NOAA 98-007



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Lori Arguelles					

Tim Tomastik				For Immediate Release

					2/2/98 at 2:30 pm

NOAA ANNOUNCES 1999 BUDGET 

The Commerce Department's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) requested a budget of $2.1 billion for fiscal year 1999, which represents a five-percent increase over last year's request. NOAA's responsibilities include predicting changes in the Earth's environment and conserving and managing the nation's coastal and marine resources.

"The President's fiscal year 1999 budget request shows strong support for the important mission of NOAA and will support advances in achieving our goals such as forecasting the weather and managing our nation's fisheries," said Commerce Secretary William M. Daley. "This budget also provides the resources for two important areas: the Natural Disaster Reduction Initiative and the Clean Water Initiative."

Relative to fiscal year 1998 currently available funds, significant changes in the fiscal year 1999 budget include:

• $28.3 million to maintain the National Weather Service operational infrastructure and ensure the provision of weather warnings and forecasts to the public, consistent with the recommendations contained in a study released in October of 1997 by General John F. Kelly.
  
• $151.2 million for continuing geostationary and polar weather satellite development and acquisition; and $30.7 million to converge civilian and military polar-orbiting satellites.
  
• A total of $55 million for the Natural Disaster Reduction Initiative (NDRI), which includes $19.9 million to build on the modernized weather service infrastructure and improve flood forecasting and water management; improve national- and regional-scale weather predication models; and enhance other disaster mitigation efforts. Additional increases for NDRI efforts are included in other areas of the NOAA budget to mitigate the effects of coastal hazards and to address air quality issues.
  
• $33.6 million to continue the President's commitment to restore the wealth of America's fisheries, protect marine species faced with extinction, and conserve habitat important to living marine resources through the implementation of NOAA's management and research obligations under the Magnuson-Stevens Fisheries Conservation and Management Act, Endangered Species Act, Marine Mammal Protection Act, and other authorities.
  
• $24.5 million to improve NOAA's coastal stewardship responsibilities, including total funding of $22 million in support of the Clean Water Initiative, which will strengthen critical capabilities of NOAA's Coastal Zone Management Program and Coastal Nonpoint Pollution Control Program and address outbreaks of pfiesteria and other harmful algal blooms, and other symptoms of degraded coastal ecosystems.
  
• $4.0 million needed to improve our understanding of climate and air quality and provide the scientific basis for national policy decisions in key environmental areas.
  
• $39.6 million in FY 2000 for a fisheries research vessel, the first of four to be acquired through FY 2003. Funds to determine requirements and develop a design were provided in FY 1998.
  
• $4.2 million to complete construction of the Santa Cruz Research Laboratory.

"This budget is based on the resources needed for NOAA to achieve its mission, as outlined in the NOAA Strategic Plan and the seven major agency goals, and the requirement to be more effective, to identify and realize opportunities for savings, and to focus the efforts of government on what matters to the people," states D. James Baker, NOAA administrator and under secretary for oceans and atmosphere.

NOAA's fiscal year 1999 budget is available on the web at www.noaa.gov/budget.