[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 61 (Thursday, March 29, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17154-17156]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-7794]



[[Page 17154]]

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

[Docket No. 010315068-1068-01]
RIN 0648-XA65


National Weather Service (NWS) Modernization and Associated 
Restructuring (MAR); Final Certification of No Degradation of Service 
for the Combined Consolidation and/or Automation and Closure of Six 
Weather Service Offices (WSO)

AGENCY: NWS, NOAA, Commerce.

ACTION: Notice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: On March 26, 2001, the Acting Under Secretary of Commerce for 
Oceans and Atmosphere transmitted to Congress notice of approval of 
Consolidation and/or Automation and Closure certifications for WSOs 
Fairbanks, Alaska; Los Angeles, Redding, and Riverside, California; and 
Olympia and Wenatchee, Washington. Pub. L. 102-567 requires final 
certifications be published in the FR. This notice satisfies that 
requirement.

EFFECTIVE DATE: March 29, 2001.

ADDRESSES: Request for copies of the final certification packages 
should be sent to John Sokich, Room 11426, 1325 East-West Highway, 
Silver Spring, MD 20910-3283.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John Sokich, 301-713-0258.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Olympia and Wenatchee Fire Weather 
office certifications were proposed in the March 26, 1999, FR for 
public comment. The 60-day public comment period closed on May 26, 
1999. One public comment was received from Mr. Hueth, Chairman, Pacific 
Northwest Wildfire Coordinating Group (PNWCG) pertaining to both 
offices. A summary of the letter signed by Terry Hueth, Chairman, 
Pacific Northwest Wildfire Coordinating Group (PNWCG), and the NWS 
response to the letter follow.
    Comment on Olympia and Wenatchee: A letter to Tom Beaver of the 
NWS, dated May 21, 1999, from Mr. Hueth, Chairman of PNWCG, stated in 
part, ``The PNWCG represents local, state, and federal wildland fire 
agencies in Oregon and Washington * * *. We have a critical need for 
weather support to our agencies' missions in fire management and safety 
* * *. We have serious doubts about the ability of the MAR approach to 
adequately support the fire program * * *. The current fire weather 
program in the Pacific Northwest is being supplemented by personnel 
that the NWS will not have in end-state staffing. We do, however, fully 
support the NWS maintaining the transitional staff to meet fire weather 
needs * * *. Currently, dedicated expertise is compensating for missing 
technology * * *. The quality of service provided needs to be evaluated 
after technology is developed and there is no need to rely on 
transitional staffing * * *. It is difficult to endorse a closure and 
say there will be no degradation of service without seeing what the 
modernized service is * * *. As was the case with the Salem/Portland 
office, the office closure at Olympia, Washington is difficult to 
evaluate because of the lack of fire activity after the move to the 
Seattle WFO. The Seattle WFO did institute Internet fire weather 
briefings which were well done and well received by field offices. 
However, there was an impact on the State of Washington Department of 
Natural Resource (DNR) employees. With the lack of NWS personnel in 
Olympia, DNR workload was increased because DNR personnel had to 
conduct briefings and perform other fire weather-related work 
previously done by the NWS. The closure of the Wenatchee, Washington, 
fire weather office has had an effect on the fire program in northeast 
Washington. A survey was conducted of federal fire agency personnel in 
that area. Most respondents characterized the movement of personnel as 
resulting in no change in the quality of the products and services. 
However, some individuals indicated degradation in the qualify of 
products and services since the move. One responder mentioned wind 
speed and relative humidity forecasts being of poorer quality. In 
conclusion, the PNWCG remains very concerned that the NWS modernization 
program will not meet our needs. We are supportive of the June 11, 1998 
NWS Report of the Fire Weather Team that was submitted to NWS Director 
John Kelly * * *. We are very uncomfortable with the idea of certifying 
no degradation of services without knowing what the services will be 
and before the full site of MAR capabilities is in place.''
    NWS Response: At the September 29, 1999, Modernization Transition 
Committee (MTC) meeting, the NWS briefed the MTC and the PNWCG 
attendees on modernized operations and explained how this was the best 
use of personnel and technology. The NWS stated the ``transition'' 
forecasters (two each at Seattle, Spokane, Pendleton, and Portland) are 
now considered part of end-state staffing, and are not scheduled to be 
eliminated. These staff were provided specifically to support the fire 
weather program. During the MTC consultation on September 29, 1999, Mr. 
Day, Northwest Coordination Center Director at the Portland 
Geographical Area Coordination Center (GACC), stated the GACC would 
accept the Olympia and Wenatchee transitions. The MTC endorsed the 
proposed closure of the Olympia and Wenatchee WSOs with the 
stipulation, ``The MTC endorsement to close these weather offices does 
not relieve the NWS of their responsibility to retain transitional 
staffing for the Fire Weather program. As outlined in the `Report of 
the Fire Weather Team,' June 11, 1998, the transitional staffing must 
be retained until NWS has the advanced operational technology in place 
and demonstrates its support to the satisfaction of the fire weather 
customers.'' The Los Angeles Aviation office and the Redding and 
Riverside Weather office certifications were proposed in the July 9, 
1999, FR for public comment. The 60-day public comment period closed on 
September 7, 1999. No public comments were received pertaining to Los 
Angeles, four public comments were received pertaining to Redding, and 
three public comments were received pertaining to Riverside. One of 
these comments pertained to both Redding and Riverside. The comments 
and the NWS response are set forth here for reference.
    Comment pertaining to both Redding and Riverside: A letter, dated 
August 18, 1999, signed by James E. Owen, Deputy Director for Fire 
Protection from the California Department of Forestry and Fire 
Protection (CDF), pertained to both Redding and Riverside. The letter 
stated in part, ``For the record, the California Department of Forestry 
and fire protection (CDF) as a client of the National Weather Service 
(NWS), strongly objects to the proposed closure of the Redding and 
Riverside Fire Weather Offices. The proposed closures are not in the 
best interests of the public and do not conform to the legal 
requirements of section 706 of Public Law 102-567, requiring the 
Secretary of Commerce to certify that consolidation, automation, and/or 
closure of a NWS field office will not result in a degradation of 
service to the affected area of responsibility * * * '' ``CDF believes 
that the proposed office closures will degrade the level of service 
that we receive from the NWS. This will adversely affect our ability to 
meet our fire protection mission and provide for firefighter and public 
safety. Our specific objections to the office closures are:

[[Page 17155]]

    1. The proposed office closures represents [sic] a unilateral 
termination of the California Interagency Fire Weather Agreement, 
signed by the NWS in 1997.
    2. Fire weather forecasts generated by the Redding and Riverside 
offices will be divided among ten (10) California NWS offices. Some CDF 
administrative units will receive forecasts from three (3) different 
NWS offices * * *.
    3. NWS reorganization will result in the loss of non-federal, non-
wildlife services currently provided by the Redding and Riverside 
Offices * * *.
    4. The NWS Modernization efforts propose to eliminate the dedicated 
Fire Weather Forecaster position. If fire weather forecasts issued by 
general forecasters, unfamiliar with local weather patterns, meso-scale 
topographic influences and fire behavior, are off by even a small 
degree, firefighter safety may be compromised * * *.
    5. The proposed office closure will result in loss of access to 
smoke management products to wildland agency managers.
    6. The reorganization will cause the loss of direct, daily 
interaction between NWS forecasters and operational fire personnel at 
the North and South Emergency Operations Command centers * * *.
    6. The proposal may result in reduced availability and 
qualification of Incident Meteorologists due to assigning these 
individuals to coverage shifts for general forecasting assignments * * 
*.
    Providing fire fighter safety is a vital responsibility of our 
department * * *. It is clear to us that the proposed NWS closures are 
based on unproven assumptions and will likely result in a decrease in 
the current level of service provided by the NWS to the California 
wildland agencies * * *.'' Specific Comments on Redding: A summary of 
the three letters follows. A letter to Secretary Daley, dated July 21, 
1999, from Representative Wally Herger, stated in part, ``I am writing 
in strong opposition to the proposed closing of the Redding California 
Interagency Fire Forecast and Warning Unit (IFFWU) under the National 
Weather Service's multi-year modernization and associated restructuring 
program. The loss of this fire weather expertise seriously degrades the 
ability of our local agencies to prevent and fight wildfires, and I 
respectfully urge your assistance in ensuring the continued existence 
of this essential service * * *. By transferring the functions of the 
Redding office to existing offices in Sacramento and Eureka, 
California, Medford, Oregon and Reno, Nevada, we will lose the high 
level of local expertise and knowledge essential for effective fire 
management in the area * * *.'' The second letter, dated July 27, 1999, 
from Daniel K. Chisholm, Forest Supervisor, U.S. Department of 
Agriculture, stated in part, ``* * *'' The Mendocino National Forest is 
concerned with the National Weather Service (NWS) proposal to eliminate 
several fire whether forecast offices, eliminate the fire weather 
forecaster positions and establish ten forecast offices over four 
states * * *. Weather is a critical issue in maintaining firefighter 
safety, especially for our forest * * *. We depend on the Redding Fire 
Weather forecasters to give us advance warning of any possible or 
existing condition(s) which will affect our suppression operations in a 
single forecast for various parts of our forest * * *. The Redding Fire 
Weather Office has provided excellent service to the Forest in the 
areas of fire weather forecasting, spot forecast and smoke dispersal 
forecast. The potential loss of this resource presents serious concerns 
that should be addressed before a final decision is made in the 
limitation of the Redding facility.''
    The third comment, a letter to Secretary Daley, dated August 30, 
1999, was signed by Senator Dianne Feinstein, and stated in part, ``I 
am writing with great concern over the proposed closure of the 
Interagency Fire Forecast and Warning Unit in Redding which is operated 
under the National Weather Service * * *. At this very moment, more 
than 10,000 fire fighters are battling over 100 blazes across Northern 
California * * *. The smoke is so dense, one can barely see our state's 
Capitol building. All this points clearly to the need to maintain 
effective fire weather forecasters that can assist fire fighters on the 
ground with exact climatic predictions and assistance * * *.''
    Specific Comments on Riverside: A summary of the two letters 
follows. A letter, dated August 19, 1999, was signed by Scott Goodwin, 
Battalion Chief, City of Santa Fe Springs Headquarters Fire Station. 
The comment was, ``This letter is in response to the request for public 
comment regarding the closure of the Riverside California FWO. We are 
opposed to this action and believe that closure of this office will be 
detrimental to planning and fire ground operations during major 
wildland fires that threaten our area. We encourage you to reconsider 
this action in the interest of public safety. We appreciate the 
opportunity to comment on this matter.''
    The second comment, dated August 26, 1999, was signed by William R. 
Bamattre, Chief Engineer and General Manager, City of Los Angeles. He 
stated in part, ``* * * the Los Angeles City Fire Department's position 
is to oppose any changes which would result in a loss of staffing or 
expertise in the present method of fire weather forecasting * * *. The 
Los Angeles Fire Department depends on the highly specialized skills of 
the fire weather forecasters * * *. I am concerned that the National 
Weather Service proposal would result in a fragmented degradation of 
the fire weather forecasting currently provided when specialization, 
coordination, and communication should be the preeminent factors * * *. 
Please be advised that the Los Angeles City Fire Department fully 
supports the position of the CWCG [California Wildlife Coordinating 
Group].''
    NWS Response: The NWS explained the process for closing the Redding 
WSO and Riverside Fire Weather offices and reiterated that current NWS 
fire weather support to the Redding and Riverside Geographical Area 
Coordination Centers (GACCs) will not be impacted. On November 18, 
1999, the NWS met with the California Wildlife Coordinating Group 
(CWCG) and began negotiations to outline a plan for transfer of fire 
weather services to other NWS forecast offices. The meeting included 
discussion on renegotiation of the interagency agreement, development 
of a dynamic transition plan, and creation of a NWS/CWCG User 
Assessment Team to validate the success of implementing the transition 
plan. The NWS and CWCG agreed the transition plan must demonstrate NWS 
services to CWCG satisfication before transferring fire weather 
services from Redding and Riverside WSOs to other NWS forecast offices. 
The target date for transfer of fire weather services to NWS forecast 
offices is the end of 2002. The CWCG accepted this plan and agreed to 
the proposed closure of the Redding and Riverside WSOs. On December 8, 
1999, the MTC endorsed the proposed closures of the Redding and 
Riverside WSOs with the stipulation, ``In addition, the NWS must honor 
the Interagency Agreement with the California Wildfire Coordination 
Group and not transfer personnel or fire weather responsibilities from 
the Redding and Riverside GACCs until a mutually acceptable transfer 
plan has been developed and implemented.''
    The Fairbanks certifications were proposed in the September 29, 
1999, FR for public comment. The 60-day public comment period closed on 
November

[[Page 17156]]

29, 1999. No public comments were received. The MTC endorsed closure 
certification at its December 8, 1999, meeting.
    After consideration of the public comments received and the MTC 
endorsements, the Acting Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and 
Atmosphere approved these six consolidation and/or automation and 
closure certifications and transmitted notice of approval to Congress 
on March 26, 2001. Certification approval authority was delegated from 
the Secretary of Commerce to the Under Secretary in June 1996. The NWS 
is completing the certification requirements of Pub. L. 102-567 with 
respect to the six NWS offices identified herein by publishing this 
final consolidation and/or automation and closure certification notice 
in the FR.

    Dated: March 26, 2001.
John J. Kelly, Jr.,
Assistant Administrator for Weather Services.
[FR Doc. 01-7794 Filed 3-28-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-KE-M