[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 23 (Wednesday, February 7, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E282-E283]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       THE GLOBAL CHANGE RESEARCH AND DATA MANAGEMENT ACT OF 2007

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. MARK UDALL

                              of colorado

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 7, 2007

  Mr. UDALL of Colorado. Madam Speaker, today I am pleased to introduce 
the Global Change Research and Data Management Act of 2007 with my 
colleague from South Carolina, Mr. Inglis. This bill updates the 
existing law that formally established the U.S. Global Change Research 
Program (USGCRP) in 1990. This bill is also similar to the Global 
Change Research and Data Management Act that I introduced in the 107th 
and 108th Congresses.
  Over the past decade, the USGCRP has significantly advanced our 
scientific knowledge of Earth's atmosphere and climate and has provided 
us with a wealth of new data and information about the functioning of 
our planet.
  However, the program has not produced sufficient information, both in 
terms of content and format, to be the basis for sound decisions. The 
program has focused nearly all of its resources and efforts on 
scientific inquiry. Only one broad assessment of the impact of global 
change on society has ever been attempted by the program, and that 
assessment was completed nearly 7 years after its Congressionally 
mandated deadline. The local, state, regional, and national 
policymakers responsible for managing resources, fostering economic 
development, and responding to natural disasters need information to 
guide their decisions. In my view, it is critical that Congress 
reorient the USGCRP toward a user-driven research endeavor.
  The recent release of the policy summary from the Fourth Assessment 
Report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Working 
Group I, has helped solidify the growing scientific consensus that our 
climate is changing. This international effort had government support 
from around the world, including strong involvement from the U.S., and 
is a summary of the latest science about our climate. It reports that 
the Earth is warming--sea temperatures are rising, glaciers are 
melting, and air temperatures worldwide are increasing.
  Most of the public and policy makers also agree that the climate is 
changing, but disagreement remains about how much is the result of 
human activities. I think this bill deserves the support of people on 
both sides of that argument.
  We need to move beyond debates about whether global change is 
occurring and allocating responsibility for the changes. I continue to 
believe fervently that we must do all we can to soften our impact on 
the environment and to slow the pace of global change. But we are going 
to have to deal with climate change with some mix of mitigation and 
adaptation. We must acknowledge the interdependence of our social, 
economic and environmental systems and learn to anticipate and adjust 
to changes that will inevitably occur.
  In its 2003 review of the Administration's draft strategic plan for 
the USGCRP, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) acknowledged the 
need for research to evaluate strategies to mitigate and adapt to the 
impacts of global change, and the Academy recommended that the plan be 
revised to enhance efforts to support decision-making. The Global 
Change Research and Data Management Act of 2007 reorients the program 
to accomplish these goals.
  The NAS praised the Administration for including the development of 
decision support tools in the strategic plan, but criticized the plan 
for its failure to ``recognize the full diversity of decision makers'' 
and for failing to ``describe mechanisms for two-way communication with 
stakeholders.''
  The Global Change Research and Data Management Act would address 
these criticisms by requiring the Administration to identify and 
consult with members of the user community in developing the USGCRP 
research plan. The bill would also mandate the involvement of the 
National Governors Association in evaluating the program plan from the 
perspective of the user community. These steps would help to ensure 
that the information needs of the policy community will be met as 
generously as the funding needs of the academic community.
  The 1990 law outlined a highly specific organizational structure for 
the USGCRP. Our bill would eliminate this detailed organizational 
structure and provide the President with the flexibility to assemble an 
Interagency Committee and organizational structure that will best 
deliver the products Congress is requesting. Our bill would, however, 
retain many of the key features of current law--the requirements for a 
ten-year strategic plan, for periodic assessments of the effects of 
global change on the natural, social, and economic systems upon which 
we depend, and for increased international cooperation in global change 
science.
  Our bill would establish a new interagency working group to 
coordinate federal policies on data management and archiving. Advances 
in computer, monitoring, and satellite technologies have vastly 
expanded our ability to collect and analyze data. We must do a much 
better job of managing and archiving these important data resources to 
support the work of current and future scientists and policymakers.
  I would like to thank Mr. Inglis from South Carolina for cosponsoring 
of this bill. Crafting a new approach for the USGCRP is a non-partisan 
issue--increasing access to better and more relevant science is 
something that we all can agree will help us make better decisions.

[[Page E283]]

  As is clear from the current debate in response to the release of the 
IPCC report, we have yet to agree on how much more information, if any, 
is needed before we take actions to slow the effects of human 
activities on global change. These are tough policy questions that we 
will continue to wrestle with. This bill does not offer specific policy 
direction, but it does affirm the need for the continued strong federal 
support for global change research, and it does map out a new emphasis 
on the production of information needed to inform these important 
policy debates. As the world's leader in science and technology, it is 
incumbent on us to develop solutions that will protect our planet's 
resources and permit continued economic and social progress for our 
Nation and for the world.

                          ____________________