The U.S. Senate should fully fund President Obama’s $52.4 million request for the Regional Climate Data and Information program at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in fiscal year 2016, AMWA and two other organizations wrote to Senate Appropriations leaders on July 7.
The letter, which was signed by the Water Utility Climate Alliance (WUCA) and the Water Research Foundation in addition to AMWA, was sent to the leaders of the Senate Appropriations Committee after the panel approved a FY16 Commerce-Justice-Science spending bill that would maintain Regional Climate Data and Information funding at its FY15 level of $38 million. This funding allotment was included in the committee’s report on the legislation, which was not publicly released until after appropriators approved the draft spending bill in June.
NOAA’s Regional Climate Data and Information program carries funding for the Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments (RISA) program, which supports research to help communities across the nation prepare for and adapt to climate change. AMWA’s letter warned that a failure by Congress to fully fund the President’s request in this area “could jeopardize programs that contribute to accurate short- and long-term weather forecasting and which enable communities to plan for and respond to extreme events including drought, wildfires, heat waves, flooding, and major storms.”
Senate appropriators’ endorsement of level funding for the climate research program is consistent with their overall approach to NOAA funding – which would remain essentially flat next year. President Obama had recommended boosting NOAA funding by $600 million to $6 billion, but that request (like most funding increases sought by the president) was denied by Senate Republicans.
FY16 NOAA funding legislation approved by the House of Representatives in June also included only $38 million for the Regional Climate Data and Information program.