'Billions Of Dollars Of Economic Activity At Risk': Maria Cantwell Blasts Trump Over NOAA Cuts

6 months ago

During a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on Wednesday, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) spoke about the Trump Administration's funding cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Transcript

00:00Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

00:02And as you mentioned, this hearing comes at an incredible time of human loss from the floods in Texas.

00:11And now we know in New Mexico and North Carolina.

00:15But I want to offer my condolences to the families who have lost loved ones in this unimaginable tragedy and to the people of Texas.

00:24We grieve along with you as a nation.

00:30Our thoughts and prayers do go to the families to ask for strength for them to deal with this incredible loss.

00:37And as you said, there is a time and a place to figure out what transpired.

00:44You know, for us in the Northwest where natural disasters, whether it's fire, flooding, earthquakes, or the big one that is someday going to hit,

00:53this issue of first responders and communication is really important to us, too.

01:01So I, too, want to thank the National Guard for their incredible work and response to this incident.

01:09I want to thank the Coast Guard men and women.

01:11I'm pretty sure we train those surfmen out on the Olympic, you know, Long Beach area of our state.

01:18And we're very proud of what they do to get those men and women ready to help do the search and rescue.

01:24But clearly, first responders did everything that they were asked to do in response to this flood.

01:32But as you said, Mr. Chairman, there will be others.

01:34So I agree that we should figure out what we can do in the future to improve our communication system,

01:41to improve the science behind the information, and to figure out how we best prepare for the future.

01:50Today, we're considering Dr. Jacobs to be the NOAA administrator,

01:54Mr. Taylor to be the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Environmental Observation and Protection,

01:59and Mr. Kumar to be the Assistant Secretary.

02:02NOAA does play an incredible, important role in preserving life and property,

02:09and obviously good data behind your weather reporting for sustainable fisheries to get food on the table,

02:16to support our domestic product.

02:21You play a critical role in safety and economic competitiveness.

02:25And so, obviously, I'm going to ask today about the cuts to NOAA and how, as a science agency,

02:34you preserve the core mission of an agency when we're cutting so much of the science and the science budget.

02:42The budget eliminates the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research R&D arm,

02:47which is critical to improving lead times and accuracy of information.

02:51NOAA's R&D is at the cutting edge of science in projects like Warn On Forecast,

02:56which will give communities more notice about tornadoes and other severe weather events

03:01by using prediction models instead of waiting to detect weather service that is already occurring.

03:07The budget proposal also eliminates NOAA's Integrated Ocean Observing System Program,

03:14the buoy system.

03:15This is a very bipartisan program that helps us, particularly in the Northwest,

03:21in detecting the potential of tsunamis, hurricane forecasts, fisheries, marine transportation.

03:30And even though the administration put out an executive order calling for growing American fisheries,

03:35fisheries, I believe that we are doing the opposite if we're not investing in the kind of stock assessments

03:42that we need to deal with fisheries management.

03:45So, while the administration seeks to slash NOAA's budget, it has also taken a sledgehammer to its workforce.

03:52Since the start of the year, NOAA's workforce has been gutted by 2,000 employees.

03:56The agency currently has over 3,000 vacant positions, most of which cannot be filled due to the hiring freeze.

04:03For example, Pendleton, Oregon, the forecast office serving central Washington,

04:08no longer has 24-7 local coverage because of their 44 percent vacancy rate.

04:13And in my opinion, that is unacceptable in the height of fire season.

04:18The hiring freeze also resulted in 160 vacancies at NOAA's research ships,

04:23resulting in 30 percent of those ships being left at the docks this summer

04:26instead of charting navigation in the Arctic, serving key weather buoys and conducting stock assessments.

04:32So, for Washington, two Pollock stock assessment surveys and one salmon survey have already been canceled.

04:39Now, what this means is that people can't fish.

04:42We don't have the science.

04:43They can't fish.

04:44We don't know.

04:45We're putting billions of dollars of economic activity at risk.

04:49So, the West Coast region of NOAA fisheries has lost so many staff

04:53that we no longer have key experts to negotiate salmon or other treaties,

04:57and entire permitting teams are gone, and local communities are begging for answers on these.

05:04So, I expect to hear how we're going to defend the science mission without the people

05:08and without the science to help deliver those essential services.

05:12I want to know what our real plan is that we're going to continue to protect our environment.

05:20Mr. Jordan, if confirmed, you will be responsible for advising the administrator on weather, water, climate, and related matters,

05:28and I hope that you will tell us today how you also plan to counter cuts to the weather program

05:33and where you stand on the R&D investment that we need to improve forecasts, such as supercomputing forecasts.

05:42Climate change is driving more intense hurricanes, more frequent severe atmospheric rivers, rain events,

05:47and is doubling the number of wildfires.

05:50According to NOAA, since 1980, we've had on average nine extreme weather events annually

05:55that have cost us over $1 billion each.

06:00So, from 1980, nine extreme events.

06:03But in the last five years, that has spiked to 23 events per year, and last year, it was 27 events.

06:11So, we can see that we're having more devastating impact and the cost to all of us.

06:18So, we're in a state of emergency that's getting worse, and we need to come up with better solutions.

06:25So, we know how to do this.

06:26In 2015, as firefighters were fighting a devastating wildfire in Okanagan County,

06:31and wind patterns changed, resulting in the loss of firefighters, we implemented new tools

06:38to help with the training of a new system that would help us get better information

06:43and get that information faster.

06:45I should also note that today, the OIG for the Department of Commerce Office of Inspector General

06:51released a report on our National Weather Service tornado forecasting system and the things that they believe

06:59the office has gotten wrong on in forecasting the shortcomings of that system and six plans for improvement.

07:07So, we'll probably ask you about that as well.

07:10So, finally, Mr. Kumar, you'd be leading the Legislative Affairs Department.

07:14Simply put, the Department's critical engagement with members of this committee is not happening at the level we need it to happen.

07:23So, I expect you will help fundamentally change that if confirmed and make sure that as members ask for information

07:30and data from the agency that they will receive it in a timely manner.

07:34So, thank you, Mr. Chairman, and again, our hearts are with you, your colleagues, Senator Cornyn, the many people of Texas,

07:43and we will work with you in whatever fashion we can to help move forward and help Texans in any way,

07:52and obviously our colleagues here on the committee from New Mexico,

07:58and our colleagues in the larger body from North Carolina.

08:03But thank you so much.

08:05Well, thank you.

08:06I appreciate that, and I want to say thank you to all my colleagues who have reached out on both sides of the aisle.

'Billions Of Dollars Of Economic Activity At Risk': Maria Cantwell Blasts Trump Over NOAA Cuts

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