USGS Home Contact USGS Search USGS

Maps, Imagery, and Publications Hazards Newsroom Education Jobs Partnerships Library About USGS Podcasts/RSS

Natural Hazard Series
Reducing America´s Risk, Part III: Hurricanes

Third in the 2005 "Natural Hazards Science - Reducing America´s Risk" series

Other Science, Society, Solutions Briefings

		October 28, 2005
		10:00 a.m.
				Lynn Scarlett Department of the Interior Patrick Leahy U.S. Geological Survey Abby Sallenger U.S. Geological Survey
		Rayburn House Office Building Room 2325 Washington, DC
	www.usgs.gov/solutions

“Experts tell us we´re entering a twenty-year period of increased severe storm intensity. Hurricane Katrina was likely the worst natural disaster to ever hit America, and it is likely just the beginning. The fact is that we´re only in the first inning of a nine inning game, and we need to do everything we can to maintain and improve accurate predictions of natural disasters.”-- Senator Jim DeMint, Chairman of the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Subcommittee on Disaster Prevention and Prediction

Today, more than half of the United States population lives within 50 miles of the coast, and this trend is increasing. Many of these areas will be in the direct path of future hurricanes. Learn how science can be used to build more resilient communities and help restore the devastation recently caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Powerpoints presented at the October 28, 2005 briefing:
Pat Leahy: Hurricanes (25.5 MB) Lynn Scarlett: Hurricane Response (3.9 MB) Abby Sallenger: Extreme Coastal Change (27.5 MB)	PDF (387 KB)
Congressional Sponsors: The following links leave the USGS site.	Hosted by:
Senator Jim Demint Representative James Moran	American Geological Institute, American Geophysical Union, Geological Society of America

Speaker Biographies

P. Lynn Scarlett

P. Lynn Scarlett, Assistant Secretary of Policy, Management, and Budget at the Department of the Interior. Prior to joining the Bush Administration in July 2001, she was president of the Los Angeles-based Reason Foundation, a nonprofit current affairs research and communications organization. For 15 years, she directed Reason Public Policy Institute, the policy research division of the Foundation. Her research focused primarily on environmental, land use, and natural resources issues.

Ms. Scarlett is author of numerous publications on incentive-based environmental policies, including, most recently, a chapter in Earth Report 2000 (McGraw-Hill) on "dematerialization." She co-authored a report, Race to the Top: State Environmental Innovations, which examines state environmental programs that utilize incentives, private partnerships, and local leadership in addressing environmental problems.

Ms. Scarlett served on President George W. Bush´s environmental policy task force during his presidential campaign. She was appointed by former Gov. Pete Wilson to chair California's Inspection and Maintenance Review Committee, a position she held for 6 years. Ms. Scarlett served as an Expert Panelist on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency´s full-cost accounting and "pay-as-you-throw" projects. She chaired the "How Clean Is Clean" Working Group of the National Environmental Policy Institute from 1993-98 and served at the request of former EPA Administrator William Ruckelshaus on the Enterprise for the Environment Task Force, which examined new directions for U.S. environmental policy.

Ms. Scarlett received her B.A. and M.A. in political science from the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she also completed her Ph.D. coursework and exams in political science and political economy.

Dr. P. Patrick Leahy

Dr. P. Patrick Leahy, Acting Director of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Until June 2005, when he was asked to serve Acting Director, Dr. Leahy served as Associate Director for Geology with responsibility for Federal basic earth science programs, which include worldwide earthquake hazards monitoring and research, geologic mapping of land and seafloor resources, volcano and landslide hazards, and assessments of energy and mineral resources. He is also responsible for all international activities conducted by the USGS. Dr. Leahy has been with USGS since 1974. He is a Fellow in the Geological Society of America and is a member of the American Geophysical Union, the American Institute of Hydrology, Sigma XI, American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Geological Society of Washington. He was selected by the National Academy of Science to head the U.S. delegation to the 30th International Geological Congress in Beijing, China, in August 1996, and as a U.S. delegate to the 31st International Geological Congress in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2000.

Dr. Asbury Sallenger

Dr. Asbury Sallenger is an oceanographer and leader of the US Geological Survey´s National Coastal Hazards Assessment that examines storm and long-term coastal change hazards throughout the United States. He is the former Chief Scientist of the U.S. Geological Survey´s Center for Coastal Geology in St. Petersburg, FL. He received both his B.A. in Geology and Ph.D. in Marine Science from the University of Virginia.

For information on Reducing America´s Risk Briefings on Capitol Hill, please call 703-648-4455.