 |
 |
 |
|
||||||
|
|
|||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Congressional Briefings on Gas Hydrates
Three factors have come together to bring gas-hydrate studies into focus at high levels in government:
It was therefore no surprise when U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientist Debbie Hutchinson received a call from a colleague at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), asking her to participate in a briefing for several Senate staffers who wanted to learn about gas hydrates. Despite the uncertainty in the budget in early January, Debbie participated in two briefings for Congress on January 16, 2003. The first briefing was to the Senate staffers who initially requested it: Myron Nordquist, Chris Lee, and Eric Bovim, all representing Senator Conrad Burns' (Montana) office. Coincidentally, Senator Burns is Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee for the Department of the Interior, making a good impression of USGS work imperative. The briefing was given by Debbie, covering an introduction to and geologic aspects of gas hydrates; Barbara Moore (director of NOAA's Undersea Research Program), covering the biological and climate-change aspects of gas hydrates; and Edith Allison (DOE, Fossil Fuels), covering legislative mandates and interagency coordination. The second briefing was a repeat of the first, but for staffers on the House Energy Resources committee. Tim West, USGS Congressional Liaison, and Frances Pierce, Acting Associate Program Coordinator for the USGS' Energy Resources Program, also participated. One potential sign of the success of the briefings was their length. We were scheduled for an hour for each briefing and forewarned by others that these rarely go the full length because of the hectic schedules of the staffers. As it turned out, both briefings were lively with questions and discussions and went for a full 90 minutes. Responding to followup inquiries included developing two posters for Senator Burns' staff, one showing the detailed distribution of gas-hydrate resources around the United States, and another composed of maps showing various aspects of global gas-hydrate resources.
|
 |
in this issue: Congressional Briefing on Gas Hydrates Volcanic Ash and Aviation Safety International Deep-Sea Corals Workshop Northeastern Coastal Ecosystems and Resources Workshop
Coastal and Marine Scientists Win 2002 Shoemaker Product Excellence Awards Behrendt and Poag Elected AAAS Fellows Marine Geophysics Pioneer Honored Celebrating Careers of Five Retirees Manheim Lectures on Trends in Scientific and Technological Innovation
Effectivenes of Marine Reserves in Central California Human Influence on Diatom Productivity and Sedimentation in Chesapeake Bay |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
U. S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey
previous story
cover story:
