Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and
members of the Subcommittee, for this opportunity to testify on
the President's FY 2000 Budget Request for the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
I am accompanied today by Terry Garcia, Assistant Secretary for
Oceans and Atmosphere, Scott B. Gudes, Deputy Under Secretary
for Oceans and Atmosphere, and Paul F. Roberts, Chief Financial
Officer/Chief Administrative Officer.
Before I begin, let me state that because of investments championed
by this subcommittee, NOAA is a world leader in weather and climate
research and forecasts, environmental monitoring and research,
fisheries management, and sustainable use of the coast. This proposed
budget is a good budget for NOAA; this is a good budget for the
Department of Commerce; this is a good budget for America!
This budget demonstrates our commitment to meeting our responsibilities
for investing in and maintaining our infrastructure. The challenge
of investing strategically in the Nation's future requires continuing
investments in NOAA's infrastructure, including investments in
our people. The FYbudget request includes essential funding to
meet these investment needs. Most notably, the budget request:
· includes funding to address our data acquisition needs
by providing for the first of four new Fisheries Research Vessels
(FRVs), while at the same time increasing the number of days-at-sea
by 245 for University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System
(UNOLS) ship time for critical data collection needs for the Global
Ocean Ecosystem Dynamics (GLOBEC) and Ecology and Oceanography
of Harmful Alagal Bloom (ECOHAB) programs.
· provides funding to maintain our supercomputing capacity
at the NWS Central Computing Facility in Suitland, Maryland, and
the Forecast Systems Lab (FSL) in Boulder, Colorado while acquiring
a massively parrallel, scalable computer to be located at OAR's
Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Lab (GFDL), in Princeton, New Jersey.
· provides increased recurring lease and/or operations
costs at a number of NOAA facilities coming on-line in FY 1999
and FY 2000, such as the Santa Cruz and Kodiak Fisheries Laboratories,
the Marine Environmental Health Research Laboratory in Charleston,
South Carolina and the David Skaggs Research Center in Boulder,
Colorado. At the same time funds are requested to complete the
planning and design of a new state-of-the-art NMFS research facility
near Juneau, Alaska.
· provides adjustments-to-base for pay related and inflationary
cost increases to the National Weather Service, as well as for
the FY 2000 pay raise for the remaining Line Offices.
· includes funds to begin replacing outdated observing
equipment in order to maintain continuity of core data and services
and provides funds for continuing technology infusion for systems
developed for the Weather Service Modernization;
· reflects the Administration's plans to restructure and
maintain the NOAA Corps and includes Payments for Retired Pay
for Commissioned Officers as mandatory funding;
· includes $1.0to establish educational training relationships
through a joint partnership with a consortium of Historically
Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU). These efforts would not
only result in the education of new marine, atmospheric and environmental
scientists, but would also assist many coastal communities in
the development of new business and environmental engineering
alternatives to support sustainable economic development; and,
· provides funds to accelerate the implementation of the
Commerce Administrative Management System (CAMS), which is critical
to meeting NOAA's financial management requirements.
We, at NOAA, know that performance is what counts! Therefore,
our FY 2000 budget includes measures that will track results to
the level of investment.
NOAA's FY 2000 request is for $2.6 billion in total budget
authority which includes $2.5 billion in discretionary budget
authority. This request collectively represents a 12.9% increase
over the total budget authority appropriated for FY 1999.
The request is predicated on the need to ensure the continued
delivery of essential science, technology and services to the
Nation. The President's Budget Request also allows NOAA to perform
an essential role in a number of Departmental, interagency and
Presidential initiatives, including the Lands Legacy Initiative
and other important components of the Ocean 2000 Initiative, the
Natural Disaster Reduction Initiative, the Climate in the 21stInitiative,
and building the capacity of the Nation's Historically Black Colleges
and Universities (HBCUs). Let me take a moment to say a few words
about some of these important activities.
Ocean 2000
Ocean and coastal resources are the foundation of the Nation's
coastal and regional economies. One-third of the U.S. GDP and
one-half of the Nation's jobs are produced in the coastal zone
through industries such as fishing, tourism, and marine transportation.
With increasing national attention on the value of the ocean and
coastal resources and the important role of ocean navigation and
shipping, the $317.6Ocean 2000 initiative will increase the protection,
restoration and sustainable use of the Nation's ocean and coastal
resources.
The Ocean 2000 crosscut integrates the Administration's Lands
Legacy programs and initiatives supporting the Year Of The Ocean
(YOTO), Resource Protection, South Florida ecosystems restoration
and research, and implementation of NOAA's responsibilities under
the Clean Water Action Plan.
Lands Legacy
NOAA's FY 2000 budget requests $105 million of new funding to
fulfill the environmental goals outlined in the Administrations
Lands Legacy Initiative.
The economic and environmental well-being we derive from the abundant
and essential natural resources and the beauty provided by coastal
ecosystems is being undermined by the very critical economic and
aesthetic uses that make these diverse areas so valuable to the
Nation. Escalating losses and degradation of coastal wetlands,
fisheries habitat, and coral reef ecosystems must be reversed.
NOAA has the vision, expertise and partnerships to successfully
confront this challenge. The request includes funding for targeted
investments to: strengthen and expand protection of the Nation's
most significant ocean and coastal areas; restore critical coastal
habitat and vibrant coral reef ecosystems; and provide states
and coastal communities with the tools and resources for environmentally-sound
and economically-sustainable "smart growth." Some examples
of our investments include:
· $32.0for Coastal Zone Management of which:
· $28.0 million will help
states and localities, through Section 310 of the Coastal Zone
Management Act, to implement community-based solutions to restore
or enhance coastal resources and community revitalization.
· $2.0 million for coastal
non-point pollution control program development (Section 6217);
and,
· $2.0 million for Section
309 Grants for coastal non-point pollution control program implementation.
NOAA will work with 32 Coastal Zone Management state partners
and coastal communities by providing grants and technical assistance
to improve land use and address impacts of increased development
and urban sprawl on coastal resources.
An increase of $15.0 million will be used to strengthen the nation's
only system of marine protected areas, the National Marine Sanctuary
program. The Sanctuary System will be enhanced by bolstering operational
capabilities at the twelve existing sites, expanding Sanctuary
educational and outreach opportunities, and positioning the System
for the future by beginning the planning process in consultation
with states and communities to identify possible new sites. This
represents growth in the Marine Sanctuary Program funding by a
factor of four since FY 1993 (a total of $29.0 million).
In addition an increase of $14.7will be used to enhance the protection
of critical estuaries by providing funds to states and communities
for the acquisition of lands from willing sellers in and around
the existing National Estuarine Research Reserves System ($19
million total), as well as strengthening existing management and
upgrading facilities at these sites.
More than 95 percent of U.S. overseas trade by tonnage (excluding
Mexico and Canada) passes through U.S. ports and harbors. It is
often necessary for our ports and harbors to dredge deeper channels
to accommodate larger and larger sized cargo ships. Such efforts
must be undertaken in a way that protects the environment, including
a continued commitment to environmentally sound dredging and safe
disposal or reuse of dredged materials. An increase of $10.0 million
is requested for NOAA to work with the Corps of Engineers, other
federal and state agencies, and coastal communities to help them
avoid costly delays in the dredging process and to determine ways
to use material dredged from ports and shipping channels to restore
important coastal habitats.
Coral reefs are exquisite yet endangered ecosystems which sustain
tourism, recreation and fishing industries worth billions of dollars
in economic activity. New funding of $10.0 million will enable
NOAA, by working with states and other agencies, to restore injured
reefs in Puerto Rico, Florida, Hawaii, U.S. territories and the
commonwealths. Funding will be provided for: development and implementation
of emergency restoration activities; restoration of small to moderate-sized
injured sites; development of coral nurseries to provide donor
material for restoration projects; monitoring to evaluate restoration
effectiveness; and the transfer of restoration technologies to
other coastal stewards. This request complements and supports
the $2Coral Reef Protection increase requested under the Year
of the Ocean Initiative.
Finally under this Initiative, NOAA requests $22.7 million to
increase the number and geographical scope of community- based
habitat restoration efforts that generate quality coastal or river
habitat to improve survival of many salt water fish species nationwide.
It is the intention of the Administration that funding for
the Lands Legacy Initiative be derived from the Land and Water
Conservation Fund. Although the fund has traditionally
been used to fund programs within the Department of Interior,
there is clear authority for it to be used for certain NOAA programs.
Year of the Ocean
At the 1998 National Ocean Conference in Monterey, California,
the President launched a series of major initiatives to explore,
protect and restore America's vital ocean resources. Highlighting
the important role the ocean plays in the daily lives of all Americans,
the Administration introduced measures to promote new scientific
insight into the oceans, sustain use of fisheries and other marine
resources, provide new opportunities for economic growth, and
protect fragile coastal communities and ecosystems, such as coral
reefs, from damage and environmental degradation.
NOAA's FY 2000 budget request ($78.1 million) for the Year of
the Ocean (YOTO) Initiative includes increases of:
· $5.2 million to promote safe and efficient navigation,
through balanced investment that will improve the competitiveness
of U.S. ports and exports while lowering the risk of marine accidents
and resulting pollution. Within this amount, an increase of $2.75will
enable NOAA to fully develop and implement quality assurance and
modernization capabilities required to support the installation
of additional Physical Oceanographic Real-Time Systems (PORTS)
through cost sharing partnerships.
· $4.0to better understand the role of oceans in shaping
our weather and climate. Finer measurements of ocean data are
needed to track climate shifts, understand the interaction of
the oceans and atmosphere, and predict severe weather and the
regional impacts of global climate change. Funds will be used
to construct, deploy and operate an array of 1000 profiling autonomous
floats for data collection in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.
· $58.2 million for Fisheries Data Collection Capacity,
Stock Assessments and Fisheries Conservation, and Management,
including:
· $51.6to construct the first of four new state-of-the-art
research vessels necessary to conduct essential stock assessment
surveys and monitor fish and marine mammal species, assess ecological
changes and provide the best available data to rebuild sustainable
fisheries. These new ships will be both calibrated and acoustically
quiet to mitigate disturbance of sea-life under study. The ships
will complement our increasing charters with research partners
in industry and academia and will modernize NOAA's aging fleet
of research vessels.
· $2.6for NOAA to carry out requirements of the Magnuson
Stevens Fisheries Conservation and Management Act.
· $2.0for enhanced observer coverage to carry out increased
observer workload mandated in the Act.
· $2.0to support work on fisheries oceanography to improve
stock predictions by identifying and assessing critical environmental
processes controlling long-term trends in the Nation's fishery
production. A network of bio- physical moorings in the North Pacific
Ocean will provide data on key oceanographic indicators and give
greater insight into environmentally-induced shifts in the productivity
of commercially important fish stocks.
· $4.6for NOAA, in cooperation with industry, Federal,
and State partners, to develop and promote an environmentally
friendly and commercially viable domestic marine Aquaculture industry.
Of this amount, $3.6will support an OAR program on Mariculture,
and $1.0 million is for NMFS to work with industry to develop
environmentally sound Aquaculture standards.
· $2.0 million in order to work with the states, U.S. territories
and commonwealths, and local communities, to carry out important
research, monitoring, management and mapping of the Nation's coral
reef system. These funds will be used to better understand the
state of this fragile ecosystem and help identify solutions to
protect this vital resource.
· $4.1to unravel deep-sea mysteries, discover new opportunities
in the ocean, and better understand how to protect marine resources.
These funds will launch a program to map and explore U.S. ocean
waters with advanced underwater technology, and support an economic
evaluation of the contribution that the oceans vast resources
provide to the Nation's economy and environment.
Resource Protection
Development is posing an increasing threat to numerous marine
species and their habitat. The number of species either listed
by NOAA under the Endangered Species Act or under consideration
for listing is growing. Stemming this crisis of extinction is
one of NOAA's greatest challenges. NOAA is committed to preventing
the extinction of at-risk marine species, and restoring their
habitat and ecosystems.
Our ongoing efforts to protect and conserve our natural resources
include establishing greater public involvement in conservation
planning, creating incentives for landowners and states to protect
species and their habitat in order to prevent the need to list,
and entering into long-term conservation plans with landowners.
NOAA's FY 2000 budget request includes over $130to support the
Resource Protection Initiative, including:
· $100.0 million to establish a Pacific Coastal Salmon
Recovery account for grants that will bolster salmon recovery
through a new partnership agreement that will double the federal
dollars with matching non-federal contributions. The Presidential
initiative focuses on improving federal conservation activities
and building crucial federal-state-tribal partnerships to share
limited resources while improving scientific information to ensure
a lasting recovery of salmon. Many salmon runs are at risk of
extinction in California, Oregon, Washington, and Alaska.
· $2.6 million to characterize and map biodiversity and
protected species habitat. These efforts will permit the identification
of crucial habitat for the conservation of at-risk species and
will identify increased conservation efforts under the ESA.
· $27.5for Endangered Species Act (ESA) Recovery Planning
to stem the decline of highly endangered species including Atlantic
and Pacific Salmon, leatherback and loggerhead turtles, Hawaiian
monk seals, and North Atlantic right whales through protecting
and restoring critical habitat; eliminating incidental take in
commercial fisheries and conducting research and monitoring to
determine species status and habitat requirements.
South Florida
NOAA's FY 2000 budget request includes $5.1 million to address
issues related to the South Florida Everglades Restoration effort
- an increase of $1.6 million over FYto support an integrated
effort among federal, tribal, state and non-governmental partners
to halt the degradation and restore the healthy function of the
South Florida ecosystem.
NOAA supports the portion of the South Florida Everglades Initiative
exclusively devoted to restoring and protecting the coastal and
marine portions of the South Florida ecosystem such as fisheries
habitat and coral reefs.
The Initiative has already produced significant accomplishments
in this area. Continued investment is necessary to restore and
maintain the marine ecosystem and the associated economies of
South Florida Bay, and the Florida Keys.
Clean Water Initiative (CWI)
NOAA's FY 2000 budget request includes a total of $22.0to support
the Administration's Clean Water Initiative, an increase of $5.8
million over FY 1999. This Initiative will help protect coastal
communities from toxics and reduce the flow of pollution into
coastal waters from nonpoint sources (e.g., runoff from agricultural
fields, city streets, and other areas). Polluted runoff is now
a major source of coastal water pollution and one of the primary
factors associated with outbreaks of harmful algal blooms (e.g.,
pfiesteria) and the spread of hypoxic zones in U.S. coastal waters.
Communities, businesses and human health are increasingly threatened
by polluted runoff and the symptoms of polluted coastal waters.
For example, every year degraded water quality causes warnings
or closures of thousands of beaches resulting in losses to tourism
and recreation industries. Degraded water quality continues to
close or restrict the use of nearly 30 percent of U.S. shellfish
growing areas. This includes 4.5acres or 50 percent of the shellfish
growing area in the Gulf of Mexico, the Nation's top shellfish-producing
region.
Over the past 20 years, harmful algal blooms have affected nearly
every coastal state and produced an estimated $1.0in economic
losses. The increasing frequency and magnitude of these problems
suggests that significant action is required now to reduce the
costs and symptoms of nonpoint source pollution, and improve the
quality of U.S. coastal waters.
An increase of $4.0 million under the Clean Water Initiative (also
presented under the Lands Legacy Initiative CZM component), will
address polluted runoff by providing CZM states with additional
resources to develop and implement coastal non-point control programs.
At this point, I want to highlight to the Committee our strong
opposition to the $2.0rescission in the FY 1999 Emergency Supplemental
for non-point source pollution funds. These funds are important
to the nation's coastal states as they develop and implement plans
to alleviate and mitigate this expensive problem of non-point
pollution. $2.0 million, half of the FY 1999 appropriation,
is a small but crucial amount of money that goes to the states.
An increase of $1.8 million will enable NOAA to increase its efforts
in national pfiesteria research and monitoring. The increase will
also allow NOAA to assist states, universities and communities
in the development of detection and assay technologies essential
for pfiesteria and other types of harmful algal bloom outbreaks.
Each of these components, integrated in the Ocean 2000 Initiative,
is essential for ensuring the long-term health of our Nation's
oceans and coastal areas. The FY 2000 budget reflects NOAA's commitment
to meeting these needs and fulfilling our mission as the Nation's
leader in ocean and coastal stewardship.
Natural Disaster Reduction Initiative (NDRI)
Natural hazards related to severe weather (hurricanes, tornadoes,
winter storms, droughts and floods) or geophysical activity (volcanoes,
geomagnetic storms, earthquakes, and tsunamis) threaten lives,
property and the stability of local and regional economies throughout
the United States.
In FY 2000, NOAA requests a net increase of $42.1 million for
the Natural Disaster Reduction Initiative (NDRI) to implement
a second phase of the Department's multi-agency strategy, which
includes NOAA, EDA and NIST, to reduce and mitigate against the
impacts of extreme natural events. The strategy calls for an end-to-end
approach to natural disaster mitigation, from research to improve
prediction and understanding of extreme events, to advances in
developing response and recovery plans, to assessment of vulnerabilities
of communities and infrastructure, and providing information,
technology, and training to reduce vulnerability before and after
natural disasters.
The modernization of the Weather Service represents a significant
commitment by the Administration. The modernization effort has
made considerable progress in providing more accurate and timely
weather warnings and forecasts services. The National Weather
Service (NWS) vision of becoming a "no surprise weather service"
is becoming more and more a reality today. The NWS has significantly
improved its services since the 1974 super- tornado outbreak.
Just in the past five years, NWS has more than doubled tornado
warning lead-times from 5 minutes in 1993 to approximately 11
minutes in 1998. These extra minutes have saved lives. In order
to ensure that these improvements are sustained the FY 2000 Budget
includes:
· an adjustment to base of $20.0 million in pay-related
and inflationary cost increases and $12.3in programmatic changes
to the National Weather Service to ensure the continuation of
quality accurate and timely weather warnings and forecasts services
to the public.
· $25.8 million to expand operation and maintenance support
for the entire NWS Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System
(AWIPS) network and fund systems evolution activities.
· $2.7 million to support AWIPS operations and Weather
Forecast Office (WFO) Facilities Construction at offices established
as the result of mitigation actions per the Secretary's Report
Team recommendations on the adequacy of NEXRAD Coverage and Degradation
of Weather Services under National Weather Service Modernization
for: Caribou, Maine and Key West, Florida; and continue current
operations at Erie, Pennsylvania; and Williston, North Dakota.
An additional $1.0 million for mitigation activities is included
in the Operations and Research request.
· $3.7 million for other NWS systems activities such as
product improvement initiative and acquisition closeout activities
for Automated Surface Observing System (ASOS) and Next Generation
Weather Radar (NEXRAD) and to provide commercial aircraft observations
from the ARINC Communication Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS)
for operational use in numerical weather prediction models.
· $3.7 million for Weather Forecast Office Construction
and Maintenance activities such as: construction of Alaska housing
in remote areas and the implementation of corrective and preventive
maintenance actions at selected WFOs across the country; in addition
to continuing facility retrofit projects necessary to meet current
usage requirements as well as safety and fire code regulations.
The request includes an increase of $30.1for NOAA's share of the
Polar Convergence (NPOESS) program, for a total request of $80.1in
FY 2000. In FY 2000, the NPOESS program will continue Phase I
design and development of five key sensors and initiate Phase
II production of these sensors in FY 2001. This program will be
jointly and equally funded by NOAA and DOD.
The request also includes an increase of $6.8 million for GOES
N-Q spacecraft acquisition (a total program of $189.5for FY 2000),
including development funds for advanced instruments to be ready
for the GOES-Q satellite, and the upgrading and replacement of
aging ground systems that will remain operational through the
life of GOES-Q.
The FY 2000 Request also provides increases for maintaining the
operational support for the on-orbit satellites and expanding
the use of satellite data.
· $1.7 million will fund Satellite Operational Control
Center (SOCC) non-discretionary labor and non-labor costs increases
in order to avoid serious risk to the health and safety of the
current operational satellites. This increase will also maintain
adequate operational data processing capacity and engineering
support for satellites data streams; and,
· $2.0 million will be used to establish an integrated
Global Disaster Information Network (GDIN) to improve all phases
of disaster management. This will be a public/private partnership
to develop acomprehensive information system for those who manage
and those who are affected by disasters.
The FY 2000 budget also includes funding for other projects that
will enhance observation and prediction capabilities, such as:
· $6.4 million to continue the replacement and modernization
of the obsolete upper air radiosonde network that provides critical
upper air observations which are the principal data source for
all weather forecasts. Modern radiosondes and ground receiving
equipment will permit more efficient use of radio frequency spectrum
and ensure reliable and consistent upper air data acquisition.
· $2.2to initiate the national implementation of the Advanced
Hydrologic Prediction System (AHPS), an integrated real-time modeling
and data management/analysis system for flood forecasts, in the
upper Mississippi, including the Red River of the North and the
Ohio River Basin. AHPS will expand and improve forecasts of river
levels from days to several months in advance.
· $4.3 million will be used for the GEOSTORM satellite,
a follow-on to the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) satellite.
This multi-agency program leverages the interests and requirements
of NOAA, NASA and the Air Force to increase the lead time of warnings
currently provided to power companies and other industries vulnerable
to solar storms. These industries have told us to make GEOSTORM
our number one priority as they now depend on solar wind warning
products to trigger preventative measures that help avert wide-spread
power blackouts and satellite failures.
· $0.4 million will be used to provide for a second flight
crew for NOAA's G-IV high altitude jet to meet the operational
requirement of 24-hour storm surveillance. This funding will allow
the jet to be flown on high priority back-to-back missions (12-hour
intervals) during land-falling hurricanes. It will also permit
storm tracking for long duration hurricanes when crew rest limitations
may ground the aircraft.
Finally, an increase of $1.0 million is requested to expand work
with coastal states and communities to develop coastal risk atlases
and provide new remote sensing data in a more timely and effective
manner. This will enable coastal communities to better prepare
for and recover from natural disasters.
Climate in the 21st Century
Over the past two years, climate variability has emerged as one
of the most urgent, long-term strategic environmental security
issues facing the United States. The demand for scientifically
sound climate information by decision-makers and the public is
accelerating. For this reason, as the Department prepares to enter
the 21st century, NOAA requests $19.1to meet the Nation's climate
service needs.
Underlying NOAA's ability to improve climate and weather models
is maintaining state-of-the-art computer capabilities for world-class
research. Included in this request is $5.7to acquire a massively
parallel processing computer to improve forecasts of El Niño
events, model climate variability, and make better hurricane predictions.
Procurement of this computer will help close the computing gap
between the U.S. and European climate centers.
Four key components of this initiative will provide critical funding
for NOAA's unique responsibility to obtain long-term observations
of the ocean and atmosphere and maintain national data archives.
They are:
· $1.2to restore and maintain operations at its baseline
atmospheric observatories in Alaska, Hawaii, Samoa, and Antarctica,
· $3.0to begin the modernization of the Cooperative Reference
Network and Rain Gauge Network ($1.5 million in NWS and $1.5 million
in NESDIS). At present, NOAA uses paper punch tapes which are
processed on a machine for which, there are no spare parts. It
is one of two such machines in the world. We must move forward
technologically on this, and
· $0.9for NESDIS to meet the increased demand for near
real-time products, data, and information related to unusual weather,
climate, and environmental events.
· $1.6to make long-term measurement of carbon dioxide in
the ocean, develop new ocean data assimilation methods, and improve
existing climate models.
NOAA is requesting $6.7 million for FY 2000 in the Climate and
Global Change Program to launch new climate research projects.
These will provide critical data to deepen our scientific understanding
of, and thus our ability to predict, climate variability and change.
The successful forecast of the 1997-1998 El Niño and the
subsequent La Niña events demonstrated dramatically that
this kind of research can realize tangible benefits. A well-documented
predictive understanding of the El Niño Southern Oscillation
(ENSO) and other aspects of how our climate works is needed to
determine the effects of climate anomalies on our daily lives,
and is also needed to guide potential decisions regarding the
role human influences play in climate change.
Beyond the waters of the tropical Pacific - where the ENSO signal
is measured - are similar climate cycles that are as important
to weather and climate patterns over North America as ENSO. NOAA
plans to investigate and forecast these other key climate signals
- the North Atlantic (or Arctic) Oscillation to learn the its
effects on hurricane tracks and strengths in the Atlantic; and
the Pacific Decadal Oscillation and its impact on the Northwest
salmon fishery. Learning more about these cycles will enable NOAA
to improve both climate and weather forecasts and predict their
impacts at regional levels. In turn, these predictions can be
used by the effected populations to guide a range of decisions
from emergency management to agriculture and fisheries.
NOAA also plans to investigate the recently-identified "North
American carbon sink", describing on a regional scale the
characteristics that lead to the net uptake of atmospheric carbon
by the land. This will be done by sampling the atmosphere from
aircraft flying at low altitudes, measuring carbon dioxide levels
to see how they vary according to vegetation type and other terrestrial
characteristics. NOAA will conduct similar experiments on tropospheric
(low-altitude) ozone, measuring variations in its concentration
to determine the importance of this gas in regional warming scenarios
relative to carbon dioxide.
CONCLUSION/WRAP-UP
In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, the FY 2000 request builds
on the progress we have made, with your assistance and support
over the past years. NOAA's environmental stewardship and assessment
missions are essential to securing our Nation's success in the
21st Century.
In meeting our mission, NOAA continues to focus the efforts of
government on what matters to the American people. Success in
this changing world increasingly depends on partnerships with
business and industry, universities, state and local governments
and international parties. NOAA continues to develop these partnerships
to leverage resources and talent, and provide the means for meeting
program requirements more effectively. For example:
The Penobscot Bay Collaborative,
a multi-year pilot demonstration funded by the National Environmental
Satellite, Data and Information Service (NESDIS) of NOAA, is
demonstrating the applicability of environmental satellite oceanographic
data to develop predictive tools for understanding lobster abundance
in Penobscot Bay in the Gulf of Maine. In a cooperative effort
with the State of Maine, local universities and the private sector,
the project is helping to help provide improved environmental
data and information to resource managers to help them understand
and respond to changing ecological dynamics in both near-shore
waters and coastal environments. A new generation of resource
management tools using satellite ocean remote sensing data is
being developed and tested for their suitability in building
sustainable marine resource utilization.
The Penobscot Bay Collaborative is
also contributing to complementary growth in Maine's emerging
information technologies economic sector. The NOAA-NESDIS effort
is being joined by a new economic development initiative being
promoted by Angus King, Governor of Maine. Known as "Jobs
From the Sea", this State initiative is seeking to foster
new and expanded opportunities related to Maine's tremendously
productive marine waters. A statewide bond issue of $20 million
has recently been approved to leverage the State's investment
for jobs development in the technology sector.
Through this unique partnership between
Federal, State and private organizations, the NESDIS-Maine Penobscot
Bay Collaborative not only promotes Maine's emerging technology
intensive sector (particularly in spatial information products
and satellite application technologies), but also is envisioned
to foster more sustainable management of Maine's natural resource-based
industries. If successful, the goal is to enable resource managers,
technology entrepreneurs, and private citizens will use environmental
satellite data as routinely as they do now weather reports.
The FY 2000 budget is an investment for the 21st century, a step
toward a more viable, economically sound, and ecologically sustainable
future... where environmental stewardship, assessment and prediction
serve as keystones to enhancing economic prosperity and quality
of life, better protecting lives and property, and strengthening
U.S. trade.
Thank you again for the opportunity to appear. I would be pleased
to respond to any questions members of the Subcommittee may have.