WASHINGTON, D.C., July 15, 2004 – Organizations representing ocean and weather researchers today endorsed Environment, Technology, and Standards Subcommittee Chairman Vernon Ehlers’ (R-MI) proposed organic act (H.R. 4546) for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Testifying before the Subcommittee, Rear Admiral Richard West (Ret.), President of the Consortium of Oceanographic Research and Education (CORE), announced the endorsement of the Ehlers bill by CORE, the Sea Grant Association, and the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges.

At the hearing, Ehlers announced that the bill has also been endorsed by the Weather Coalition, an umbrella group of industry and academic associations and institutions, including the American Meteorological Society and the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research.

The witnesses at the hearing all expressed their support for passing an organic act for NOAA. The non-government witnesses all favored the Ehlers proposal over a measure drafted by the Administration and introduced, by request, as H.R. 4607. The witnesses said the greater specificity of the Ehlers’ bill made it preferable to the Administration’s.

“I am pleased that the witnesses believe that H.R. 4546 is on the right track and strikes the right balance between providing Congressional direction on NOAA’s mission and allowing the Administration the flexibility to adapt to future needs,” said Ehlers.

A major impetus for the bills came from the April 2004 Preliminary Report of the Congressionally created U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy, which recommended that Congress pass an organic act for NOAA. The agency was established in the Department of Commerce by Executive Order in 1970 under President Richard Nixon.

Testifying on behalf of the Administration, Deputy Secretary of Commerce Theodore Kassinger said, “The introduction of H.R. 4546 and H.R.4607…offers a timely and welcome opportunity to consider anew the appropriate way to define NOAA’s mission and responsibilities. While we can be assured of a wide variety of views on this subject, it is encouraging that all parties seem to agree on one important tenet: NOAA, for the first time, must have a unified law to provide a solid foundation for its future service to the United States….Both bills have very similar objectives. For that reason, we are convinced that the bills’ differences in approach can be harmonized.”

Former NOAA Administrator (1993-2001) Dr. James Baker, who currently serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of The Academy of Natural Sciences, testified that the lack of a statute that clearly delineates NOAA’s functions and responsibilities hinders the agency’s ability to fulfill its duties.

Baker said, “[A]t critical times in…national policy debates there were questions about NOAA’s mission especially where NOAA’s programs appeared to overlap that of other agencies. An organic act would help avoid these unnecessary debates.” Baker continued, “I like the groupings [of agency missions] that have been proposed in Chairman Ehlers’ bill, and I think that such a focus would help the agency function better.”

Mr. Richard Hirn, General Counsel of the National Weather Service Employees Organization (NWSEO), the labor union that represents NOAA employees, applauded the distinct legislative authority for NOAA line offices provided in the Ehlers bill. “For many years, Administrations of both parties have raided the appropriations for the National Weather Service to fund other programs or projects which Congress has regarded as a lesser priority….Consequently, NWSEO strongly supports the distinct and separate legislative grant of authority in Section 105 of H.R. 4546 that creates the National Weather Service and defines its mission. NWSEO does not support H.R. 4607, introduced on behalf of the Administration, because it lacks separate legislative authority for the National Weather Service.”

Dr. Elbert (Joe) Friday Jr., the former Assistant Administrator of the National Weather Service and now the WeatherNews Chair of Applied Meteorology and Director of the Sasaki Applied Meteorology Research Institute at the University of Oklahoma, said, “H.R. 4546 provides a potential structure which, if enacted, could set a framework that could help correct many of NOAA’s problems.”

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