacts will have on families." Congress plans to extend the Trump tax relief legislation passed back in 2017, she said, and try to get a hold on the $34 trillion national debt "and make some meaningful tightening of our belt. And because of that, other programs are going to be looked at. But President Trump himself has said Medicaid and Medicare will not be touched." But, Capito said, they will review Medicaid for any abuse or waste, to make the program run better without cutting anybody's benefits. "And I think this can be done. I think there are certain areas, and all the conversations that I've had, that can make Medicaid, which is now the largest of the government programs, run more efficiently and work better for people without cutting benefits." She cautioned that lowering the total costs of this massive program "is very much a moving target. As the weeks go by, this will become clearer. It may be that Medicaid is totally off the table." HIDTA Enhancement Act Among other topics covered during the briefing, Capito mentioned her co-sponsorship of the HIDTA Enhancement Act. The High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas program is administered by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy and supports collaboration between federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies to reduce drug trafficking and misuse. There are 33 regional HIDTAs across the U.S., and Capito said there are three in West Virginia, with 24 counties that are designated a HIDTA. "They do great work. And I wanted to see us capitalize on that because I'm very committed to making sure that West Virginians become healthier and addiction free. The HIDTA Enhancement Act would reauthorize the HIDTA program and provide them with greater resources to cover more activities to enhance fentanyl prevention and seizures. The HIDTA Enhancement Act reauthorizes the HIDTA program at $333 million annually through 2030 ; increases authorization for competitive grants to $14, 224, 000 and expands use of funds to include enhanced fentanyl seizure and interdiction activities.
