[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 120 (Thursday, September 11, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1731]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

[[Page E1731]]


                     ANNIVERSARY OF THE NOAA CORPS

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. CONSTANCE A. MORELLA

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 11, 1997

  Mrs. MORELLA. Mr. Speaker, this year marks the 80th anniversary of 
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Corps, 
one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. Under the 
auspices of the Department of Commerce, the officers of the NOAA Corps 
are an integral part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
Administration and serve with distinction throughout this 
multidisciplinary scientific organization.
  Dating back to 1807, the heritage of the NOAA Corps began when 
President Thomas Jefferson created the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. 
Directed by the Congress, the Department of War and the Department of 
the Navy provided commissioned officers to the survey to chart the U.S. 
coastlines and for shoreside mapping, thus opening the United States to 
expanded maritime commerce. Congress, by the act of May 22, 1917, 
formally established a separate uniformed service, patterned after the 
military, to meet the survey's growing responsibilities and unique 
needs. This commissioned service of the United States Coast and 
Geodetic Survey [C&GS] served with distinction in the world wars of 
this century. Hydrographic and geodetic surveying operations 
transitioned to the Environmental Science Service Administration in 
1965 and in 1970, these responsibilities were incorporated into the 
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The NOAA Corps was 
designed to allow for continued flexibility in the assignment of 
professionals to remote, hazardous, or otherwise arduous duties 
throughout the wide range of environmental measurement and stewardship 
activities encompassed by the new NOAA, and so vital to the Nation. 
Corps officers today combine unique qualifications as research ship and 
aircraft operators; as technical experts with advanced academic 
backgrounds in hydrography, geodesy, fisheries sciences, meteorology, 
and oceanography; and as leaders in technical program and data 
management contributing to the coherence, integrity, and effectiveness 
of the administrative structure of NOAA.
  The NOAA Corps today continues to provide NOAA with a highly 
effective interface with counterparts in the Coast Guard, Navy, Air 
Force, and Army Corps of Engineers, military branches with which NOAA 
has a continuing need to interact in order to discharge its 
responsibilities. The Corps houses the Nation's expertise and 
capabilities in nautical charting, and performs a principal mission of 
hydrographic surveying vital to our national interest of ensuring the 
safe navigation of foreign trade, 98 percent of which travels in U.S. 
coastal waters. NOAA Corps pilots are unique in their ability to 
conduct low-altitude penetration of hurricanes in tropical storm 
research missions and snow cover measurement flights for flood 
predictions in the upper mid-western United States. Corps officers 
provide the data collection and management that are requisite to 
ensuring accurate fisheries stock, turtle, and marine mammal 
assessments.
  The Corps has contributed on many occasions over the recent decades 
in providing valuable scientific and engineering skills to the armed 
services and the Nation, especially in times of national emergencies. A 
very recent example is the NOAA ship Rude, which swiftly located the 
wreckage of TWA Flight 800. The Rude and a shore component composed of 
NOAA Corps officers also created highly detailed map products which 
greatly facilitated the retrieval of wreckage by Navy divers. Their 
effort was recently recognized by Secretary Pena of the Department of 
Transportation at the U.S. Coast Guard Awards Ceremony and by NOAA's 
parent bureau, the Department of Commerce, with the Department's 
highest award, the Commerce Gold Medal.
  Iraq's destructive actions during the gulf war created one of the 
worst oil-based environmental catastrophes known to man. NOAA provided 
ship, aircraft, and technical expertise for environmental appraisal, 
and the first comprehensive study of the Persian Gulf. Shore personnel 
provided scientific expertise in hazardous materials management, while 
the NOAA Ship Mt. Mitchell carried a contingent of world-class 
scientists to the gulf to evaluate and determine the extent of the 
environmental damage. Sailing as a commissioned survey ship with 
warship status she easily bypassed many of the administrative 
restrictions placed upon commercial vessels by Iran and surrounding 
countries. In addition, Mt. Mitchell was able to work more closely with 
the other services to obtain necessary information and logistic support 
such as mine and weather reports, fuel and supplies. The NOAA Corps 
provided instant credibility not only to U.S. services, but to Saudi 
Arabian, Kuwait, and Iranian authorities and observers. Most important, 
the skills and knowledge of the NOAA Corps officers maximized the 
productivity of this scientific expedition by providing a safe, 
effective research platform. The captain and crew of this expedition 
received a Commerce Gold and Silver Medal respectively, for their 
service.
  A similar response was made by the officers and crew of the NOAA Ship 
Rainier in 1989 to one of this Nation's largest environmental 
catastrophes, when the tanker Exxon Valdez spilled 11 million gallons 
of crude oil in Prince William Sound, Alaska. The vessel was on scene 
immediately in support of critical Federal spill management decisions 
and a wide variety of environmental studies, which allowed scientists 
to better understand the effects of a hazardous material spill of that 
magnitude in such a remote, environmentally sensitive area.
  Today the NOAA Corps continues to perform its missions whether in 
charting our Nation's coastline, assessing its fisheries stocks, or 
flying into hurricanes for science and the humanitarian need to produce 
better warnings for saving of life and property. Today's NOAA Corps 
officer might be found virtually anywhere on the surface of the Earth, 
in or on the sea, or in our atmosphere. These officers remain ready to 
apply their science and service skills to the many problems facing the 
United States in the management of its oceanic and atmospheric 
resources.
  Most all of us have benefited from the dedicated service of these 
officers to our Nation, and I ask that you join me in a salute to the 
men and women of the Corps on this, their 80th anniversary.

                          ____________________