[Senate Hearing 115-897]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 115-897
A DECADE OF THE DIGITAL COAST PARTNERSHIP
PROGRAM: SUCCESSES AND OPPORTUNITIES
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HEARING
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON OCEANS, ATMOSPHERE,
FISHERIES, AND COAST GUARD
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE,
SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
JUNE 5, 2018
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and
Transportation
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Available online: http://www.govinfo.gov
__________
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
59-902 PDF WASHINGTON : 2025
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SENATE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION
ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
JOHN THUNE, South Dakota, Chairman
ROGER F. WICKER, Mississippi BILL NELSON, Florida, Ranking
ROY BLUNT, Missouri MARIA CANTWELL, Washington
TED CRUZ, Texas AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota
DEB FISCHER, Nebraska RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, Connecticut
JERRY MORAN, Kansas BRIAN SCHATZ, Hawaii
DAN SULLIVAN, Alaska EDWARD MARKEY, Massachusetts
DEAN HELLER, Nevada TOM UDALL, New Mexico
JAMES INHOFE, Oklahoma GARY PETERS, Michigan
MIKE LEE, Utah TAMMY BALDWIN, Wisconsin
RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin TAMMY DUCKWORTH, Illinois
SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO, West Virginia MAGGIE HASSAN, New Hampshire
CORY GARDNER, Colorado CATHERINE CORTEZ MASTO, Nevada
TODD YOUNG, Indiana JON TESTER, Montana
Nick Rossi, Staff Director
Adrian Arnakis, Deputy Staff Director
Jason Van Beek, General Counsel
Kim Lipsky, Democratic Staff Director
Chris Day, Democratic Deputy Staff Director
Renae Black, Senior Counsel
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SUBCOMMITTEE ON OCEANS, ATMOSPHERE, FISHERIES,
AND COAST GUARD
DAN SULLIVAN, Alaska, Chairman TAMMY BALDWIN, Wisconsin, Ranking
ROGER F. WICKER, Mississippi MARIA CANTWELL, Washington
DEB FISCHER, Nebraska RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, Connecticut
JAMES INHOFE, Oklahoma BRIAN SCHATZ, Hawaii
MIKE LEE, Utah EDWARD MARKEY, Massachusetts
RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin GARY PETERS, Michigan
CORY GARDNER, Colorado
TODD YOUNG, Indiana
C O N T E N T S
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Page
Hearing held on June 5, 2018..................................... 1
Statement of Senator Sullivan.................................... 1
Statement of Senator Baldwin..................................... 2
Letter dated January 16, 2017 to Hon. John Thune and Hon.
Bill Nelson from Kurt W. Allen, Vice President, Federal
Vertical Lead, Quantum Spatial, Inc........................ 4
Letter dated January 24, 2017 to Hon. John Thune and Hon.
Bill Nelson from the American Planning Association,
Association of State Floodplain Managers, Coastal States
Organization, MAPPS, National Association of Counties,
National Estaurine Research Reserve Association, National
Society of Professional Surveyors, National States
Geographic Information Council and The Nature Conservancy.. 5
Statements of Support for the Digital Coast Act.............. 6
Statement of Senator Nelson...................................... 8
Statement of Senator Wicker...................................... 39
Report dated May 2018 entitled, ``The 2018 CoreLogic Storm
Surge Report--The Impact of Storm Surge Among American's
Largest Coastline''........................................ 40
Witnesses
Nicole LeBoeuf, Deputy Assistant Administrator, National Ocean
Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S.
Department of Commerce......................................... 10
Prepared statement........................................... 11
Paul Barnes, Geographic Information Services Director, Harrison
County, Mississippi on behalf of the National Association of
Counties....................................................... 14
Prepared statement........................................... 15
David Millar, Government Accounts Director, Americas for Fugro... 27
Prepared statement........................................... 29
Tyson Fettes, Register of Deeds, Racine County, Wisconsin........ 32
Prepared statement........................................... 33
Appendix
Response to written questions submitted by Hon. Roger F. Wicker
to Nicole LeBoeuf.............................................. 57
Response to written questions submitted by Hon. Jim Inhofe to
David Millar................................................... 57
A DECADE OF THE DIGITAL COAST
PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM: SUCCESSES
AND OPPORTUNITIES
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TUESDAY, JUNE 5, 2018
U.S. Senate,
Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries, and
Coast Guard,
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation,
Washington, DC.
The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:00 a.m. in
room SR-253, Russell Senate Office Building, Hon. Dan Sullivan,
Chairman of the Subcommittee, presiding.
Present: Senators Sullivan [presiding], Wicker, Fischer,
Inhofe, Young, Baldwin, Nelson, and Blumenthal.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. DAN SULLIVAN,
U.S. SENATOR FROM ALASKA
The Chairman. The Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere,
Fisheries, and the Coast Guard will now come to order.
Today's hearing will focus on the Digital Coast Partnership
Program. The Digital Coast Program is a project of NOAA that
provides a collaborative, online data base of the most up-to-
date coastal information made available to both the public and
to private users.
Beyond just a database, the Digital Coast also provides
tools for coastal communities to decipher and use the high tech
mapping data to make accurate decisions and smart investments
in their communities.
We have called this hearing at the request of my Ranking
colleague, Senator Baldwin, but this is a topic of mutual
interest for her and I, as well as this entire committee.
Alaska, for example, has more than 44,000 miles of
shoreline, which more than doubles the shoreline of the entire
Lower 48 of the United States. Given that three-quarters of
Alaska's citizens live in coastal regions, publicly accessible
coastal data is of vital importance for the safety of our
citizens and my state's economy.
Economic activity in Alaska's coastal areas includes world
renowned fish and shellfish industries, as well as the
burgeoning recreation and tourism industries.
It is no secret that in recent years, the Arctic region has
faced an unprecedented increase in vessel traffic, yet the
necessary supporting infrastructure, and importantly data, does
not match this growing demand.
Many areas of the Arctic have not been surveyed at all.
Ever. And others have not been surveyed since World War II,
over 70 years ago. To its credit, NOAA has recognized this need
and has pursued increasingly robust plans for mapping in the
Arctic.
With more data, Digital Coast will give our constituents
more tools and knowledge to help all our coastal communities
thrive.
In May of last year, the Senate passed Senator Baldwin's
legislation, the Digital Coast Act, by unanimous consent. The
bill is currently pending in the House, legislation which I was
glad to be a cosponsor of, would authorize the next phase in
coastal mapping at NOAA by ensuring that stakeholders will
continue to have the data to make smart choices for economic
development, shoreland management, and coastal restoration.
The legislation supports further development of the
existing Digital Coast program by increasing access to uniform,
up-to-date data to help communities get the information they
need to manage their resources, respond to emergencies, and
plan for long-term coastal resilience.
To date, the Digital Coast program has proved valuable in
Alaska, aiding in the acquisition and processing of geospatial
data, providing access to educational platforms, and
establishing baseline data for a fishery restoration project in
the Kiwalik River Watershed.
With improved data, the Digital Coast program will continue
to benefit my state, as well as other coastal communities
nationwide.
I look forward to hearing more from our witnesses, and I
want to thank them for all being here today.
I now recognize Ranking Member Baldwin.
STATEMENT OF HON. TAMMY BALDWIN,
U.S. SENATOR FROM WISCONSIN
Senator Baldwin. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I really appreciate your working with me to host this
hearing. I wanted to thank you also for your partnership and
the collaboration we have had on S. 110, the Digital Coast Act,
which would formally authorize this important program.
Greetings to our distinguished panel. It is great to have
you here.
I am really eager this morning to hear about the successes
of the Digital Coast program over the last decade and the
opportunities for the program moving forward. Our bill, as the
Chairman said, has passed this Committee and the Full Senate
twice now, but it has been sitting at the desk in the House
awaiting consideration.
I believe that when folks hear the diverse and important
applications of the Digital Coast program, hopefully our bill
will not have to wait much longer.
Mr. Chairman, your state certainly has the longest
coastline in the United States. No discrepancy there, no
argument. But the Great Lakes are not, well, they are a little
further behind, but we get to claim 4,500 miles of coast, and I
do not have to tell you that our coastal communities are
vibrant hubs of commerce and prosperity. In addition, Lake
Michigan and Lake Superior are also sources of drinking water
for millions of people.
That is why it has been a top priority for me to both
restore and protect the environmental quality of the Great
Lakes. To do that, we simply must have robust, timely, and
accurate data. Data that is not easily accessible does not get
used.
That is why about 20 years ago in 1997 communities began
asking NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, to develop a central clearinghouse for coastal
data that would be readily available to decisionmakers at all
levels, from neighborhood councils to the Federal Government.
Ten years ago this month, on June 30, 2008 NOAA launched
the first phase of the Digital Coast platform. The first phase
included high quality NOAA data.
In the decade since, the program has wisely begun to
incorporate data from a vast array of sources including other
Federal agencies, states and local communities, and from
private companies like Quantum Spatial in Sheboygan, Wisconsin
and Continental Mapping in Madison, Wisconsin.
In 2015, that equated to more than 70 terabytes of data, 50
tools, and 100 use stories, and 20 trainings on the Digital
Coast platform.
The results speak for themselves. People are using Digital
Coast. As of 2015, there have been more than 150,000 data
downloads and about one million unique visits to the platform.
The benefits of this program fall into two main categories.
First, it makes users more efficient because they can easily
access the data, and it makes them more effective because the
data and tools that are available are of the highest quality.
This is why 3 out of 4 Digital Coast users surveyed say that
they could not have completed their projects without the
information and the tools available on the platform.
During Tyson Fettes' time as Racine County Register of
Deeds, the County has done award winning work using the
geospatial mapping tools available on Digital Coast to benefit
Wisconsin residents, including the development of a new smart
phone application that will aid in disaster assessment in the
future.
Racine County, and its Lake Michigan coastal neighbors,
knows that bluff erosion is a major concern, and one that
Digital Coast tools are also helping to address.
The Wisconsin Coastal Natural Hazards Work Group, the
Association of State Flood Plain Managers, and the University
of Wisconsin Madison have mapped erosion hotspots along the
coast. With this tool, planners can better predict the
conditions that lead to bluff instability and collapse.
This tiny Digital Coast program, funded at $1.7 million in
Fiscal Year 2017, has been leveraged to save countless taxpayer
dollars that would otherwise be spent duplicating effort or
wasting time and money to find this data elsewhere.
That is why our bill has overwhelming support from across
the aisle, across the Capitol, and across the country. In fact,
Mr. Chairman, I would like to add these letters of support for
the Digital Coast Act into the hearing record.
The Chairman. Without objection.
[The information referred to follows:]
Quantum Spatial, Inc.
St. Petersburg, FL, January 16, 2017
Hon. John Thune,
Chairman,
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation,
United States Senate,
Washington, DC.
Hon. Bill Nelson,
Ranking Minority Member,
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation,
United States Senate,
Washington, DC.
Dear Chairman Thune and Ranking Member Nelson:
I write in strong support of S. 110, the Digital Coast Bill, and
urge the Committee to mark up and report the bill favorably to the full
Senate for its consideration. S. 110, introduced by Senator Tammy
Baldwin, is a bill that would authorize the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to establish a constituent-driven
program to provide a digital information platform capable of
efficiently integrating coastal data with decision-support tools,
training, and best practices. The collection of coastal geospatial data
will help inform and improve local, State, regional, and Federal
capacities to manage their respective coastal regions.
Quantum Spatial is the largest, most technically advanced full-
service geospatial solutions provider in North America. We apply the
power of geospatial solutions to the decisions and processes that
matter most to organizations. Quantum Spatial partners with
organizations that map, model and manage their world. We provide
advanced imaging and remote sensing technologies, backed by powerful
modeling, visualization, and GIS tools. These geospatial services have
strategic value to local and state officials for many uses including
decision making associated with severe weather impacting our coastal
communities
The Digital Coast is a web-based collection of data, tools,
trainings, and case studies designed for coastal managers and
technicians across the U.S. While the Digital Coast was developed, and
is currently maintained by the NOAA Office for Coastal Management
(OCM), hundreds of organizations and federal, state, and local agencies
have contributed and make use of its content. The collection of high-
quality, authoritative resources that comprise the Digital Coast is
focused on coastal and ocean issues and is designed to support state
and local decision makers charged with ensuring the public's safety and
the wise management of coastal resources. The Digital Coast Program
supports those involved in reducing flood risks, green infrastructure,
coastal and ocean habitat, and renewable energy activities.
The Digital Coast program multiplies its impact to regional and
state coastal management efforts by its ``make once and use many
times'' architecture structure. According to an April 2015 report
prepared by NOAA, annual net benefits have grown from about $2.3
million in 2009 to more than $6.7 million in 2013. Currently, benefits
exceed costs by a margin of 3 to 1, with net benefits of $25 million.
Continued operation over the next 15 years is expected to yield a net
benefit of $117 million, equating to a return on investment of 411
percent. User surveys and the Digital Coast return on investment study
have shown that by providing information in this manner, Digital Coast
saves coastal managers and technicians both resources and time.
The Digital Coast Program is a federal-state-local partnership that
provides valuable data and training to a diverse group of local,
regional, and statewide coastal interests all of which goes to
supporting, building, and sustaining the resilience of the coastal
economy. For all of these reasons, we strongly support S. 110 and urge
the Committee and your Senate colleagues to actively support this
legislation.
Sincerely,
Kurt W. Allen,
Vice President, Federal Vertical Lead,
Quantum Spatial, Inc.
cc: Senator Tammy Baldwin
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Senator Baldwin. And with that, I look forward to hearing
the great success stories from our witnesses and thinking
through what the next 10 years might mean for the Digital
Coast.
Thank you.
The Chairman. Thank you, Senator Baldwin.
I want to welcome our witnesses who came from all over the
United States. Let me introduce them.
We have, first, Ms. Nicole LeBoeuf, who is the Deputy
Assistant Administrator for NOAA, the National Ocean Service
part of NOAA.
Mr. Paul Barnes, he is the Director of Geographic
Information Services, Harrison County, Mississippi.
Mr. David Millar, Director of Government Accounts Americas
from Fugro. He will be showing a short, 3 minute video
following his testimony.
And Mr. Tyson Fettes, the Register of Deeds in Racine
County, Wisconsin.
Each of you will have 5 minutes to deliver your oral
statement. A longer written statement will be included in the
record.
I see the Ranking Member for the whole Committee is here.
Senator Nelson, would you like to say a few words?
STATEMENT OF HON. BILL NELSON,
U.S. SENATOR FROM FLORIDA
Senator Nelson. Mr. Chairman, this Subcommittee is so
important that I felt compelled.
The Chairman. Well, we know that, but thank you very much
for saying that. We really appreciate you being here.
Senator Nelson. Thank you and to the Ranking Member.
What is so great about the tool that we are talking about
this morning is that it allows folks to visualize sea level
rise and what it means for coastal communities.
Mr. Chairman, my state is one of those coastal communities.
Twenty-one million people live in Florida; 75 percent of the
population of the state is along the coast. Needless to say
that the effects of sea level rise is already having its
effect, considerably, with water sloshing over the streets in
Miami Beach and Fort Lauderdale.
Lo and behold, I found out much further north on the west
coast, not the Atlantic Coast, the mayor of Sarasota told me,
and I said, ``Send me some pictures,'' and indeed, that is what
is happening.
We had a field hearing three years ago down in Miami Beach.
One of the scientists testified that it is not projections. It
is not forecasts. It is actual measurements.
Over the last four decades, the sea has risen in southeast
Florida from 5 to 8 inches. He said, this scientist, by the
way, a dear friend, a former member of the astronaut corps who
sadly has passed away from cancer. But he said, ``By the end of
the century, the intensity of hurricanes, including rainfall
near the centers of hurricanes, may increase. But even if
hurricane frequency and intensity do not change,'' but we have
a season on the forecast this year, Lord knows, please, do not
let the forecast be right, that this is going to be a terrible
hurricane season. ``But even if the hurricane frequency and
intensity do not change, rising sea levels and coastal
development will likely increase the impact of hurricanes and
other coastal storms on the coastal communities and
infrastructure.''
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Well, here it
is, a sunny day; sunny day king tide flooding in Miami Beach.
There we go. Can you show that one too?
At another field hearing in West Palm Beach just last year,
the Broward County Resilience officer showed a video of a man
biking along a City of Fort Lauderdale, sidewalks submerged in
seawater.
Then we took the Committee to St. Petersburg, where the
city has designed its new pier out of floating docks to
accommodate sea level rise.
And then we could go to see tidal flooding and sea level
rise in Sarasota. What I just mentioned, the Vice Mayor, this
is Sarasota. Now, this is much further north than Miami and
Fort Lauderdale, and on the opposite coast, the Gulf Coast. And
so, those pictures as you can see.
Or St. Augustine, Florida much further north on the
Atlantic Coast, where the Public Works Department is seeing
nuisance flooding from high tides that overwhelm their storm
system, their storm water system.
Despite all these examples, the sea level rise are on sunny
days. The NASA scientist at our hearing back in 2014 was
talking about climate that could exacerbate the damage from
hurricanes. Warmer ocean water fuels hurricanes making them
more intense and the sea level rise compounds storm surge and
rain-induced flooding.
So here are some more pictures. Take a look at north
Florida. Jacksonville, this is during Hurricane Irma. This is
very far north of Jacksonville. Jacksonville is near the
Georgia line.
Well, do you want to take a look at Puerto Rico? Hurricane
Maria absolutely ravaged the island. It is not an exaggeration
to say that climate change and sea level rise are putting
peoples' lives and property at risk.
So the real question is, what are we going to do about it?
There are two pieces to a solution.
One is we are going to have to stop putting so many
greenhouse gases in the atmosphere so fast. That is called
``climate mitigation,'' and it means we must invest in new
technology, in the economy of the future. Things like wind,
solar, electric vehicles, and more efficient buildings.
Number two, we are going to have to make our communities
more resilient to the greenhouse gases and the warming that we
have already got in the system. This is called ``climate change
adaptation.'' You do not have to agree with climate science to
know that this makes sense. It has already been done in Miami
Beach with tens of millions of dollars of huge pumps that are
used to now get the water off the streets.
We are talking about strengthening building codes to
withstand wind events; restoring the function of floodplains so
that when 2 or 3 feet of rainwater gets dumped, it can absorb
and recede; and rebuilding natural flood protection, like sand
dunes and beaches. I am committed to doing both of those
solutions.
Mr. Chairman, you are very kind to let me expound, but as
the Ranking Member of the Full Committee, I felt like it is
necessary that since your Ranking Member is experiencing these
effects of climate change and sea level rise in my state of
Florida that I need to bring it to the attention of the
Committee.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
The Chairman. Thank you, Senator Nelson.
Now I want to turn to our witnesses for their testimony.
You will have five minutes each to deliver your oral statement
and a longer written statement will be included in the record,
if you so wish.
We will begin with Ms. LeBoeuf.
STATEMENT OF NICOLE LeBOEUF, DEPUTY ASSISTANT
ADMINISTRATOR, NATIONAL OCEAN SERVICE,
NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION,
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Ms. LeBoeuf. Chairman Sullivan, Ranking Member Baldwin, of
course Senator Nelson, and members of the Subcommittee.
Thank you for the opportunity for the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, to provide its views on
the successes of the Digital Coast, and on opportunities for
the future.
NOAA appreciates the Subcommittee's interest and support
for the Digital Coast and its contributions to the economic and
environmental resilience of our Nation's coasts and Great
Lakes.
My name is Nicole LeBoeuf. I am the Deputy Assistant
Administrator for NOAA's National Ocean Service. As a proud
steward of our Nation's coastal resources, NOAA is pleased to
see the tangible impacts that Digital Coast has made on the
ground across the United States.
What is Digital Coast? We have already heard some of that.
Thank you for the very generous and, of course, accurate
assessment.
Digital Coast is a web-based resource of data, tools,
trainings, and case studies tailored specifically to assist
coastal managers, policymakers, and other decision officials in
addressing complex coastal issues. Now in its eleventh year,
Digital Coast provides a high return on investment, is a
leading public-private partnership, and supports economic
development. In short, Digital Coast is government done right.
As coastal communities and populations continue to grow,
they are confronted with changing environmental conditions.
They increasingly rely upon Digital Coast to understand and
prepare for these changes. One out of every three coastal
communities in the United States has used Digital Coast
resources, and NOAA continues to improve Digital Coast based on
their stated requirements.
NOAA created the Digital Coast Partnership to strengthen
our connection to its diverse stakeholders. The Partnership
consists of eight national organizations, some represented here
today, that work with NOAA to ensure that coastal communities
have the data, tools, and information they need to make
informed decisions and to help identify needs as they emerge.
These organizations drive the Digital Coast, and NOAA responds
with the products and services to meet their needs.
Digital Coast offers a high return on taxpayer investment.
Its current benefits exceed its cost to taxpayers by a margin
of 3 to 1, with net benefits of over $25 million since its
inception.
Continued operation of the Digital Coast, as it exists
today for the next 15 years, would yield an estimated benefit
of approximately $117 million to taxpayers. That is over a 400
percent return on investment.
The Digital Coast operates as a leading public-private
partnership by reducing costs to businesses and to the public
by offering valuable data and information, while supporting as
many as 1,500 high tech, private sector jobs. Moreover, these
data are collected to the same specifications as the Federal
Government, ensuring seamless usability of these data across
geographic boundaries.
The Digital Coast supports economic development. Local,
State, and national decisionmakers use the Digital Coast as a
tool to make investment decisions that fuel economic growth
while balancing other concerns.
For example, many coastal communities use Digital Coast to
make smart economic development and investment decisions when
weighing the risks of proximity of critical infrastructure
projects near current and future flood-prone areas.
NOAA is eager to facilitate Digital Coast's continued
effectiveness by strengthening our relationships with the
public and private sector; by increasing the availability of
core coastal datasets; providing improved decision support
tools and training; by expanding collaborations through the
Digital Coast partnerships; and by enhancing the Digital Coast
platform overall. These priorities are outlined in the Digital
Coast Strategic Plan spanning 2016 to 2021.
Once again, I appreciate the opportunity to testify today.
I thank the Committee for highlighting the importance of the
Digital Coast in growing our economy and in meeting our
society's needs for a safe, secure, and healthy coastal
environment.
Thank you for acknowledging the Digital Coast's decade of
success and accomplishments.
I welcome any questions you may have about the Digital
Coast and NOAA's foundational role in it.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Ms. LeBoeuf follows:]
Prepared Statement of Nicole LeBoeuf, Deputy Assistant Administrator,
National Ocean Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, U.S. Department Of Commerce
Chairman Sullivan, Ranking Member Baldwin, and members of the
Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity for the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to provide views on the successes
of the Digital Coast Partnership Program (Digital Coast) and
opportunities for the future. NOAA and the Department of Commerce
appreciate the Subcommittee's interest and support for the Digital
Coast's contributions to the economic and environmental resilience of
coastal and Great Lakes states, regions, and the Nation.
My name is Nicole LeBoeuf and I am the Deputy Assistant
Administrator for NOAA's National Ocean Service, within the Department
of Commerce. As a steward of the Nation's coastal resources, NOAA is
pleased to see the tangible impacts the Digital Coast has made on the
ground in communities across our Nation. The Digital Coast is helping
to grow the U.S. economy, safeguard our citizens, sustainably manage
our valuable coastal and ocean resources, and find compatible solutions
to sometimes competing economic, societal, and environmental goals.
The Digital Coast is a web-based resource of data, tools, and
trainings designed to help coastal managers and technicians across the
Nation address complex coastal issues. As coastal economies and
populations continue to expand and are confronted with changing
environmental conditions, coastal communities increasingly rely on the
Digital Coast to prepare for these changes. It has quickly become one
of the most widely used resources for coastal communities to easily
find authoritative, high-quality information to make wise
infrastructure investments, help communities prepare for impending
changes and disasters, and drive economic growth. Now in its eleventh
year, the Digital Coast is cost-effective, provides a high return on
investment, contributes to the economy, and is a true partnership with
private companies, universities, and federal, state, and local
agencies. In short, the Digital Coast is government done right.
I am excited to visit Senator Sullivan's great State of Alaska
later this month to gain a better understanding of the unique coastal
challenges impacting the region and its present and future needs. In
recent meetings between NOAA staff and the state, non-profit
organizations, private companies and local communities, the message was
clear that reliable data are needed. There is no doubt that Alaska,
like many coastal states, still needs basic geospatial and other data
to make informed decisions. NOAA is committed to working with state
partners and other Federal agencies to help provide that information in
cost-effective ways that meet the diverse needs of coastal communities.
Addressing the Needs of Coastal Communities
NOAA created and continues to improve the Digital Coast in response
to the needs of coastal communities. Before 2007, coastal planners,
managers, and other decision-makers did not have ready access to data
relevant to coastal issues. They also needed easy-to-use tools,
training, and information resources to use the data to its full
potential. Our daily interactions with partners, our project work, and
surveys to constituents allowed us to develop the Digital Coast based
on their needs. The Digital Coast leverages technology to meet user
needs and operates under three guiding principles: 1) Inform coastal
decision-making; 2) Provide value for the target audience and for the
nation; and 3) Evolve continuously and sustainably.
The Digital Coast offers hundreds of state-of-the-art products,
from high-resolution data sets to interactive mapping tools. Several of
Digital Coast's tools are specifically designed to help locate data at
an individual user's local scale. For example, the Coastal County
Snapshots tool provides county-level educational information on topics
such as flood exposure, ocean and Great Lakes jobs, and wetland
benefits. The Coastal Flood Exposure Mapper also helps communities
assess their coastal hazard risks and vulnerabilities by creating
customized maps that show the people, places, and natural resources
exposed to coastal flooding. Finally, the Digital Coast's training
academy provides over 125 online and in-person learning resources to
ensure that users have the necessary skills to apply the Digital
Coast's data and tools to make sound coastal management decisions.
Digital Coast has been instrumental in supporting local, state, and
national decision-making that promotes economic growth. Counties use
Digital Coast information in their economic development strategies when
weighing investment decisions. In the Great Lakes, officials used
Digital Coast economic data to pinpoint natural resources that support
recreational activities, which helped them determine where to focus
their attention to boost local tourism and recreation. Turning to our
oceans, the U.S. Coast Guard's ocean vessel traffic data represents one
of the most popular data sets, but it is large and cumbersome to use.
The Digital Coast reformats the raw data to address this issue, saving
users hundreds of hours.\1\ Lidar data, which is high-resolution
elevation data, is another popular Digital Coast dataset that NOAA
provides, and over 30,000 individuals have downloaded the customized
data.\2\ Offering this high-resolution elevation data not only saves
consumers money; we have heard from some smaller engineering companies
that they could not do their jobs without this resource.
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\1\ National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. (2015).
Projected Benefits and Costs of the Digital Coast. Available at https:/
/coast.noaa.gov/data/digitalcoast/pdf/benefits-costs.pdf
\2\ National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Digital Coast
Site Provides $100 Million in Lidar Data. Available at https://
coast.noaa.gov/states/stories/digital-coast-site-provides-100-million-
in-lidar-data.html
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Lastly, the Digital Coast provides tools to inform shared solutions
among diverse users of coastal resources. For example, he Bureau of
Ocean Energy Management used Digital Coast data to assess potential
impacts of offshore wind energy development on the tourism and
recreation industry in over 100 Atlantic coast counties.
The Digital Coast Partnership
NOAA created the Digital Coast Partnership to solidify our
connection to our diverse customers on a long-term basis. The Digital
Coast Partnership is a group of eight national organizations that work
with NOAA to ensure coastal communities have the relevant data, tools,
and information needed to make informed decisions about our Nation's
coastal areas and help identify needs as they evolve over time. Some of
those partners are testifying at this hearing today.
While NOAA developed and maintains the Digital Coast, hundreds of
organizations, including private companies, universities, and federal,
state, and local agencies, have contributed content. The Digital Coast
Partnership has worked with NOAA to identify critical data and
information needs and share resources among over 100,000 members. These
partners and other content contributors use the Digital Coast as a
catalyst and resource for bringing diverse organizations together to
work toward common coastal management goals. The large membership of
the partnership organizations increases the awareness, use, leverage,
and extension of Digital Coast products and services. The partner
network amplifies best practices and success stories, which fosters new
management ideas, attracts more public interest, and leads to better
decision-making on coastal issues.
Return on Investment
The Digital Coast has a high return on investment. Current benefits
exceed costs by a margin of three to one, with net benefits of $25
million between 2007-2013.\3\ Continued operation of the Digital Coast
over the next 15 years is expected to yield a net benefit of $117
million, equating to a return on investment of 411 percent.\4\ This
return on investment is a good deal for the taxpayers and provides the
growing base of stakeholders easy access to data and tools worth
millions of dollars.\5\
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\3\ National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. (2015).
Projected Benefits and Costs of the Digital Coast. Available at https:/
/coast.noaa.gov/data/digitalcoast/pdf/benefits-costs.pdf
\4\ Id.
\5\ Id.
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Since 2010, the number of coastal communities using Digital Coast
resources has consistently surpassed our increasing targets. The number
of communities in coastal states accessing information resources in the
first quarter of Fiscal Year 2017 is 6,093, an increase of 286 percent
since tracking started in 2010. This means that one out of every three
coastal communities in the United States have accessed Digital Coast
resources. Three out of four users say their projects could not have
been accomplished without the resources found on the Digital Coast.\6\
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\6\ . MAPPS. Digital Coast Overview. Available at: https://
c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.mapps.org/resource/resmgr/
federal_issues_digital_coast/digital_coast_overview_ppt_(.pdf
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By providing easy access to a wide range of relevant resources, the
Digital Coast helps users do their jobs more efficiently and spend less
time and money finding, obtaining, and using the data and products that
they need. Having this information in one easily accessible location
also helps eliminate duplication of effort by government agencies.
The Digital Coast reduces costs for businesses and the public to
gain access to data and information, while sustaining between 890 and
1,530 high-technology jobs in the private sector.\7\ NOAA works with
private sector firms to acquire nationally consistent data products,
leverages costs with other partners, and then integrates them into the
Digital Coast framework to address multiple user needs. When NOAA and
partners purchase geospatial data from private firms across multiple
jurisdictions, each partner saves money. The Digital Coast also
facilitates data consistency and standards, as data are collected to
the same specifications by the Federal government, ensuring a seamless
database across state boundaries.
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\7\ National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. (2015).
Projected Benefits and Costs of the Digital Coast. Available at https:/
/coast.noaa.gov/data/digitalcoast/pdf/benefits-costs.pdf
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Planning for the Future
NOAA recognizes that partnership is key to Digital Coast's
continued effectiveness. NOAA is committed to supporting and enhancing
the Digital Coast Partnership to ensure it represents our key customers
and user base. As a result, NOAA will strengthen our partnerships with
the private and public sectors at both the national and local level. We
will increase availability of our core trusted, accurate, and high
quality coastal data sets. We will continue to provide decision-support
tools and training to understand complex coastal issues and enable
better decision-making. We will also expand interagency collaborations
through the partnership to fill information and expertise gaps.
Finally, we will enhance the core Digital Coast platform to improve
this effective gateway to actionable resources. These priorities are
outlined in the Digital Coast's strategic plan covering 2016-2021.
Conclusion
Once again, I appreciate the opportunity to testify today. I
support the Committee's effort to highlight how the Digital Coast helps
grow our economy and reduces costs while supporting our societal needs
for a safe, secure, and healthy environment. Much has been accomplished
in 11 years to enable more informed decisions, but we are only just
getting started. There are additional needs to address, partnerships to
enhance, and efficiencies to be gained. We are excited to accomplish
even more in the next decade. I welcome any questions you may have
regarding the Digital Coast and NOAA's foundational role in the
program. Thank you.
The Chairman. Great. Thank you, Ms. LeBoeuf.
Mr. Barnes, you are recognized for five minutes.
STATEMENT OF PAUL BARNES, GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SERVICES
DIRECTOR, HARRISON COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI; ON BEHALF OF THE
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF COUNTIES
Mr. Barnes. Chairman Sullivan, Ranking Member Baldwin, and
distinguished members of the Subcommittee.
I am honored to testify today on NOAA's Digital Coast.
My name is Paul Barnes and I am the GIS Director for
Harrison County, Mississippi. Today, I am representing the
National Association of Counties. NACo represents all of the
Nation's 3,069 counties, including over 400 coastal counties.
Harrison County, with a population of just over 200,000 is
located along the southern Mississippi coast and is best known
for gaming, shipbuilding, pharmaceuticals, fisheries, and
tourism. Because of our location, we face an increased threat
of major hurricanes and devastating flooding and storm surge.
Having gone through Hurricane Katrina in 2005, I am well
aware of the challenges that local communities face to prepare,
respond, and recover from disasters. That is why my county, and
others like mine, are using Digital Coast to strengthen
resiliency at the local level.
Let me explain a few reasons why Digital Coast is important
to coastal counties.
First, Digital Coast is integral to counties' ability to
protect both public safety and natural resources. Following a
disaster, we are first on the scene and play a key role in
coordinating response and working to mitigate damage before and
after.
In my county, we can predict storm surge ahead of time.
This allows us to create and implement critical emergency plans
for mass evacuation events. Because of Digital Coast, we can
more easily determine whether our residents should shelter in
place, evacuate in zones, or undertake a full scale evacuation.
This helps to prevent tragedies, like Hurricane Rita, where
people spent over two days on clogged roads and 73 people died.
We also use Digital Coast wetlands and flood exposure data
to justify appropriate building codes in flood zones.
Additionally, since counties are major owners of public
infrastructure--roads, bridges, hospitals, and other
facilities--Digital Coast helps us keep this infrastructure
safe.
Take, for example, Miami-Dade County, Florida, which is
home to 2.6 million residents. The County uses Digital Coast
data and projection tools to conduct stress tests on the public
infrastructure to determine vulnerability. This allows them to
prioritize which facilities are the most important to get up
and running after a disaster.
Finally, we use Digital Coast and other GIS tools to
educate the public about disaster risks. My department relies
heavily on Digital Coast to provide a visual understanding of
where wetlands are located in the County. This allows us to
discuss building code requirements before construction begins.
This also helps residents and businesses to make educated
decisions before they buy the property, and allows the County
to limit development in those flood-prone areas.
Second, Digital Coast can help citizens, businesses, and
communities save money. The value of a one-stop shop for
Digital Coast tools is immeasurable. Data collection can be
very time consuming, expensive, and located across numerous
Federal, State, and local agencies. Many local governments have
neither the resources nor the staff to collect it.
For example, in Harrison County, we lack the ability to
collect elevation data. If we tried to collect the data
ourselves, it would easily cost our County taxpayers tens of
thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Additionally, Digital Coast offers free online and
classroom training to educate decisionmakers and the public
about tools and strategies to address community hazards and
risks.
Moreover, Digital Coast can decrease flood insurance costs.
Federally-backed flood insurance can be expensive for residents
and businesses. Thanks to using Digital Coast resources, my
County lowered flood insurance premiums by 20 percent for our
residents.
Third, and finally, NOAA's Digital Coast program can be
strengthened if we work together. It is clear that Digital
Coast has changed lives and we are taking proactive steps to
protect our communities from future risks. That platform gives
us resources that we would not be able to collect easily
elsewhere.
We thank the Senate for passing the Digital Coast Act by
unanimous consent last year. We especially thank Senators
Baldwin and Sullivan for championing the bill. We support your
continued efforts to swiftly enact legislation to codify NOAA's
Digital Coast program into law and this will ensure that
communities like mine are protected and supported for years to
come.
We look forward to partnering with Congress to move and
strengthen the program.
I am happy to take any questions.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Barnes follows:]
Prepared Statement of Paul Barnes, Geographic Information Services
Director, Harrison County, Mississippi on Behalf of the National
Association of Counties
Chairman Sullivan, Ranking Member Baldwin and distinguished members
of the subcommittee, thank you thank you for the opportunity to testify
on ``A Decade of the Digital Coast Partnership Program: Successes and
Opportunities.''
My name is Paul Barnes and I currently serve as the Geographic
Information Services (GIS) Director for Harrison County, Mississippi. I
also serve as the Planning Section Chief in the county's Emergency
Operations Center Command in the event of a state emergency
declaration. Prior to my current position, I was the Director of GIS
for the Southern Mississippi Planning and Development District for ten
years. Today, I am representing the National Association of Counties
(NACo), who participates as a Digital Coast Partner.
The Digital Coast Partnership is a diverse group of members. NACo,
along with the American Planning Association, Association of State
Floodplain Managers, Coastal States Organization, National Estuarine
Research Reserve Association, National States Geographic Information
Council, The Nature Conservancy and the Urban Land Institute work with
the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on the Digital
Coast platform. Through Digital Coast, NOAA has created an innovative
public-private partnership to determine the tools, data and training
that counties need to protect communities from future risks. Using the
Partnership, NACo educates and trains county officials on Digital
Coast, collaborates with the partners on coastal issues and strengthens
resiliency at the local level.
About NACo
Founded in 1935, NACo is the only national organization that
represents county governments in the United States and brings together
county officials to advocate with a collective voice on national
policy, exchange ideas, build new leadership skills, pursue
transformational county solutions, enrich the public's understanding of
county government and exercise exemplary leadership in public service.
About America's Counties
Counties are highly diverse, not only in my state of Mississippi,
but across the nation, and vary immensely in natural resources, social
and political systems, cultural, economic and structural circumstances,
public health and environmental responsibilities. Counties range in
area from 26 square miles (Arlington County, Virginia) to 87,860 square
miles (North Slope Borough, Alaska). The population of counties varies
from Loving County, Texas, with just under 100 residents to Los Angeles
County, California, which is home to close to ten million people. Of
the Nation's 3,069 counties, approximately 70 percent are considered
``rural,'' with populations less than 50,000, and 50 percent of these
have populations below 25,000. At the same time, there are more than
120 major urban counties, which collectively provide essential services
to more than 130 million people every day.
Many of the responsibilities of counties are mandated by both the
states and Federal government. While county responsibilities differ
widely, most states give their counties significant authorities. These
authorities include construction and maintenance of roads, bridges and
critical infrastructure, assessment of property taxes, record keeping,
running elections, and overseeing jails, court systems and public
hospitals. Counties are also responsible for child welfare, consumer
protection, economic development, employment/workforce training,
emergency management, land use planning, zoning and environmental
protection.
These responsibilities become even more crucial for the 452 coastal
and Great Lakes shoreline counties who account for 40 percent of the
Nation's population, and face increased risks due to hurricanes,
earthquakes, tsunamis, droughts and other natural disasters.
Additionally, since coastal counties economies are often built on a
foundation of marine construction and transportation, ship and boat
building, tourism and recreation and offshore mineral extraction,
counties directly benefit from Digital Coast data, tools and resources
to protect this infrastructure.
About Harrison County, Mississippi
While Harrison County is considered ``suburban'' with a population
of just over 200,000 residents, we have a very diverse mix of urban,
suburban and rural components. Located on the south-central Mississippi
coast, we are the second most populated county in the state, and we
encompass 976 square miles (574 square land miles/402 square water
miles). Unlike other counties, we have two county seats, located in
Biloxi and Gulfport, two of our five incorporated cities. Approximately
151,000 of our residents live in one of these cities, but if Harrison
County were a city, we would be the third largest in Mississippi, with
50,000 residents living in the unincorporated area of the county.
Like other coastal counties, our economy is heavily dependent on
shipbuilding, fisheries and tourism. In fact, we are home to the
longest man-made beach in the U.S., stretching 26-miles from Biloxi to
Henderson Point. According to NOAA's Digital Coast Ocean Jobs Snapshot,
tourism and recreation account for 79 percent of the jobs in the county
and ocean jobs account for 11,034 employees, $242 million in wages and
$453 million in goods and services (2013). We also have
pharmaceuticals, gaming and two military bases; the Naval Construction
Battalion Center and Keesler Air Force Base in the county.
Because we are on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, we face an increased
risk of hurricanes and flooding. In 2005, after Hurricane Katrina
ripped through our county, we had significant loss of life and
tremendous property damage. Most structures sustained some type of
damage--almost 25 percent--one in four structures--were greatly
impacted. 7,500 properties were moderately damaged, and over 15,000
properties were substantially damaged or destroyed. The approximate
cost to replace and/or repair just county-owned infrastructure after
Hurricane Katrina was roughly $126 million. In the aftermath of
disasters such as these, it is our job to protect our residents and
businesses before, during and after disasters. Digital Coast is key to
this effort.
Digital Coast is beneficial for coastal and Great Lakes counties of all
sizes.
The topic of this hearing is of great importance to my county and
many other coastal counties across the United States who are tasked
with protecting the environment, ensuring public health and
strengthening the economic vitality of our communities.
Having gone through Hurricane Katrina in 2005, I am well aware of
the challenges that local communities face to prepare, respond and
recover from disasters. It takes time. That is why my county and others
like mine are using NOAA's Digital Coast Initiative to strengthen
resiliency at the local level.
Today, I would like to highlight a few reasons why Digital Coast is
so valuable to coastal communities, and potential opportunities for the
program moving forward:
1. Digital Coast is integral to counties' ability to protect both
public safety and natural resources.
2. Not only is Digital Coast a valuable tool for local governments,
it can also help citizens, businesses and communities save
money.
3. NOAA's Digital Coast program can be strengthened if we work
together.
Digital Coast is integral to counties' ability to protect both public
safety and natural resources.
In recent years, we have seen a spate of incredible and
catastrophic disasters across the country, and it is only getting
worse. According to NOAA, 2017 was one of the worst years on record for
natural disasters. Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria alone cost $265
billion. These storm events directly impacted coastal counties who are
responsible for public safety, protection of natural resources and
strengthening local economies.
First, counties play an indispensable role in addressing public
health and safety issues. When a hurricane hits, flooding occurs or a
tsunami threatens, residents, businesses and visitors call us for help
when they are wondering whether they should evacuate, are looking for
the nearest shelter, need to be rescued or aren't sure what to do. This
was demonstrated over and over in 2017 with Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and
Maria, as well as the massive wildfires across our western states.
Digital Coast can help us plan well in advance of disasters to protect
life, property and the unique heritage of our communities.
While state statutes and organizational structures vary, local
emergency management responsibilities are most commonly vested in
county governments. Following a disaster, local emergency managers are
often first on the scene and play a key role in coordinating emergency
management efforts and working to mitigate damage before and after
disasters.
That's why we use Digital Coast data and tools to develop effective
evacuation routes in my county. In 2017, before Hurricane Nate hit, we
determined which areas would be potentially impacted by storm surge.
Additionally, by using Digital Coast, we are able to effectively
identify instances where residents should shelter in place, evacuate in
zones or undertake a full-scale evacuation. This helps to prevent an
evacuation disaster such as the one during Hurricane Rita where people
spent over two days on clogged Texas roads and over 73 people died.
We also use Digital Coast wetlands and flood exposure data to
justify new building codes in special flood areas. For example, the
picture below on the left shows the Henderson Point area in Harrison
County without flooding. However, the picture on the right shows the
area with a flood hazard composite layer using potentials for flooding
and storm surge. This visualization allowed the county to justify an
additional two-foot elevation requirement above base flood elevation
for new structures in this area.
Other counties are using Digital Coast to develop flood
visualization tools for residents and businesses. Calcasieu Parish, in
southwestern Louisiana, utilized Digital Coast to develop an urban
flash flood forecasting and early warning system in the Contraband
Bayou Watershed. With a population of nearly 200,000 residents spread
across 1,094 square miles, the parish created a visual interactive
storyboard. This real-time data allows the parish officials, residents
and businesses to see which parts of the watershed may be impacted by a
storm event, allowing the parish to efficiently coordinate and
prioritize emergency response efforts within the region. It is the
first of its scale and caliber in the entire state of Louisiana.
In addition to assessing flood risk, Digital Coast has proven
effective in evaluating fire hazard risk in Southern California. With
the combination of weather, topography, native vegetation and the
notorious Santa Ana winds, Southern California is highly susceptible to
wildfires. Although wildfires are inevitable in this region, Digital
Coast is helping county officials identify high-risk areas. By using
Digital Coast's Coastal Change Analysis Program (CCap), researchers
were able to scrutinize 26 years of data to identify wildfire risk
areas and their proximity to urban developments. As the project
continues, communities and researchers will be able to anticipate
future wildfire risk, based on changing development patterns.
Second, as counties are major owners of public infrastructure--45
percent of our Nation's public road miles and nearly 40 percent of
bridges, a third of the Nation's transit systems and airports, 78
percent of public transportation, 976 hospitals and 91 percent of all
local jails--we use Digital Coast to keep this infrastructure safe.
Annually, counties spend $122 billion on building public infrastructure
and repairing and operating public works, $22 billion on sewage and
solid waste management and almost $83 billion on community health and
public hospitals. To protect these investments, we must develop risk
assessment, emergency management and mitigation plans for a variety of
natural and manmade disasters to protect this infrastructure. In
Harrison County, to protect the 1,880 miles (39.9 percent) of county-
owned and maintained road miles and 108 of the 298 bridges in the
county, we use Digital Coast and other GIS data for bridge and road
management and maintenance efforts, corridor and ecosystem preservation
to name a few.
For our large urban counties who own a lot of public safety and
purpose infrastructure, Digital Coast is even more important. Miami-
Dade County, home to 2.6 million Floridians, owns and maintains five
county airports, almost half of the county's road miles, 225 bridges,
thousands of miles of pipes, pump stations and water and wastewater
treatment plants, marinas, parks, nursing homes and a public hospital.
Due to its geographic location along the southeastern Florida coast,
the county uses Digital Coast data and projection tools to conduct
``stress tests'' on their facilities to determine vulnerability to sea
level rise and storm surge events. Using resulting data, the county
priorities which public safety facilities are the most important to get
up and running after a disaster. Furthermore, Miami-Dade County
collaborates with NOAA to offer Digital Coast trainings to public
employees to understand these challenges at the county level.
Another example hails from Virginia. The state is working with
local communities to address the vulnerability of transportation
infrastructure on the Eastern Shore from sea level rise and flooding
events. Using data sets from the Digital Coast Sea Level Rise and
Coastal Flooding Impacts Viewer, the state determined that 33 miles of
roads in the region are vulnerable to a one-foot sea level increase in
the next several decades and nearly a quarter of roads would be
impacted by a six-foot rise by 2090.
Third, counties are responsible for preservation of natural
resources, while protecting the public. We use Digital Coast
information to set ordinances, rules and regulations on water quality,
flood protection, acquiring damaged homes or businesses and relocating
structures, set building codes, adopt land use setbacks, environmental
restoration projects and returning property to open space, wetlands or
recreational use and other programs.
Throughout Mississippi, the Gulf region and nationwide, our
counties are actively assessing how to use natural infrastructure and
open space to buffer from storm events. In Harrison County, data
provided through Digital Coast combined with our locally collected
information helps to identify potential areas to acquire for open space
conservation and/or natural infrastructure. In Jackson County, on the
eastern Mississippi coast, the county has a living shoreline plan,
which was just updated using Digital Coastal. Parks, open spaces,
wetlands, beaches and shorelines absorb stormwater, improve offer water
quality and offer habitat for wildlife as natural infrastructure to
protect communities from flooding.
Other counties are also utilizing GIS to meet water quality
standards. Within the Chesapeake Bay watershed, Prince George's County,
MD. uses GIS-based tools to clean up polluted waterways. Located
alongside the eastern portion of Washington, D.C., Prince George's is
facing tighter stormwater requirements in the Chesapeake Bay. To keep
the waterways clean, the county has launched an online GIS tool that
allows residents to quickly report trash and litter locations.
Furthermore, we utilize Digital Coast and other GIS tools to
educate the public about disaster risks. While Digital Coast has a
multitude of useful tools to make our work easier, my department
largely relies on the Digital Coast Flood Exposure County Snapshot and
its corresponding Wetlands Benefits Snapshot. These snapshots give a
visual understanding of where wetlands are located in the county. Using
the Flood Exposure County Snapshot, residents, businesses and the
public sector immediately see that 27 percent of our residents and 11
percent of our critical infrastructure (hospitals, roads, schools and
shelters) are located within a FEMA floodplain (shown below).
Through the Wetland Benefits Snapshot map, we can quickly display
wetland areas in the county, as shown on the picture on the right, to
educate residents and businesses about allowable development on a
property. As a result, county code and zoning offices can discuss
needed requirements with property owners and buyers before building can
commence, such as wetlands surveys and elevation certificates. This
allows residents and businesses to make educated decisions BEFORE they
buy a property and allows the county to limit development in these
hazardous flood prone areas.
Not only is Digital Coast a valuable tool for local governments, it
can also help citizens, businesses and communities save money. The
value of the one-stop-shop for Digital Coast tools is immeasurable.
Data collection can be very time-consuming and expensive and many local
governments neither have the resources or the staff to collect it. This
comprehensive data collection does not necessarily exist elsewhere.
For example, in Harrison County, we lack the ability to collect
elevation data. Instead, we rely heavily on Digital Coast data. This
allows us to predict areas that may be inundated by flash flood and
storm surges.
If we tried to collect the data ourselves, it would easily cost our
Harrison County tax-payers tens of thousands, if not hundreds of
thousands of dollars. This would quickly drain available county
resources for other vital emergency management programs.
Additionally, Digital Coast offers free online and classroom
trainings to educate practitioners and the public about tools and
strategies to address risk. These offerings include a wide range of
courses, such as ways to use green infrastructure for coastal risk,
building risk communications skills, how to plan and facilitate
collaborative meetings and how to utilize Digital Coast tools to amend
land use codes for natural infrastructure.
Training such as these are not only valuable for my county, but
many communities across the U.S., especially those who have limited
staff and resources to attend these classes. Moreover, the no-cost
trainings increase awareness of risk, mitigation challenges and bring
together diverse communities, disciplines of jurisdiction, federal,
state and local agencies and organizations together. This results in a
more collaborative effort.
Finally, Digital Coast allows for better analysis of risk, which
can lead to decreased flood insurance costs. Under the Federal
Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) National Flood Insurance Program
(NFIP), which provides federally-backed insurance for residents and
businesses in flood zones, participating counties must adopt and
enforce sound floodplain management practices to reduce future flood
damage.
By using Digital Coast, my county can undertake targeted pre-
disaster mitigation investments to reduce the risk of flooding events.
For example, we use Digital Coast C-CAP land cover and wetlands data to
add additional layers to our GIS maps which allows us to better analyze
vulnerable areas. As a result, the county has increased the community's
FEMA's Community Rating System (CRS) score, which has decreased risk
and lowered NFIP premium insurance rates by twenty percent for our
residents in special flood hazard zones.
NOAA's Digital Coast program can be strengthened if we work together.
There is no doubt that the NOAA Digital Coast Initiative has
changed lives. Through the data, tools and trainings, counties and
other local governments are taking proactive steps to protect their
communities from future risks.
But, we need Congress's help to ensure that the program remains in
place and continues to grow. NOAA's Digital Coast gives counties and
other stakeholders necessary resources that they would not be able to
collect easily elsewhere. However, the program faces constant risk of
disbandment unless Congress acts.
We are encouraged by the ``Digital Coast Act'' (S. 110/H.R. 4062)
introduced in both the House Senate. We thank the sponsors for your
support and championing these bills.
We are especially encouraged by the Senate's decision to pass S.
110 by unanimous consent last year and support your continued efforts
to swiftly enact legislation to codify NOAA's Digital Coast program
into law. This will ensure that communities like mine are protected and
supported for years to come.
We thank you again for your efforts and we look forward to working
with Congress, NOAA and the Digital Coast Partnership to move and
strengthen the program in the years ahead.
In conclusion
Chairman Sullivan and Ranking Member Baldwin, the bottom line is
that Digital Coast gives communities the data and tools they need to
better protect their residents, while providing a cost-effective
service for federal, state and local governments and their citizens.
Through Digital Coast we can not only protect and transform
communities, but we can also lay the groundwork for a new and better
future. Digital Coast is an extraordinary partnership that works.
Thank you again for the opportunity to testify today on behalf of
America's 3,069 counties. I would welcome the opportunity to work more
closely with you to strengthen and improve our coastal planning
efforts. I would be happy to address any questions.
Attachments:
Ocean Jobs County Snapshot: Harrison County, Mississippi
Flood Exposure Snapshot: Harrison County, Mississippi
Wetlands Benefits Snapshot: Harrison County, Mississippi
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
The Chairman. Thank you, very much, Mr. Barnes.
Mr. Millar, you are next.
STATEMENT OF DAVID MILLAR,
GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTS DIRECTOR, AMERICAS FOR FUGRO
Mr. Millar. Chairman Sullivan, Ranking Member Baldwin, and
members of the Committee.
Thank you for this opportunity to appear before you to
provide an industry perspective on the past 10 years of the
Digital Coast Partnership Program.
My name is David Millar and I am the Government Accounts
Director, Americas for Fugro based in Frederick, Maryland. My
background includes 30 years of marine navigation, hydrographic
survey, and ocean and coastal mapping experience.
As Government Accounts Director for the Americas, I serve
as Fugro's key account manager for the United States
Government, other national governments within the Americas
region, the United Nations, the World Bank, and other
multilateral development banks.
Fugro is the world's leading, independent provider of geo
intelligence and asset integrity solutions for large
construction, infrastructure, and natural resource projects.
Our United States and Americas regional headquarters is located
in Houston, Texas and we employ approximately 1,100 employees
across 30 offices in 10 states.
Working predominantly in the energy and infrastructure
markets, we serve both public and private sector clients on
land and at sea. Fugro has been active in all U.S. coastal
states, including Alaska and those on the Great Lakes, for more
than three decades supporting resource development initiatives,
coastal infrastructure development, and providing survey and
mapping support to Federal, State, and local governments.
Fugro works with NOAA's Office of Coast Survey, the
National Geodetic Survey, the Office for Coastal Management,
the Army Corps of Engineers, the USGS, FEMA, the Bureau of
Reclamation, and the U.S. Navy.
Elevation data, land cover, and imagery acquired under
these contracts are, or could be, incorporated into the Digital
Coast. This combined experience and expertise has positioned
Fugro as a strong participant in the Digital Coast Partnership
Program.
Data, tools, and training are critically important to
managing coastal resources and NOAA's Digital Coast provides
the coastal management community with all of these in one
convenient portal.
With more than 39 percent of the U.S. population living
near the coasts, the need for this type of integrated data is
growing among local, State, and Federal emergency response and
resource development managers.
With what seems like increased flooding frequency comes
increased risk to life and property. Houston alone has
experienced three 500-year floods in the past three years. And
even as the city continues to recover, it is trying to plan for
the next flooding event.
Coastal and emergency managers throughout the country are
under increased pressure to plan for, mitigate, and manage
these events. The Digital Coast can be an invaluable resource
in this process.
Fugro has been the contributor of source data to the
Digital Coast since before its inception 10 years ago.
Highlights include:
Providing land cover and land cover change information from
Landsat to support C-CAP for inclusion into the Digital Coast;
Surveying the entire West Coast of the United States
between 2009 and 2011 for the Corps of Engineers in support of
their National Coastal Mapping Program; and,
Topographic LIDAR, bathymetric LIDAR, aerial photography,
and hyperspectral imagery were acquired, processed, delivered,
and are now part of the Digital Coast.
Earlier this year, Fugro acquired topographic LIDAR data of
the greater Houston-Galveston area under contract for the Texas
Water Development Board, the Texas Natural Resources
Information System, and the USGS. These data will become part
of the Digital Coast, and given the devastating flooding from
Hurricane Harvey last August will serve as an invaluable
resource to the local coastal and emergency management
community.
Even Fugro uses the Digital Coast to support siting and
desktop studies that help our clients assess the feasibility of
infrastructure development projects in the coastal zone.
Based on our experience with the Digital Coast, I have a
few recommendations for the Committee's consideration.
Firstly, increase the marketing and promotion of the
Digital Coast. While I believe the Digital Coast is well known
to those in government, I do not think that is the case within
academia and the private sector.
For example, a Google search of ``available coastal
bathymetry data in the USA,'' does not present the Digital
Coast within the first five pages of results.
Incorporate or reference coastal sonar and bathymetric
LIDAR from NOAA NCEI. All of the bathymetry data acquired and
maintained by NOAA's Office of Coast Survey are stored at, and
are served by, NOAA NCEI. It is suggested that the coastal data
be visible or accessible from the Digital Coast.
Third, develop a link between the U.S. Federal Mapping
coordination site and the Digital Coast. The prior was
developed by the Integrated Working Group on Ocean and Coastal
Mapping and shows the mapping requirements and plans of Federal
and State agencies around the country. It would be useful if
the Digital Coast could also show these plans.
And last, continue the Federal Government's commitment to
data collection. The Digital Coast would not exist without
coastal data. Having a combination of current and historical
data allows coastal managers to not only assess the current
situation, but also monitor change. Both are critical to
maximize the utility of data served by the Digital Coast.
Once again, I would like to thank the Committee for
allowing me to provide this statement for the record and give
testimony.
I would be happy to answer any questions from the Committee
on the Digital Coast program.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Millar follows:]
Prepared Statement of David Millar, Government Accounts Director,
Americas for Fugro
Chairman Sullivan, Ranking Member Baldwin, and members of the
Committee, thank you for this opportunity to appear before you to
provide an industry perspective on the past ten years of the Digital
Coast Partnership Program. My name is David Millar and I am the
Government Accounts Director--Americas for Fugro, based in Frederick,
Maryland. Data, tools and training are critically important to managing
coastal resources and NOAA's Digital Coast provides the coastal
management community with all of these in one convenient portal.
My background includes 30 years of Marine Navigation & Positioning,
Hydrographic Survey, Ocean and Coastal Mapping experience. As
Government Accounts Director--Americas, I serve as Fugro's key account
manager for the United States government, other national governments
within the Americas Region, the United Nations, the World Bank and
other Multilateral Development Banks. In this capacity, I am the
interface between Fugro's government customers and all of Fugro's
marine site characterization and asset integrity service offerings,
across both the Land and Marine Divisions.
Prior to this, I served as the President of Fugro Pelagos, Inc., a
Fugro company specializing in Hydrographic Survey and Ocean & Coastal
Mapping. There I was responsible for managing a company with
approximately 80 staff and an annual budget of approximately $20M.
During that period, I oversaw the delivery of Hydrographic Survey and
Coastal Zone Mapping Services to NOAA, the United States Army Corps of
Engineers, as well as similar government agencies in other nations. I
am also on the Board of Directors of The Maritime Alliance, the GEBCO
Guiding Committee, as well as the Establishment Board of Seabed 2030.
Fugro is the world's leading, independent provider of geo-
intelligence and asset integrity solutions for large construction,
infrastructure and natural resource project. We provide the technical
data and information required to design, construct and maintain
structures and infrastructure in a safe, reliable and efficient manner.
Our United States and Americas regional headquarters are located in
Houston, Texas and we employ approximately 1,100 employees across 30
offices in 10 states in the United States. Working predominantly in the
energy and infrastructure markets, we serve both public and private
sector clients on land and at sea.
Fugro has been active in all U.S. Coastal States, including Alaska
and those on the Great Lakes, for more than three decades, supporting
resource development initiatives, coastal infrastructure development
and maintenance activities in addition to providing survey and mapping
support to federal, state and local governments.
Fugro also holds multi-year contracts with NOAA Office of Coast
Survey (OCS), NOAA National Geodetic Survey (NGS), NOAA Office for
Coastal Management (OCM), United States Army Corps of Engineers
(USACE), United States Geological Survey (USGS), the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA), United States Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) and
the United States Navy. Elevation data acquired under all of these
contracts is or could be incorporated into the Digital Coast.
The following sections highlight specific Fugro experience with
Federal agencies that relate to or support the Digital Coast Program:
NOAA--Office of Coast Survey
Fugro has been providing Hydrographic Survey Services to NOAA's
Office of Coast Survey since 1997, providing critical support in
addressing the Nation's charting backlog. This support has been in the
form of executing hydrographic surveys utilizing vessel-based sonar and
aircraft-based bathymetric lidar. Over the years, much of this work has
been performed in Alaska, though most recently, the company has been
tasked to work in Maine and the Gulf of Mexico.
NOAA--National Geodetic Survey Coastal Mapping Program
Fugro has been supporting the NOAA National Geodetic Survey Coastal
Mapping Program since 2014. This program uses stereo photogrammetry
with tide-coordinated aerial photography and/or bathy-topo lidar along
the coast to provide the Nation with an accurate, consistent, up-to-
date national shoreline, which serves as the critical baseline for
demarcating the United States' marine territorial limits, including its
Exclusive Economic Zone and for the geographic reference needed to
support coastal zone management.
NOAA--Office of Coastal Management
Since 2005 Fugro has been providing Geospatial Services to NOAA's
Office of Coastal Management. One of the services provided under this
contract is the production of land cover and land cover change
information, which is used by NOAA's Coastal Change Analysis Program
(C-CAP). C-CAP provides nationally standardized, raster-based
inventories of land cover for the coastal areas of the United States.
USACE--National Coastal Mapping Program
Fugro has been supporting the USACE's National Coastal Mapping
Program since its inception in 2005, providing integrated topographic
lidar, bathymetric lidar, aerial imagery and hyperspectral data along
coastal areas of the contiguous United States and Hawaii. These data
support the USACE's regional sediment management, construction,
operations, and regulatory functions in the coastal zone
USGS--Geospatial Services
Fugro has been supporting the United States Geological Survey
(USGS) via their Geospatial Product and Service Contract and its
predecessor contract since 2008. Under this contract, the company has
been supporting The National Map and many other federal, state and
local projects through the provision of photogrammetric mapping,
orthophotography, IFSAR and lidar.
FEMA--Risk Map
Fugro has been supporting the Federal Emergency Management Agency's
(FEMA's) Risk Mapping, Assessment and Planning (Risk MAP) program since
2010. Risk MAP provides data and solutions that increase public
awareness and reduces risk to life and property through a combination
of flood hazard mapping, risk assessment tolls and hazard mitigation
planning. Fugro provides geospatial content, including, topographic
data, bathymetric data, ortho imagery and oblique imagery
Digital Coast Partnership Program
This combined experience and expertise has positioned Fugro as a
strong participant in the Digital Coast Partnership Program. With more
than 39 percent of the U.S. population living near the coast, projected
to reach 134 million by 2020, the need and appreciation for this type
of integrated data is growing among local, state, and Federal emergency
response and resource development managers. Fugro plays an important
role supporting the Digital Coast by providing high quality geospatial
data in formats readily accessible to Federal partners, including NOAA.
Through the contracts and programs summarized above, Fugro provides
a variety of source data to the Digital Coast Program. These source
data include elevation, land cover and imagery. The coastal data
acquired under some, but not all, of these contracts are incorporated
into the Digital Coast. Other data sources and content, such as hazards
and climate, economic, benthic, fish, birds, corals, demographic,
Federal geo-regulations, jurisdictions and boundaries, marine habitat,
marine mammals and turtles, ocean uses and planning areas, physical and
oceanographic and weather are provided by NOAA and many other
contributors. All content is vetted by NOAA before being served and
combined on-line with tools and training. The Digital Coast portal
includes visualization tools, predictive tools and tools that make data
easier to find and use. Training courses are also available online or
at the user's location. Content is critical, however, and Digital Coast
would not exist if it were not for current and historical data. For
Fugro, acquiring and processing content that feeds into the Digital
Coast via our numerous Federal government contracts results in
approximately one-hundred well-paying jobs across the country.
In many ways, Fugro's site characterization and asset integrity
services mirror many of the areas prioritized in Digital Coast. The
Digital Coast provides an enabling platform that facilitates use and
application. It starts with data, turns it into information and
facilitates action through discovery, download, mapping, analysis,
learning and sharing. Within Fugro, we acquire data of the earth and
its assets, we manage and analyze the data and we provide advice
covering a wide spectrum of geo-engineering and asset integrity
disciplines to our customers. As with the Digital Coast, this process
allows our clients to make informed decisions and facilitate/de-risk
complex and technically demanding projects. The nature of the projects
is different, but the process is similar and the experiences gained
through work in the Digital Coast Partnership Program are valuable to
the private sector.
Highlights
Fugro has been a contributor to the Digital Coast Program since its
inception ten years ago and even data that we acquired before this date
have been incorporated into the Digital Coast. Several examples follow:
Fugro, through its support to the Joint Airborne LIDAR
Bathymetric Technical Center of Expertise (JALBTCX), acquired
topographic lidar, bathymetric lidar, aerial photography and
hyperspectral imagery along the Gulf Coast for the USACE
immediately after Hurricane Katrina, which was subsequently
incorporated into and is now served by the Digital Coast.
Under our Geospatial Services contract with NOAA's Office of
Coastal Management, Fugro provides land cover and land cover
change information from Landsat imagery to support C-CAP. All
of our C-CAP data are incorporated into the Digital Coast and
is updated on a 5-year cycle. In 2015, our C-CAP work was in
the Great Lakes. In 2016, it was in Washington, Wisconsin,
Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, New York, New Hampshire,
Maine, Michigan, Rhode Island, Connecticut, North Carolina and
South Carolina. In 2017, we worked in Georgia, Alabama,
Mississippi and California.
Between 2009 and 2011, we surveyed the entire west coast of
the United States from the Mexico border in the south to the
Canadian border in the north. This work was executed under our
contract with USACE and was in support of the Corp's National
Coastal Mapping Program. Topographic lidar, bathymetric lidar,
aerial photography and hyperspectral imagery were acquired,
processed, delivered and are now served by the Digital Coast.
Most recently, Fugro has been contracted by the Texas
Natural Resources Information System and the USGS to acquire
high-resolution topographic lidar data of the Greater Houston-
Galveston area. This work was executed using four aircraft
earlier this year. Given that this area was devastated by
flooding from Hurricane Harvey last August, the dataset will
undoubtedly serve as an invaluable resource to the local
coastal and emergency management community.
The frequency of coastal flooding seems to be increasing and with
this comes increased risk of life and property. In the case of Houston,
that city has experienced three 500-year floods in the past three
years. As a result, coastal and emergency managers are under increased
pressure to plan for, mitigate and manage these events. The Digital
Coast can be an invaluable resource in this process.
The private sector also uses the Digital Coast and in Louisiana
where Fugro is contracted directly by the State of Louisiana's Coastal
Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA), as well as indirectly by
CPRA's engineering contractors, we see data served by the Digital Coast
used to monitor barrier island restoration projects on a regional
scale, as well as to calibrate hydrologic models on a project level.
Even Fugro uses the Digital Coast to support some of our other
activities. Data from the Digital Coast is often used to support siting
and desk top studies that help our clients assess the feasibility of
infrastructure development projects in the coastal zone. Data can also
be used to aid in the planning and estimating of future mapping
projects, where the availability of Digital Coast data can often reduce
the price to our clients on new data collections. Data from the Digital
Coast can also be used for change detection purposes, such that rates
of change can be developed and they can also be used for QC purposes to
validate the results of new surveys in some cases.
Recommendations
1. Increase the marketing and promotion of the Digital Coast
Partnership Program--While I believe the Digital Coast is well
known to those in federal, state and local governments, I am
not sure it is so well known in academia and the private
sector. As an example, a Google search of ``available coastal
bathymetry data in the USA'' does not present the Digital Coast
within the first five pages of results.
2. Incorporate coastal sonar and bathymetric lidar data from NOAA
NCEI--All of the bathymetry data acquired and maintained by
NOAA's Office of Coast Survey are stored at and served by NOAA
NCEI. It is suggested that data that are coastal in nature
(i.e., data that are adjacent to the coast) should be visible
or accessible from the Digital Coast.
3. Develop a link between the U.S. Federal Mapping Coordination
Seasketch site and the Digital Coast--The prior has been
developed by the Integrated Working Group on Ocean and Coastal
Mapping (IWG-OCM) and shows the mapping requirements and plans
of Federal and state agencies around the country. It was
developed to improve coordination and eliminate redundant
mapping efforts, which it has done quite successfully. It would
be useful if the Digital Coast could also show these plans as a
layer, however.
4. Continue the Federal government commitment for data collection--
As mentioned earlier, the Digital Coast would not exist without
coastal data. Having a combination of current as well as
historical data allows coastal managers to not only assess the
current situation, but also allow them to monitor change. Both
are critical to maximize the utility of data served by the
Digital Coast.
Conclusion
Once again I would like to thank the Committee for allowing me to
provide this statement for the record and to give testimony. I would be
happy to answer any questions from the Committee on the Digital Coast
Partnership Program.
The Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Millar.
Mr. Fettes.
STATEMENT OF TYSON FETTES, REGISTER OF DEEDS,
RACINE COUNTY, WISCONSIN
Mr. Fettes. Thank you, Chairman Sullivan and Ranking Member
Baldwin.
I am very honored and excited to be here today. Thank you
for having me.
I wanted to take my time to tell you about a story of a
situation that we were really just thrust into in my county, in
Racine County, with some historic flooding that we had at the
Fox River in my hometown of Burlington.
I was, ironically enough, out at a conference, an Esri user
group conference, in San Diego. There were about 20,000 people
at this conference, and I woke up in the morning to about 50
text messages because of the flooding that we had overnight.
Senator Baldwin, I am sure you were privy to all of those
messages also.
Our flood stage rose very, very quickly and really put a
lot of our community underwater very quickly.
So while I was out at this conference, it was ironically a
great place to be because I was able to connect up with some of
the folks at Esri and I utilized their disaster relief program.
They helped set up a damage assessment application for us,
so we were able to very quickly, from San Diego, get
information into the hands of the folks in the EOC to help get
them mapping information and sea flood level information
through NOAA. This information was extremely useful to the
folks back in the EOC.
What I think is really interesting about this story is that
I am certainly no GIS expert. I am the County Register of
Deeds. I happen to oversee the GIS department in our county. So
we were thrust into finding information very, very quickly and
because of the tools at our disposal, it made it very easy to
integrate into a dashboard--NOAA data, flood level data--right
into our dashboard in the Emergency Operation Center.
Once we created the damage assessment application on a
smart phone, I was able to fly back and we started having our
damage assessment teams go out, actually in golf carts, through
the community checking on homes.
So in real time in the Emergency Operation Center, we were
able to see over 1,000 responses from our teams instantly tied
spatially to a map with photos of the damage in the basement.
We were using FEMA codes so major, minor, affected damage. We
were able to instantly see that information along with the
current flood level information through the coastal program. It
was really an amazing three, four days of a whirlwind being
pushed into this.
To your testimony, Mr. Millar, I thought it was a really
interesting point of marketing this. I was not necessarily
aware of all of these tools at our disposal and now, certainly,
our county is, and we are looking forward to using more with
the damage to our coast in Lake Michigan.
Racine County borders Lake Michigan. And Senator Baldwin,
as you are aware, you have been out and toured some of the
erosion problems that we have had. The LIDAR data that is
available to us will really be helpful to us to continue to
manage the erosion along the coast of Lake Michigan.
So with that, I want to thank you for having me today. I am
very honored to be here and this information is really
beneficial to us at the county level.one
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Fettes follows:]
Prepared Statement of Tyson Fettes, Register of Deeds,
Racine County, Wisconsin
On July 12, 2017, Racine County was hit by record flooding, with
the Fox River in Burlington cresting 3ft higher than in recorded
history (the river is usually at 4ft; flood stage is 11ft). Power went
out at 4,478 properties and a state of emergency was declared.
When the flooding happened, I was attending a major international
conference for geographic information systems users in San Diego, CA,
held by Esri (Environmental Systems Research Institute), a Digital
Coast contributing partner and the organization that supplies GIS/
mapping technology for almost all government agencies. I attended the
conference in my capacity as Register of Deeds, along with our Real
Property Lister. We had received an award at the conference in 2016,
and were invited back to give a presentation on the award-winning
project in 2017.
As the flooding was hitting Racine County, I discussed it with
Esri's Director of Global Sales & Business Development (now Director of
Strategic Alliances), Chris Cappelli, who connected me with Esri's
Disaster Response Team. That team worked with us while we were at the
conference, at no cost, to develop and deploy a damage assessment
application based on GIS technology that would allow us to start to
spatially record, monitor and update damage assessment and clean-up in
real time using smart phones or tablets. The application was designed
to be used by field crews to submit information in the form of
responses to a set of standardized questions, attaching photos, and
categorizing damage according to FEMA classifications--affected, minor,
major, or destroyed. Information received via self-reporting by the
public was also incorporated, including updates and photographs of
damage submitted via social media. All of this information, as well as
sandbag and water resource areas, was laid out on a map, making it easy
exactly what was happening at any given time.
Flood level data aggregated and made available through NOAA's
Digital Coast Program was integrated into the application, and the map
automatically updated this information as it changed over time.
When I returned to Racine County from California, I worked with the
Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and the Fire Chief to ensure the
adoption of the app rather than relying on paper-based recording of
damage information. The application provided an easy way of keeping
information organized despite coming from many different sources in
different formats and large volumes, all within a very short period of
time. This also contributed significantly to our ability to submit the
information required by FEMA and the State of WI extremely efficiently
with a negligible amount of additional work, since it was collected and
organized on the front end in the manner that FEMA and the State
required it.
In all, 900 damage assessments were conducted across the City of
Burlington and the Town of Burlington in Racine County using the
application. Together, the application and the integration of Digital
Coast flood level data were extremely powerful tools that made it
possible to deliver a confident and effective disaster response effort
for the citizens of Racine County.
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
The Chairman. Great. Thank you very much, Mr. Fettes.
Mr. Millar, you have a video. Is that ready?
Mr. Millar. Yes, I have it.
The Chairman. I was going to give you a little extra time,
if it is not too long.
Mr. Millar. Two one-minute videos.
The Chairman. Two, one-minute videos. OK. Why don't you go
for it? Are they ready to roll?
Mr. Millar. Yes.
The Chairman. OK.
Mr. Millar. So this, actually, is from the Apostle Islands.
It is an animation flythrough of Sand Island and York Island of
the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore in Lake Michigan, and it
combines multiple datasets. We have integrated that here for
this presentation. [video is shown]
It is the Corps of Engineers' topographic LIDAR data from
2007; the Corps of Engineers' bathymetric LIDAR data from 2007;
NOAA Office of Coast Survey single beam sonar data from 1983;
and then the NOAA Nautical Chart 14973 of the Apostle Islands.
And through this flythrough, you can see the various layers
of these data types that have been fused together to basically
create a seamless model across the land, the land-water
interface, and then the water below the water surface. That is
critically important for modeling, and simulation, and
projection purposes by the coastal resource managers. [video is
shown]
Here on that last, you can see a wreck symbol. There is the
Wreck of the Sevona, 1890. That was the vessel on the left and
then, obviously, the submerged wreck on the right.
This next animation is actually from Alaska. It is Kachemak
Bay; Bear Cove in Kachemak Bay, Alaska. [video is shown]
This particular dataset combines NOAA NGS LIDAR data from
2008; that is bathymetric and topographic LIDAR data. It
contains NOAA Office of Coast Survey multibeam data from 2008.
It contains NOAA's Integrated Office of Ocean and Coastal
Management, natural color imagery from the Digital Coast and
IOCM, Integrated Ocean and Coastal Mapping infrared imagery
from the Digital Coast as well. Then this is super laid on NOAA
Chart 16645.
Again, you can see the integration of the various datasets
here. Just for illustrative purposes, but you get a sense of
the 3-D model. Hopefully that can be used for the simulation
and forecasts and interpretive reasons.
Thank you.
The Chairman. Great, thank you. Thank you very much for
that video.
I am going to start by asking some questions here, but
thank you very much for the testimony. It was very useful and I
appreciate when you have recommendations, like you did, Mr.
Millar. Those were, I think, pretty good recommendations. We
will take a look at that.
I want to start by asking Ms. LeBoeuf, what is NOAA doing
to prioritize updating the nautical charts in the Arctic? Let
me just give you an anecdote.
A couple of years ago, I met some NOAA officials who were
doing nautical mapping updating in Dutch Harbor. As you
probably know, Ms. LeBoeuf, that is the biggest fishing port in
the country, out in the Aleutian Island chain. Yet, even within
Dutch Harbor, a lot of the charts were not very updated. That
is a place that has enormously busy vessel traffic.
Can you give me a sense of that? And then what are some
strategies to fill Alaska's coastal data gaps? Can the Digital
Coast leverage partnerships and resources to help do that?
So those are three questions for you.
Ms. LeBoeuf. Thank you, Senator Sullivan.
Alaska does present a considerable challenge, given its
size and its coastline extent.
We have developed a national charting plan that looks out
over the next 5 years of hydrographic survey priorities. In
particular to Alaska, we also have an Arctic nautical charting
plan that is a longer term plan. It is a 10 to 15 year outlook
at Alaska and the Arctic region needs.
We have identified the need for 11 priority charts, which
is approximately half of the overall priorities that we are
looking at across our hydrographic survey needs.
And so, we are plotting a course forward, working very
closely with the private sector, as well as our coastal
partners. We are increasing opportunities for Digital Coast to
be linked there with the State of Alaska.
For example, the Digital Coast has a fellowship program and
Alaska has just been awarded its first fellow to begin in
September. That person will be dedicated to creating tighter
connections between what Alaska needs across bathymetric as
well as flood, risk, and other data needs with the Digital
Coast. And so, we are very much looking forward to that
opportunity.
The Chairman. Great, thank you.
Would you agree with me, we have a lack of data in many
parts of the state, and yet particularly the increased traffic
in some of the regions poses some risks? Would you agree with
that?
Ms. LeBoeuf. I would, sir. Yes.
The Chairman. Let me ask Mr. Millar. You are familiar with
some of the important economic activities derived from coastal
activities, not just in Alaska, but in Mississippi, in
Wisconsin.
How should the capabilities you have be highlighted best to
be able to be used in my state, or in Wisconsin, or other
coastal communities? You mentioned a number of recommendations,
but do you have a sense of how to highlight some of the
capabilities that you, and your competitors, provide?
Mr. Millar. Thank you, Chairman Sullivan, for the question.
I would say Fugro, and our colleagues in the private sector
mapping industry, are really looking at this from a data
provision standpoint. So there are many platforms, sensors, and
solutions are available to acquire and deliver these data to
the Digital Coast.
Once in the Digital Coast, then that data can serve many,
many different applications and purposes, for economic
development, for coastal protection, for coastal restoration,
for fisheries, fisheries management, fisheries protection, even
in the private sector.
Our customers, as I mentioned, often have coastal
infrastructure. So ports and harbor construction or expansion,
LNG or other marine terminals, this data if it were available
everywhere, could be used by our customers to facilitate and
help them plan, and site, and permit those projects.
The Chairman. Thank you very much.
Senator Baldwin.
Senator Baldwin. Thank you.
As we have heard from all of our witnesses, Digital Coast
provides quality products and services while reducing cost and
potential duplications. We have heard from the local
government, we have heard from the private sector, and the
Federal Government. They are singing the same tune. It is not
often we get that experience here.
To Mr. Fettes and Mr. Barnes, you both testified about how
your counties, which are thousands of miles apart, certainly
hundreds of miles apart--one on a freshwater coast, one on a
decidedly saltier coast--with different threats. Racine is
vulnerable to riverine flooding; the Mississippi coast
vulnerable to hurricanes and storm surge.
You have used the Digital Coast platform. While communities
like yours are the reason the program was started, Digital
Coast is at risk because it is not authorized. It is not
congressionally authorized.
So if NOAA changed course and the Digital Coast was no
longer maintained with current accurate data, what would that
mean for your work? What implications would it have for real
people in your communities?
Mr. Barnes. Thank you, Ranking Member Baldwin, for that
question. That really, I think as long as I have been in this
profession, has been a critical issue, updated information.
Every year it seems as if it does get better and we get
more complete coverage. But we also know that the frequency of
these updates are also very expensive.
Regarding Digital Coast, which is an incredible resource,
it pulls in information from so many different agencies and
organizations, and trying to keep that up to date is difficult
at best. But when you are relying on multiple resources that
are responsible for their own updating, I think that really is
the big challenge.
And so, looking at it from the perspective of just one
program like Digital Coast, I think maybe the real challenge is
trying to help all agencies and organizations get more current
on their information.
Mr. Fettes. I think adding onto that, open data is key in
sharing data.
Senator Baldwin to your comments about the Federal
Government, county government, local government working
together, this information, for our office, we are a healthy
sized county in the State of Wisconsin, but we are a very lean
staff. So it is important for our team to be as efficient as
possible.
So for us to be able to tie-in to live and accurate open
data is critical for us to be able to make decisions at the
local government level. So we want to thank you for making that
data available for us.
Senator Baldwin. Ms. LeBoeuf, I know how much of an impact
the Great Lakes make in terms of generating economic activity.
It is quite something.
I have one figure here that the Great Lakes alone generated
nearly $5 trillion in economic activity, or about 30 percent of
combined U.S. and Canadian economic output.
As Mr. Millar showed in his video, the private sector has
continued to invest in the development of new technologies that
result in better quality data being collected for coastal
management including the Great Lakes.
So how does NOAA's Digital Coast program support these
private sector investments in new technologies and employment
opportunities?
And then, Mr. Millar, if you have any perspectives that you
want to share after Ms. LeBoeuf, please add that in.
Ms. LeBoeuf. Thank you, Senator Baldwin.
We rely heavily on the private sector to provide the data
that goes into Digital Coast. But we have a relationship with
them that is so tightly coupled to the needs of the coastal
managers.
We provide, as you said, both efficient and effective in
working with these companies that provide the data. We let them
know what the coastal managers need. They can hone right in on
that. They can develop their technologies. They can be
innovative in a way that is responsive, real time, to the
priority of coastal communities when that data is received by
NOAA.
This Digital Coast effort spends about $5 million a year on
acquiring data from the private sector, and as I said in my
testimony, supporting about 1,500 high tech jobs. We receive
that data and then we are able to put it into complex
visualization tools that we know, through the partnerships and
our conversations with the coastal managers, they are going to
be able to readily use.
So it is a very nice relationship. The private sector can
go directly to the kinds of data that we know will be needed.
Then we provide that data. And that feedback loop is absolutely
transformative. And so, we very much appreciate their
contributions and their continued investments.
Senator Baldwin. Thank you.
Mr. Millar, by the way, I will add I was up in the Apostle
Islands last week in our north coast, Lake Superior.
Yes, go ahead.
Mr. Millar. Senator, thank you for the question.
I would reinforce and restate, I guess, that the
collaboration between NOAA and the private sector is very
strong. There are forums through conferences and meetings,
seminars, workshops where NOAA and the private sector can come
together and share information on what is new, what is
emerging.
There is the Joint Hydrographic Center for Ocean and
Coastal Mapping at the University of New Hampshire. We are
their industrial partner, and once a year we come together with
NOAA, again, in that forum to share research, innovation,
development, and ideas. All of that ultimately makes it into
the Government's specifications when this work is solicited and
tendered.
So the bar continuously gets raised through this process.
Thank you.
The Chairman. Great. Thank you.
Senator Wicker.
STATEMENT OF HON. ROGER F. WICKER,
U.S. SENATOR FROM MISSISSIPPI
Senator Wicker. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Barnes, thank you for your service to Harrison County
and congratulations also on being chosen to testify today on
behalf of the National Association of Counties.
You mentioned in your written testimony, the flood exposure
County Snapshot and the Wetlands Benefits Snapshot.
How does Digital Coast help us save taxpayer money in that
regard? How does it contribute to economic development in that
regard? Why do we hear so much about disparities in terms of
these maps from state to state?
Mr. Barnes. Thank you, Senator Wicker for your warm welcome
and for this question.
Digital Coast has such a great collection of tools that at
any level of technological advancement, I think communities
have been able to use them.
The economic impact of using something like Digital Coast
for planning, to strategize for disaster preparedness and
response is really critical. Now, there may not be an economic
development obvious component when you look at it from the
front side, but the big economic impact has to do with
resilience.
So if we plan properly, we are able to ensure that we do
not build infrastructure, or public facilities, or even
residential structures in areas that are vulnerable for flood
risk and storm surge.
So by building outside of those vulnerable areas, we are
ensuring that we recover more quickly in the event of a
disaster. And I believe that we all fully appreciate that it is
not ``if'' a disaster will occur; it is ``when''. Something
will happen in the future. We do not know when it will, but it
will happen.
The real economic development issue is being able to
recover quickly, provide services, be able to generate revenue
again so that we can fulfill that tax base and continue to
develop and recover.
I think the disparities are real important to note. In my
County, for instance, we have pretty good resources. We are
fairly advanced technologically. We have a very good
progressive thinking board. Some of our more rural areas, and
our smaller cities, they do not have those financial and
personnel resources.
When you take Digital Coast as a whole program, the
training, the education, the tools, the online visualization
resources, those things are readily available for people who do
not create their own maps locally.
Just in addition to that, we are capable of pulling in
services. We do not have to just download data. We can use
services within our own local maps. I think that is the real
value of Digital Coast. From the have-not to the have-all, it
helps everyone.
Senator Wicker. Thank you very much.
Ms. LeBoeuf, with regard to data on storm surge risk, I
understand my staff provided you with a copy of the 2018
CoreLogic Storm Surge Report.
Did you get a copy of that?
Ms. LeBoeuf. Yes, sir.
Senator Wicker. Have you had a chance to look at it and
give us your opinion about the value of that?
Ms. LeBoeuf. I have scanned it sir, yes.
Senator Wicker. All right. Well, could you comment on that?
Ms. LeBoeuf. Well, what I will say in relation to the
Digital Coast is that the data we provide that are used by
companies like CoreLogic are able to provide information to the
insurance industry, the building industry, and others about the
risks associated with building in flood and in storm surge
prone areas.
And so, it is heartening to see those kinds of reports out
there because I think a better educated development and
insurance industry will make strategic and good choices.
Senator Wicker. Very good.
Mr. Chairman, I am going to ask that this Report be
included in the record.
The Chairman. Without objection.
[The information referred to follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Senator Wicker. And then, quickly, back to you, Mr. Barnes.
You mentioned Hurricane Rita and these people being trapped on
the roads resulting in 73 deaths.
What were the differences in that tragedy and our approach
in Hurricane Nate? What role might Digital Coast have had a
better result there?
Mr. Barnes. Senator, thank you for that question.
I am not familiar with the planning processes in Texas, so
I have a hard time speaking directly to their engagement and
their processes in evacuation.
But what I can say about Hurricane Nate is that--and this
started last year for our emergency operations--we have done as
much as we can to get our announcements and the availability of
information as public as possible. Just last year, we started
televising our emergency management briefings while we were
active during Nate.
So I think the public information perspective is very
dynamic and, of course, it changes from event to event. But
people need to be aware of where those inundation areas or
where those flash flooding events can occur.
I believe that the only way to do that is to visualize
these areas on the map and a dynamic working map. During
Hurricane Katrina, we had nothing like that.
I believe that if we had had a map for visualization of
where that storm surge for a Category 3 or 4 Storm had gone, we
may have clogged our roads, but it probably would have saved
some lives.
The messages for Hurricane Katrina were out there. It was
very clear that these folks needed to leave, but I do not think
they understand terms like, ``There will be a 10 to 12 foot
storm surge.'' That makes no sense to anyone. They need to be
able to see where this water is going to go.
If I look at a map and my house is blue, then I figure it
is about time to move.
Senator Wicker. Thank you.
Mr. Barnes. Thank you.
The Chairman. Well, I want to thank the witnesses. We have
a vote at 11 a.m., but I think Senator Baldwin and I have a few
more questions to ask. Again, appreciate you flying in from all
parts of the country.
Let me follow up a little, Mr. Barnes, on some of the
questions you had with Senator Wicker, actually for you and Mr.
Fettes.
How can Digital Coast partnerships and products be used to
promote local and states' capacity to increase resiliency or,
as you were just talking about, provide warnings particularly
for some of the communities that you are referencing that might
not have a lot of resources or that do not always have the most
up-to-date data? That is for both of you.
Mr. Fettes. Yes, I think that is a really great question.
Most counties all have some form of GIS system in place. I
believe it starts at the county level where they can help your
more progressive cities and your small rural towns who do not
have the ability to create applications themselves.
But what I think is really important is--and it kind of
goes to the theme of all of this--being able to see something
on a map really changes how you can look at things. Even from
people who are experienced decisionmakers who could maybe
understand what a 10 or 12 foot storm surge means.
But when you simplify it down to, ``Your parcel is blue and
blue is bad,'' it really makes it crystal clear. And with being
able to tie data and tie services into open data so there is no
manual work. It is a script to make this possible. You can make
all of these maps and applications public facing and put them
in the places that matter.
So, for example, the county could help that rural town have
an application on that rural town's website tied to live data
showcasing flood damage or where we are looking at flood levels
with the upcoming storm. That is how I think the county can
help both your city and town and everywhere in between at the
county.
So seeing things on a map, it really makes it easy to make
decisions.
The Chairman. Mr. Barnes, do you have a follow up on that?
Mr. Barnes. Thank you.
I am delighted that Mr. Fettes looked at it from the map
perspective. I would like to talk about the communication and
cooperation perspective.
I think that as the training and the workshops provided by
Digital Coast provide a forum, this environment where folks get
together that normally would not. Now, I know you probably will
not believe this, but there may be a bit of silo-ism between
local governments.
The Chairman. We do not have any of that in the Federal
Government.
[Laughter.]
Mr. Barnes. These workshops do provide that forum and we
all get together and say, ``We all have this same experience.''
And so, what I love about that, though, is we have a lot of
resources in the County to manage these difficulties and
challenges. Our smaller cities, and I can think of three of
them in my County, do not have the same resources.
I am able, through those training opportunities and
workshops, to make those connections and communicate with the
people who make those decisions in code offices in the smaller
cities that would not normally reach out to us for help.
Building those relationships has probably been the greatest
value to me and my County in the use of Digital Coast.
The Chairman. Great, thank you. Let me ask one final
question.
Now, as Senator Baldwin mentioned, we have a wide array of
witnesses here: Federal Government officials, private sector
officials, state and local representation. Ms. LeBoeuf, I am
going to ask you a bit of a tricky question.
Mr. Millar from his private sector vantage point provided
some, what I thought, were constructive recommendations on how
we could do a better job here on this program.
Do you agree with his recommendations?
Ms. LeBoeuf. I would have to look into that further. I
thought they were very interesting as some of those were ones
that we have not yet considered. So I would love to take those
back.
The Chairman. Well, why don't we take that back for the
record to have you just take another hard look, and if you have
questions for Mr. Millar on exactly what he meant? If you can
get back to this Committee, I think it would be useful to have
your view on what he was talking about.
Ms. LeBoeuf. Absolutely.
The Chairman. Great.
Senator Baldwin.
Senator Baldwin. Thank you.
In 2010, the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative was
launched. GLRI is intended to coordinate and accelerate Federal
efforts to protect and restore the largest system of fresh
surface water in the world.
We want to ensure that water is safe for drinking, swimming
in, and boating on. That fish are safe to catch and eat. That
we control nuisance species and avoid new invasions, and that
native plants and animals are thriving and protected in
restored habitats.
Digital Coast is important to this Initiative. One of the
Digital Coast success stories is a tool that helps planners
determine where priority restoration areas are.
Just last month, the EPA published a new interactive
mapping application for GLRI projects. With 16 Federal agencies
working to restore the Great Lakes across seven states, and in
partnership with our Canadian neighbors, having a central
repository is important for measuring progress and keeping
everyone, quite literally, on the same page.
Ms. LeBoeuf, I am a strong advocate, if you are not already
aware, for full funding of the Great Lakes Restoration
Initiative because of the work that it is doing to invest in
the future of our communities and protection of our resources.
I have been very concerned with recent efforts to scale
back this investment. I believe it would severely hinder the
progress that we are making and leave our communities to
grapple with these serious challenges on their own.
Further compounding this issue with GLRI funding, the
Administration has proposed additional cuts to several coastal
programs that support Digital Coast like the Coastal Zone
Management Grants.
How would the proposed 90 percent cut to the Great Lakes
Restoration Initiative funding, and the proposed zeroing out of
the Coastal Zone Management Grants, impact NOAA's ability to
help communities respond to, say, bluff collapse, coastal
erosion, algae blooms, and water quality challenges?
Just a light question to end our hearing with.
Ms. LeBoeuf. Thank you, Senator Baldwin. And thank you for
your appreciation of the work we are doing in the Great Lakes
with the EPA and others.
As you may know, the primary budget line for that program
does come to EPA, so I would be reticent to comment on EPA's
Budget status.
I will say that the President's Fiscal Year 2019 budget had
to address a number of competing resources and NOAA was able to
continue to fund its core projects including nautical charting,
which is nearly level funded, as well as some of our other NOAA
priorities such as weather forecasting and fisheries
management.
So with that I will close my comment on the Fiscal Year
2019 budget. Thank you.
The Chairman. Well, I want to thank the witnesses, again.
Very, very informative and enlightening testimony.
The hearing record will remain open for two weeks. During
this time, Senators may submit additional questions for the
record. Upon receipt, the witnesses are requested to submit
their written answers to this Committee as soon as possible.
Again, I want to thank everybody for appearing today. Very
informative.
This hearing is now adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 11:09 a.m., the hearing was adjourned.]
A P P E N D I X
Response to Written Questions Submitted by Hon. Roger F. Wicker to
Nicole LeBoeuf
Question 1. Your written testimony states that the current return-
on-investment for the Digital Coast program is 3:1 and projected to
grow over the next 15 years. How could that ROI be improved further
with a fully authorized program?
Answer. With a fully authorized Digital Coast program, NOAA would
continue to grow partnerships, leverage resources, and encourage
broader awareness of the program. Authorization would codify a high-
value program used by states, local authorities, and others. NOAA
expects that use generally will increase over time, leading to an
improved return on investment, which is measured through the cost-
savings realized by Digital Coast users. Continued investments in the
Digital Coast infrastructure (e.g., adding new tools) will make
existing economic and other data accessible to new users and further
reduce the cost to users of accessing data.
Question 2. Does the Digital Coast program include region-specific
data on parameters such as construction, equipment, and labor costs,
and, if not, how can the program be improved for incorporating this
type of data?
Answer. The Digital Coast program does not, at this time, include
region-specific data on parameters such as construction, equipment, and
labor costs. However, Economics: National Ocean Watch (ENOW) is a data
set on the Digital Coast that includes labor information (employment
and annual wages) for six economic sectors that depend on the oceans
and Great Lakes. ENOW's annual time-series data are produced by NOAA
for about 400 coastal counties, 30 coastal states, eight regions, and
the Nation from 2005 and onward using data from the Bureau of Labor
Statistics and the Bureau of Economic Analysis. ENOW does not include
region-specific data on construction and equipment costs.
Regionally-specific data on construction and labor costs are
available from public and private sources. The same is true for some
types of construction equipment.
Question 3. What type of interaction does NOAA have with the
professional surveying community as part of the surveying, mapping, and
geospatial efforts in this project?
Answer. NOAA has constant interaction with the professional
surveying community through open contracts and professional association
engagement. NOAA's Coastal Geospatial Services Contract has five
surveying and mapping prime contractors actively supporting the data
and tool development made accessible via the Digital Coast. In
addition, NOAA has access to over 100 other firms as subcontractors to
the prime contracts. NOAA has awarded approximately $44 million in FY18
to these private firms for hydrographic surveying, shoreline surveying,
and other data collection and analysis, in addition to tool
development. NOAA also regularly attends meetings and conferences of
the only professional association whose membership is comprised of
private surveying and mapping firms--MAPPS (Management Association for
Private Photogrammetric Surveyors).
______
Response to Written Questions Submitted by Hon. Jim Inhofe to
David Millar
While Oklahoma is located in the South Central region of the United
States we hold the same concerns as many Coastal states especially in
mitigating flood risk. Right now my home state of Oklahoma leads the
Nation with over 2,000 upstream flood control dams that have provided
$81 million in annual estimated benefits to both businesses and
residents in my state.
Oklahoma is also home to the Tulsa Port of Catoosa, the furthest
inland, warm water port in the Nation. The Tulsa Port of Catoosa is
connected to McClellan--Kerr Arkansas River Navigation (MKARNS) which
provides inland water navigation through the Arkansas and Mississippi
River. The state of Oklahoma has seen the benefits of inland water
navigation through the Port of Catoosa, however I am concerned that the
levee system protecting the Port of Catoosa from the Arkansas river is
at risk due to aging infrastructure and design limitations.
Fugro has a strong background working with the National Oceanic and
Atmosphere Administration (NOAA), the United States Geological Survey
and the United States Army Corps of Engineers to provide mapping
information and other technical data to support the design and
construction of projects to mitigate flooding and the impact of similar
natural disasters. In your testimony, you highlight the value of the
Digital Coastal Partnership program provides to local planners and
emergency managers to mitigate the impact of coastal flooding from
natural disasters.
Question 1. Do you believe the communities along our Nation's
inland waterways would benefit from a similar public private data
sharing partnership?
Answer. Failed to Respond.
Question 2. What best practices can you share regarding your
experiences working with NOAA and the Digital Coastal Partnership
Program that could extend to other agencies like the United States
Geological Survey and the Army Corps of Engineers involved in flood
control efforts and emergency response and planning efforts along our
Nation's inland waterways?
Answer. Failed to Respond.
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