[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 20 (Monday, February 6, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S968-S969]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS

      By Ms. MURKOWSKI (for herself, Ms. Cantwell, and Ms. Hirono):
  S. 346. A bill to provide for the establishment of the National 
Volcano Early Warning and Monitoring System; to the Committee on Energy 
and Natural Resources.
  Mr. President, I rise today to reintroduce, along with my cosponsors 
Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington and Senator Mazie Hirono of 
Hawaii, legislation that will establish a national volcano early 
warning and monitoring system to monitor, warn, and protect citizens 
from undue and avoidable harm from volcanic activity. The system will 
tie the Alaska Volcano Observatory and the Cascadia Volcano Observatory 
with the other existing U.S. Geological Survey, USGS facilities: the 
Hawaiian; Long Valley, California; and Yellowstone Volcano 
Observatories. The bill will unify the monitoring systems of the 
volcano observatories into a single connected system, establish a 
national volcano watch office, operational 24 hours a day, 7 days a 
week, and fund necessary new academic-governmental research.
  The United States is home to 169 active volcanoes, of which 55 are 
considered to be threatening to life and property. Few Americans 
realize that of the 50 volcanic eruptions that occur annually 
worldwide, the United States is the third most active country for 
eruptions, ranking only behind Indonesia and Japan in its number of 
historically active volcanoes. Since 1990, eight commercial aircraft 
have lost engine power in flight and dozens more have been damaged 
after flying into ash clouds caused by volcanic eruptions. Many 
Americans remember that Mount St. Helens in Washington State 
explosively erupted on May 18, 1980. The eruption caused 57 fatalities 
and destroyed 27 bridges and 185 miles of highways at a cost of $1.1 
billion. Fewer Americans remember that lesser known volcanoes, such as 
Mount Redoubt in Alaska, erupted well over 100 times in 2009-2010, 
causing the cancellation of more than 230 commercial airline flights 
and putting almost 10,000 airline passengers at risk. If eruption 
forecasts had not accurately predicted where ash clouds from the 
eruptions might migrate, the negative impacts could have been much 
worse, or even catastrophic.
  The threat to our Nation from volcanic eruptions was dramatically 
illustrated on December 15, 1989, when a Boeing 747 flying 150 miles 
northeast of Anchorage, AK encountered an ash cloud that rose from an 
earlier eruption of Mount Redoubt. The plane lost power in all four 
engines, falling some 10,000 feet before it could restart two of its 
engines. The restart saved the lives of the plane's 231 passengers but 
caused $80 million in damage to the craft.
  This incident points out the dangers to aircraft, especially on the 
west coast and in Alaska's air space. The Federal Aviation 
Administration reports that more than 80,000 large aircraft a year 
carrying more than 30,000 passengers a day, travel in skies over and 
potentially downwind of many of Alaska's volcanoes, mostly on the 
heavily traveled great-circle routes between Europe, North America, and 
Asia. The Alaska Volcano Observatory, with only partial Federal 
funding, today is responsible for monitoring 29 active volcanoes in the 
Ring of Fire area along the Aleutian Island flight path.
  Even greater potential problems exist for west coast air travelers. 
There are five active major volcanoes in the Cascade Range of 
Washington, Oregon, and Idaho, including Mount Baker, Glacier Peak, 
Mount Rainier, Mount St. Helens, and Mount Adams. In the past 31 years, 
there have been more than 50 eruptions and at least 17 episodes of 
significant unrest at 34 different volcanoes in the United States, 
according to the USGS.
  While Mount St. Helens is well known, Mount Rainier near Seattle 
could cause far greater loss of life should it erupt again, 
highlighting the benefit of advance notice. The same is true of the 
Yellowstone National Park caldera, should it erupt. The advances in 
volcanic/earthquake forecasting aided by a national watch office could 
help to make more accurate and timely predictions of eruptions 
possible.
  In 1989, the Alaska Volcano Observatory was able to provide only a 
few days' notice before Mount Redoubt erupted that year. In 2009, after 
the center's capabilities had been expanded and hours of operation 
increased, it would provide two months of notice before the volcano 
again erupted, giving enough warning time to reduce oil stored in the 
Drift River tank farm complex, located downslope from the volcano, and 
reducing the threat of significant environmental damage.
  This bill will require the Secretary of the Interior to establish the 
national volcano early warning and monitoring system within the USGS to 
monitor,

[[Page S969]]

warn, and protect the United States from volcanic eruptions. The system 
would organize, modernize, standardize, and stabilize the operation of 
the Nation's five western volcanic observatories: Alaska, California, 
Cascades, Hawaiian, and Yellowstone Observatories. The bill calls for 
upgrading the existing networks, using geodetic capacities when 
appropriate, on currently monitored volcanoes and allowing new networks 
to be installed on some non-monitored volcanoes. The bill will also 
prompt USGS to help fund observatories to monitor another 20 high-
priority volcanoes such as Mount Adams in Washington, North Sister 
Field in Oregon, Clear Lake in California, and Mount Spurr in Alaska; 
set up a national volcano watch office that will be operational at all 
hours; establish a national volcano data center; support research in 
volcano monitoring science and new technology development; encourage 
modernization of monitoring activities including ``comprehensive 
application of emerging technologies, such as digital broadband 
seismometers, real-time continuous Global Positioning System receivers, 
satellite and airborne radar interferometry, acoustic pressure sensors 
and spectrometry to measure gas emissions'' from lava chambers; 
authorize cooperative agreements to establish partnerships between the 
system and institutions of higher education and State agencies to 
collect data and coordinate volcanic information sharing and funding to 
pay for new work; and establish an advisory committee to assist with 
implementation.
  This bill was proposed in 2009, 2011, and most recently in 2015. Last 
year it was the subject of a hearing before the Committee on Energy and 
Natural Resources. The record of that hearing contains no opposition to 
this necessary legislation or the effort it would spur. I hope that 
this Congress will be the one that puts this bill on the President's 
desk and sees it enacted on public safety grounds alone, the need for 
this bill is compelling.

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