Back ||NOAA Home Speech to Western Governor’s Association As Given By: Vice Admiral Conrad Lautenbacher, Jr., U.S. Navy (Retired) June 21, 2004 Introduction Good Morning. It is great to be here. I want to offer a special thank you to Chair Governor Richardson, Co-Chair Governor Owens and Governor Johanns, the lead for drought, and the new lead, Governor Rounds. Thank you for that introduction Gov Johannes. In reference to what Gov. Johanns said about our budget, I’d love to get my budget up to $4 billion, it is a little less. Don gave a very good summary of NIDIS (National Integrated Drought Information System). I support it. NOAA has been a sponsor and we look forward working with you. U.S. Drought Monitor My drought monitor is last week’s monitor but it is adequate to show other agencies working together in order to make a useful product. This product is all Ad Hoc, and has never been institutionalized. Lots of good people are working selflessly, but paying for it “out of hide”. We have had good luck in keeping the program funded. Mitigating the effects of drought represents one of the greatest challenges facing those of you in Western states, and subsequently the Nation as a whole. However, I also believe it is one of the areas of great opportunity where we as government leaders can bring value and results to citizens. EFFECTS OF DROUGHT When many folks think of drought they picture rationing water for a few weeks and not being able to wash a car or water a lawn. When you in this room think of drought you see family farmers and ranchers put out of business, lost revenue from a downturn in tourism, strained relations between your neighbor states over the use of scarce freshwater, and lives lost through ravaging wildfires. Increasingly, however, the needs for drought information are extending beyond traditional drought-sensitive sectors such as agriculture and water resource management. There are increasing needs for drought information to inform critical policy and infrastructure decisions. NOAA TAKES ACTION You just heard a great presentation from Dr. Wilhite about many of the programs NOAA is involved in to help deal with drought. It goes without saying that we are very proud of these products and services, but we also recognize that there is room for improvement. That is why when Governor Martz, then chair of the WGA, wrote to me in February of 2003 asking for NOAA’s support in developing a plan for a National Integrated Drought Information System, or NIDIS. I took steps to have NOAA join forces with you on this venture. NOAA continues to support work on NIDIS through grants. NIDIS Today we are discussing the final report generated after more than a year’s worth of work. I am pleased with the final report and feel its recommendations provide a broad, balanced and visionary approach to solving this most critical of problems. I want to emphasize the report recommends the system has NOAA as a lead agency. We work well with other agencies and will make sure everyone else is aboard. The rationale behind NIDIS is simple. Until this point, responses to drought have been completely ad hoc and independent and have not focused on planning and preparedness. Under NIDIS all that would change. NIDIS, as proposed in today’s report, would integrate all the currently independent monitoring mechanisms now at our disposal. Where gaps exist, the network would highlight those so that we might quickly close them. The resulting product would aim to provide a real-time status report on the current levels and perhaps future risks of drought in any given location. It is hard not get excited about the prospects of a fully integrated system here in the West and across the country. The economic and environmental benefits are practically unlimited and I agree with the recommendation to develop a National Mesonet integrating both federal and non-federal networks. The WGA has laid out a very thoughtful roadmap to achieving this grand vision. It will take efforts from a multitude of different stakeholders - public and private, local and national. PUTTING ACTION TO WORDS Like many of you, I have been at this for a long time and have seen my fair share of reports come and go. I feel safe in saying that this report will not fall victim to the category of dust collecting doorstops. I’m very confident in saying that because we are already taking actions recommended in the report. Specifically, you recommend making a modernized Cooperative Observer Network (COOP) the core of a National Mesonet that integrates other federal and non-federal networks. Many of you are aware that the state of Oklahoma has had a similar mesonet in place for a number of years – the NIDIS report even sited it as an example of what should form the basis of the NIDIS. This is a very good system for providing data to forecasters. We have hired Ken Crawford to make this work at the National level. We have a budget and Ken to make it work. NEW GRANT NOAA and the WGA are working on a new grant to explore the concept of a National Fire Weather Center building on what is in existence to create a larger consortium. A function of this center would be to enable more effective, timely, and efficient warnings for wildfires. The National Fire Weather Center (NFWC) would integrate all fire weather enterprises, including NOAA’s NWS, Federal and state government land management agencies, academia, and the private sector. All facets of fire weather would be performed at the FWC, leveraging resources from all weather enterprises. Fire is another thing that doesn’t recognize political boundaries so we would want to include our Canadian neighbors. GEOSS I’d like to describe how NIDIS could link up to the rest of the world. The U.S. has been busy bringing nations and organizations together to build an integrated observing system for the world. Such a system would be made up of the thousands of monitoring stations and observation systems around the world. NIDIS would be a big piece of Global Earth Observing System of Systems. (GEOSS) One of your alumni, Governor Leavitt, now the Administrator of the EPA represented the President in Tokyo If you think the implications of a drought monitoring system are dramatic, just try and imagine that system carried onto a world stage. The possibilities are endless and you are on the forefront of the effort. Here in the West, GEOS would: Be critical in the prediction of wildfire tracking, smoke plume direction, and air quality effects. Integrate satellite images and water quality models that will help pinpoint beach areas impacted by environmental pollutants such as aquatic blooms and oil spills; Aid in energy resource detection, development and extraction in a more environmentally harmonious manner by integrating advanced satellite geologic detection systems, with land cover, endangered species, and other data sets. Enhance monitoring of snow pack and snow melt allowing ski resorts and water managers in Colorado to better predict the impacts on resort management, and water management systems. CONCLUSION I have enjoyed discussing the work we are doing on drought with our partnership. Your leadership on the NIDIS is laudable and I hope you are as excited as I am about the actions NOAA is taking with COOP and GEOSS. The WGA is to be commended for its outstanding leadership in the realm of environmental monitoring, and specifically drought. I want to thank you all for your hard work and for your confidence in NOAA. NOAA looks forward to continuing to work with the WGA in the future to tackle these very important challenges. Special Discussion on Oceans Commission To Western Governor’s Association June 21, 2004 Discussion of Ocean Commission I’d like to give a quick review of the Ocean Commission. The comment period has already passed and I want to thank those of you who submitted comments. I have read several of them and I appreciate your valuable input. The report was by an independent commission and took 2 years to complete. This report, like the one before it some 30 years ago, will guide ocean policy for the next generation and it will remain crucial that we maintain an open dialogue on the many issues it raises. An outcome of the last report 30 years ago was the formation of NOAA. I’m here today because of the Stratton Commission. One of the major recommendations of the Commission, which I hope you will support, is the development of an Integrated Ocean Observing System. I just spoke of the need to develop a National Integrated Drought Information System to link a multitude of observation stations and systems into a network that can further our understanding and prediction of droughts. Ultimate success of NIDIS will hinge on our ability to also develop an Ocean Observing System. Answers to drought will come from knowing about the coupling of the ocean and the atmosphere. The Commission also recommends action on the issue of non-point source pollution – a majority of which is from the more than 300 million acres of farm land in the U.S. The consequences of non-point source pollution are perhaps most dramatically felt in the seas. The Gulf of Mexico, for example, how has a dead zone the size of New Jersey largely from non-point source pollution. Some 31 states, including parts of Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Texas, New Mexico, Colorado and Wyoming contribute to the dead zone via run-off from farm chemicals, treated sewage discharge, storm water runoff, and pollutants from factories. There is an enormous amount to be gained from the oceans. The oceans have a profound impact on human health. Furthering our understanding of marine life and systems has great potential for marine derived products such as cancer drugs, nutritional supplements, medical diagnostic equipment, agricultural chemicals, and disease research. Education is very important. We don’t educate people enough. The Commission recommends an increased focus on oceans education and no doubt your state education departments will be called upon to address this challenge. The commission also recommends an Organic Act for NOAA. NOAA has never had one before. In closing, I hope that the oceans are also one more issue where we are able to further strengthen our partnership. I would encourage you to monitor the progress of the ocean commission report and the policies that follow from it.