Editor: Jim Elliott

Contributors: Alan Weinstein and Ginny Owen

Copy Editor: Anne Siefken

Volume 19, Number 8, August 1998, Part 2

• Noaa FY99 Budget Markups
• National Ocean Service
• Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR)
• National Weather Service
• National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS)
• Procurement, Acquisition, and Construction
• USGS FY99 Appropriations Update

NOAA FY99 BUDGET MARKUPS

The House and Senate have acted on the president's FY99 budget request for NOAA. Simplified, the president requested $2.1 billion for NOAA in FY99, an increase of a little over $100 million from the 1998 enacted budget of about $2.0 billion. The Senate mark increases the president's request by about $100 million–$2.2 billion. The House mark decreases the president's request by about $100 million–$2.0 billion. Over the next weeks, the House–Senate conference will determine the final budget for NOAA.

NATIONAL OCEAN SERVICE

In the National Ocean Service, as in all other components of NOAA, there are many differences between the president's request and the House and Senate Marks and between the House and Senate marks themselves. For example, the House mark accelerates the Survey Backlog Program by allocating $16 million, in contrast to the administration's request of $8.5 million. For the Ocean Assessment Program, the Senate allocates $42 million where the president had only requested $33 million.

The president requested $17.8 million for the Coastal Ocean Science Program; the amount was fully supported by the Senate, while the House increased the program's funding to $19 million.

OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC RESEARCH (OAR)

In Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, the president's request for Interannual and Seasonal Climate Research of $12.9 million was supported by the House and increased to $15.9 million in the Senate. In Climate and Global Change, the President's request of $62 million was increased to $67 million in the Senate, and reduced to $60 million in the House. The Globe Program request of $6.0 million was not supported by the House, but the Senate allocated $5.0 million. The Atmospheric Weather Research Program request of $34.6 million was supported in the House and increased by $2.0 million in the Senate. The request for the Sea Grant College Program of $50.1 million was increased to $56 million and $59 million in the Senate and House respectively.

However, the request for high performance computing of $12.5 million, while supported in the Senate, was reduced by $3.0 million in the House. The reduction was in the funding for the Forecast Systems Laboratory in Boulder, which is a critical program for developing the effective use of parallel computers in the future.

The president proposed a large reduction in the Undersea Research Program, from $15.5 million to $4.5 million. The House accepted the reduction, but the Senate allocated $15.8 million for the program.

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE

The Senate supported the request of 35.547 million for Central Forecast Guidance Centers, but the House reduced the request by $4.574 to $31 million, which would cause a reduction of 27 FTE's (16 RIFs and 11 vacant positions that cannot be filled) in the staffing of the National Center, as well as reduced support for the operational infrastructure. (The funding request for new computers isunder the procurement area covered below.)

NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL SATELLITE, DATA, AND INFORMATION SERVICE (NESDIS)

The request for NESDIS, excluding acquisition of satellites covered under the program budget below, was $100.4 million, down from $134.7 million in FY98 because the funds for Polar Convergence/IPO were included in the Procurement, Acquisition, and Construction account.

For the operation of satellites, the president requested $55.5 million and the Senate allocated $58.5 million, whereas the House reduced the request to $51.8 million. This budget area has always been tight, so even modest reduction poses problems in operations.

In the area of Environmental Data Management Systems, the president's request of $28.55 million was reduced by $1.0 million in the Senate, and increased by $5 million in the House to strengthen the operation of the three data centers.

The president's request of $16.335 million for Environmental Data Systems Modernization was supported by both the House and Senate. The House added $2.5 million and the Senate $3.0 million for continuation of the Regional Climate Centers.

PROCUREMENT, ACQUISITION, AND CONSTRUCTION

The House and Senate supported the funding requests for ASOS and AWIPS but the House reduced the NEXRAD request from $9.17 million to $6.377 million. This reduction would severely impact the introduction of improved algorithms into operation.

The House reduced the request of $9.9 million for a new computer at NCEP to $5.0 million. This reduction would jeopardize the procurement but probably will be corrected in conference.

The funding request for procurement of polar and geostationary satellites was reduced substantially by both the Senate and House. The Polar K–N series request was reduced from $159.9 million to $150 million by both the House and Senate. The Polar Convergence was reduced from $64.7 million to $50 million by the Senate and to $40 million by the House.

The GOES I–M request of $99.6 million was supported by the House and reduced by $24 million in the Senate. The new GOES N–Q request of $190.5 million was reduced by over $40 million by the House. These reductions would clearly impact schedule of the development of the satellites.

USGS FY99 APPROPRIATIONS UPDATE

Status of Congressional Action: House floor action on the FY99 Interior Appropriations Bill was concluded on 23 July 1998. The measure passed on a vote of 245–181. The full Senate has not taken up the FY99 Appropriations Bill and is on recess through early September. After completion of Senate action on the Appropriations Bill, the conferees will have to reconcile the differences between the two versions of the bill.

House Action: The House provided $774.8 million for surveys, investigations, and research, which is a $14.5 million increase over the FY98 appropriation or almost 2% more than current funding levels. The House mark is $32 million below the president's budget request, reflecting the following changes in research funding:

• Clean water and watershed restoration —The House eliminated the $16.5 million requested for the clean water and watershed restoration initiative.
• Disaster Information Network—The House eliminated funding for the Disaster Information Network (DIN). The budget request included $15 million for DIN.
• Species and habitat protection—The House did not fund the request of $11 million for Species and Habitat Protection, but provided $2 million for federal lands biological research.
• Satellite data archive—The House provided $2 million of the $2.5 million requested for satellite data archiving capabilities at the EROS Data Center.
• Water quality information—The House denied the increase of $7 million requested to improve the availability and dissemination of water quality data.
• Incinerator replacement—The House supported the request of $1 million for replacement of the incinerator at the National Wildlife Research Center, Madison, Wisconsin.

Restoration of proposed decreases—The House restored funding ($19.7 million) for proposed decreases, including:

• continued funding for the drug/chemical registration program and the state partnerships program (+$0.9 million);
• restoration of a $1.4 million across-the-board reduction in biological research programs;
• continued funding ($3 million) for high performance computing and communications through a pilot project with a consortium of academic institutions in Ohio;
• restoration of $1.9 million in mapping data collection and integration;
• restoration of $1.7 million in the National Cooperative Geologic Mapping program including FEDMAP, STATEMAP, and EDMAP;
• restoration of funding in the Coastal and Marine Geology Program ($3.5 million);
• restoration of a $3 million reduction proposed in the Mineral Resources Program;
• restoration of a $1 million reduction proposed in the Energy Resources Program that would have terminated coal availability and recoverability studies;
• restoration of funding for regional assessment of an aquatic ecosystem that is susceptible to contamination from mercury ($0.5 million);
• restoration of $2.7 million for Truckee-Carson monitoring, watershed modeling studies and other proposed downsizing actions related to the development and testing of new instrumentation for water monitoring and research on water resources data collection and analysis;

Funding Increases—The House provided $4.3 million for the following Congressional increases:

• $1.5 million for additional NAWQA study units;
• $0.3 million for the study of hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico and study of subsidence in Louisiana;
• $1 million for the Federal State Cooperative Water Program;
• $0.5 million for the Water Resources Research Institutes;
• $1 million to fill vacancies at existing Cooperative Research Units.

Senate action: The Senate provided $772.1 million for surveys, investigations, and research, a $12 million reduction from the FY98 enacted level or 1.5% above current funding levels. The Senate mark is $35 million below the president's budget request. The changes to the budget request made by the Senate include:

• Clean water and watershed restoration—The Senate provided $1 million for clean water and watershed restoration activities;
• Disaster Information Network— The Senate eliminated funding for the Disaster Information Network (DIN). The budget included $15 million for DIN;
• Species and habitat protection—The Senate provided $3.5 million for species and habitat protection;
• Satellite data archiving—The Senate provided $2.5 million, as requested, for satellite data archiving capabilities at the EROS Data Center;
• Water quality information— The Senate denied the requested increase of $7 million for improved water quality information;
• Incinerator replacement —The Senate funded the $1 million requested for replacement of the incinerator at the National Wildlife Research Center, Madison, Wisconsin;

Restoration of proposed decreases—The Senate restored funding ($8.7 million) for proposed decreases, including:

• continued funding for the drug/chemical registration program and the state partnerships program (+$0.9 million);
• eliminated an across-the-board reduction of $1.4 million that would have impacted biological research programs;
• restored $1.7 million in the National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program;
• restored $1.7 million in the Coastal and Marine Geology Program;
• restored $2 million for the Alaska Minerals at Risk Program;
• restored a $1 million reduction proposed in the Energy Resources Program;

Funding Increases—The Senate provided Congressional increases including:

• $0.5 million to fill vacancies at existing Cooperative Research Units;
• $0.5 million for Hawaiian collaborative research;
• $0.4 million for endocrine disruption studies; and
• $0.1 million for the Molokai monitoring well.