WASHINGTON, DC – Wednesday, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) expressed her concerns about the lack of data on weather patterns and future climate change during a Commerce Committee hearing on the nation’s aging weather satellite system. America’s weather and environmental satellite program has seen massive cost overruns, poor management, and schedule delays, endangering the ability to monitor severe weather and study global climate change.

 

“The notion that it makes sense to cut sensors that monitor severe weather and climate change – exactly when we need them the most – is absurd,” said Cantwell, chair of the Commerce Subcommittee with jurisdiction over the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).“These satellites help protect us all--from hurricanes that threaten the Southeast and Gulf of Mexico regions, tornados that tear through towns and cities in the Midwest, and dangerous storms that impact America’s coastal regions. And the support these satellites provide for our research into climate change is unparalleled. We need to look at why these cuts are being made and if there is a better way to manage the program.”

Because of multi-billion dollar cost overruns, NOAA, the Department of Defense and NASA have had to cut a large number of sensors and instruments, as well as the overall number of satellites. In addition to these cuts, the QuikSCAT satellite – which helps predict and track hurricanes – will end its service life soon, and there are currently no plans to replace it. These cuts also curtail the ability to observe, track, study, and monitor global climate change.

 

This past Monday, NOAA’s Admiral Conrad Lautenbacher placed Director of the National Hurricane Center Bill Proenza on leave. Mr. Proenza has publicly criticized NOAA’s spending priorities and claimed that the agency’s failure to urgently move to replace the aging QuikSCAT satellite is placing the public at risk.

 

At Wednesday’s hearing, Cantwell heard testimony from Mary Ellen Kicza, Assistant Administrator for Satellite and Information Services, NOAA; Dr. Michael H. Freilich, Director, Earth Science Division, Science Mission Directorate, NASA; Mr. David Powner, Director, Information Technology Management Issues, Government Accountability Office; Dr. Greg J. Holland, Director of the Mesoscale and Microscale Meteorology Division, Earth and Sun Systems Laboratory, NOAA; Dr. Antonio Busalacchi, Professor and Director, Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center, University of Maryland, College Park. 

 

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