Congress is nixing Energy Secretary Chu’s poorly thought out proposal for eight “Energy Innovation Hubs” — but will still give him three of them. From Science magazine’s “ScienceInsider” blog:

The U.S. Congress is giving Energy Secretary Steven Chu enough money to launch three of his beloved Bell Labs — fewer than half of his request.
In his proposed budget for 2010, Chu wanted $480 million to start eight Energy Innovation Hubs, or “Bell Lablets,” as he called them, to stimulate research in areas ranging from solar energy to new materials for the electric grid. Each would receive $35 million to get started, and $25 million more in each of the following 4 years.
Last week Congress poured semi-cold water on the idea. Conferees to the Energy and Water spending bill approved funding for three of the centers, two in energy efficiency and renewable energy and one in nuclear energy.
Its skepticism was no surprise, having been included this summer in reports accompanying the spending bills in the House of Representatives and Senate (House, Senate versions). In August, Science reporter Jeffrey Mervis described how Chu admitted to a mediocre job of selling the idea and overcoming congressional concerns that the concept was poorly thought out and not well-coordinated with other energy research at the Department of Energy. House appropriators were particularly unkind to the idea, noting:
A new set of centers with overlapping research goals risks adding confusion and redundancy to the existing fleet of research and development initiatives