[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 189 (Monday, December 14, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2985]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 CONFERENCE REPORT ON H.R. 3288, CONSOLIDATED APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2010

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                       HON. MADELEINE Z. BORDALLO

                                of guam

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, December 10, 2009

  Ms. BORDALLO. Mr. Speaker, this week, as world leaders convene in 
Copenhagen, Denmark, for the United Nations Climate Change Conference, 
the House of Representatives has taken an important, if incremental, 
step to improve our Nation's ability to strategically respond and adapt 
to an unpredictable climate by authorizing a study which advances the 
idea of creating a Federal National Climate Service.
  H.R. 3288, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010, directs the 
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, to enter into a 
contract with the National Academy of Public Administration to 
investigate the effectiveness and efficiency of alternative 
organizational frameworks for the establishment of a National Climate 
Service within NOAA.
  I would like to commend my colleague from Wisconsin and the Chairman 
of the Appropriations Committee, Congressman David Obey, and the rest 
of the conferees, for their recognition that the establishment of a 
National Climate Service within NOAA is absolutely critical at this 
time. The American public will need climate information, products and 
services in order to plan for and adapt to climate variability, and it 
is essential that the Federal Government have in place an 
organizational architecture that is science-based, reliable, and 
responsive to address this need.
  Most important, this study will provide another opportunity to 
comparatively evaluate and assess the merits of a public-private 
approach for a National Climate Service. Last June, I introduced H.R. 
2685, the Climate and Ocean Research and Coordination Act of 2009, to 
establish, in part, a National Climate Enterprise comprised of federal 
and non-federal partners which would have NOAA function as the 
operational lead. This framework, which would build from and strengthen 
existing Federal climate research and science capacities within NOAA, 
NASA, the U.S. Geological Survey, National Science Foundation, and 
other agencies, would also incorporate the significant contributions of 
non-Federal climate scientists, researchers and stakeholders to provide 
to end users on the ground climate information, products and services 
at variable scales that are credible, reliable and usable.
  As NOAA and the National Academy of Public Administration consider 
alternative frameworks for a National Climate Service, I respectfully 
urge consideration of the public/private concepts within H.R. 2685, 
which have been enthusiastically endorsed by the University Corporation 
for Atmospheric Research, UCAR, the Joint Ocean Commission Initiative, 
and the Coastal States Organization. All Americans, from the District 
of Columbia to my congressional district in Guam, should have at their 
disposal an effective and accessible National Climate Service, and I 
again commend Chairman Obey for advancing this idea.

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