EELVs are Still An Option For NASA

Garver, Bolden Urge Passage of NASA Authorization, Space News
“Despite prescriptive language in the Senate bill that directs NASA to begin building a space shuttle-derived heavy-lift launch vehicle next year, Garver said the agency would work with stakeholders in Congress to determine an appropriate transportation architecture for exploration beyond low Earth orbit.”
NASA’s future looks bleak amid policy shift, Orlando Sentinel via LA Times
“Engineers at Kennedy Space Center in Florida are looking to build a rocket for a test flight in 2014, using the space shuttle’s giant orange fuel tank, main engines and solid rocket boosters as mandated by the pending law. But program managers at NASA headquarters are looking at flying the Orion crew capsule aboard a commercial Delta IV heavy rocket, the kind used successfully by the military to put secret spy satellites into orbit, as early as 2013.”
ULA: Light amid clouds, Decatur Daily
“The most lucrative project for ULA would be involvement in the heavy-lift rocket. As envisioned in the Constellation program, the heavy-lift was to have a 150-ton payload capacity, about five times the payload capacity of the Delta IV and four times the capacity of the Atlas V. A budget bill that passed the Senate recently prescribes a less ambitious heavy-lift rocket with at least a 75-ton capacity.”
NASA Gets New Orders That Bypass the Moon, NY Times
“The next skirmish is likely to be over the design of that rocket. The new bill clearly envisions a rocket built of components used in the space shuttles and Constellation’s soon-to-be-canceled Ares I rocket. The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, which wrote the bill, said in an accompanying report that it expected the rocket to include solid-fuel boosters like those of the shuttle or Ares I. Some NASA and administration officials have considered switching to the Delta IV and Atlas V rockets currently used to launch satellites for the Air Force. They believe those could be more efficient and less costly because they would avoid infrastructure used only for NASA launchings. Ms. Garver said that NASA would study all options, including the Delta IV and Atlas V. The legislation calls for NASA to report to Congress in 90 days with a plan for the heavy-lift rocket.”
Delta IV Heavy is Cheaper Than Ares 1. Wow. Who Knew, earlier post