A bipartisan proposal to improve seasonal and subseasonal weather forecasts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) was sidetracked this month due to a longstanding dispute between Georgia, Florida and Alabama over management of the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint water system.
The problems for the bill began after the U.S. Senate approved a revised version of the “Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act” (H.R. 1561) on December 1. The bill, which had passed the House of Representatives in 2015, had been intended to improve weather research conducted by NOAA through new investments in observations, computing and modeling, and expanded commercial opportunities for providing weather data.
According to a summary from the Senate Commerce Committee, the bill as approved by the Senate would:
- Authorize $26.5 million for use by NOAA and the National Weather Service to create “usable, reliable, and timely subseasonal and seasonal forecasts.”
- Establish collaboration programs through which the Weather Service will work with private sector and academic partners to improve tornado warnings and hurricane forecasts.
- Authorize NOAA to place tsunami sensors on underwater telecommunications cables, and to research efforts studying tsunamis.
- Reform NOAA’s satellite procurement efforts and require the agency to assess the private sector’s capabilities in providing weather data.
But among the changes made by the Senate to the House-passed version was the addition of a provision directing the National Water Center to make recommendations on the management of the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint water system. According to reports from Capitol Hill, Florida Senator Bill Nelson (D) authored this provision and added it to the bill.
The Senate’s amendments required the measure to go back to the House for final approval, but several Georgia lawmakers objected to Sen. Nelson’s language and blocked the House from considering the measure under an expedited unanimous consent procedure. With floor time at a premium as the House finished up its work for the year, there was not time for the chamber to either amend the bill and send it back to the Senate, or to bring it up for a vote under a procedure that would allow Georgia’s representatives to offer an amendment. As a result, H.R. 1561 died when Congress adjourned for the year.
Lawmakers may once again try to pass the bill during the 115th Congress, but it is not clear whether any new version of the legislation will include the controversial Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint language.