This monthly review goes out to members of the AGI Government Affairs Program (GAP) Advisory Committee, the leadership of AGI's member societies, and other interested geoscientists as part of a continuing effort to improve communications between GAP and the geoscience community that it serves.
Bush-Cheney Cabinet Appointments In High Gear
106th Congress Finishes Last of Spending Bills, Goes
Home
Senate Holds Hearing on Natural Gas Market
Evolution Questioned in Pennsylvania Science Standards
New Mexico's Tent Rocks Considered for National Monument,
Others Proposed
Senators Work to Increase Funding for DOE Science
USGS and FEMA Join Forces to Reduce Natural Hazard
Losses
MMS Seeks Comments on Outer Continental Shelf Leasing
Applications Accepted for Congressional Science Fellowships
Schedule of Upcoming GAP Activities
New Material on Web Site
********************
Bush-Cheney Cabinet Appointments In High Gear
With the appropriations process complete and the presidential election
officially over, the transition to a Bush-Cheney administration has moved
to center stage. One of the first appointments was City College of New
York geology major (and former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) Colin
Powell as Secretary of State. Of particular interest to the geosciences,
former Colorado Attorney General Gale Norton has been nominated to head
the Department of the Interior, which includes the U.S. Geological Survey.
Norton previously worked at Interior as associate solicitor during the
Reagan administration under James Watt. Other geoscience-related Cabinet
appointments include New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman to head
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and defeated Senator Spencer Abraham
(R-MI) as Secretary of Energy. President-elect Bush has yet to name his
science advisor. A geoscientist is reported to be under consideration for
NASA Administrator. Former senator, Apollo astronaut, and Ph.D. geologist
Harrison "Jack" Schmitt is a top contender to replace Dan Goldin, who was
originally appointed by the president-elect's father in 1992.
Other positions important to the geosciences, such as the Director of the National Science Foundation, have fixed terms and will not change with the new administration. Although not given a fixed term, the USGS Director by tradition does not change with new administrations, and leading geoscientists are working to see that this tradition is maintained. For more on the transition process and how to get involved, see http://www.agiweb.org/gap/transition.html.
106th Congress Finishes Last of Spending Bills
An AGI special update on December 22nd reported on the completion of
five remaining fiscal year (FY) 2001 appropriations bills. The bills were
signed by President Clinton on December 26th, nearly three months after
the start of the new fiscal year. One of the biggest winners in the final
bills was the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Core
funding for NOAA programs totaled $2.6 billion, a 4.2 percent decrease
from the budget request but a 13 percent increase from last year's allocation.
Similar to the Land and Water Conservation Fund money that helped boost
funding for the USGS, H.R.4577 provides NOAA with an additional $420 million
in a new account for coastal and ocean activities. When these additional
funds are included in the NOAA allocation, the agency received a total
of $3.1 billion, an increase of close to 15 percent over the budget request
and close to 35 percent over last year's funding level. The special update
is at http://www.agiweb.org/gap/legis106/final2001approps.html.
More information about all the FY 2001 spending bills can be found at http://www.agiweb.org/gap/legis106/appropsfy2001.html.
Senate Holds Hearing on Natural Gas Market
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee held an unusual lame-duck
session hearing on December 12th to discuss the current price spikes in
natural gas and home-heating oil. Chairman Frank Murkowski (R-AK) commented
on the need in the 107th Congress to look at the entire energy portfolio
-- economics, national security, environment, federal and state regulations,
and consumption. In response to a colleague's bombast, Murkowski
stated that the next Congress will need to work in a bipartisan manner
and that it is the Senate's obligation to get the energy policy straight.
Witnesses included representatives from the Energy Information Administration,
the National Association of State Energy Officials, the Natural Gas Supply
Association, and the American Gas Association. A summary of the hearing
is available at http://www.agiweb.org/gap/legis106/oil_price_hearing.html.
Evolution Questioned in Pennsylvania Science Standards
Scientists in Pennsylvania have raised an alarm about that state's
proposed science education standards, which call for teaching alternative
theories to evolution. Pennsylvania's current standards are some of the
best in the country, and an early version of the revised standards -- which
mandate the teaching of evolution -- was widely praised by science educators.
But the state Board of Education made a number of changes in July, requiring
that students "analyze ... studies that support or do not support the theory
of evolution" and requiring teachers to present theories that "do and do
not support the theory of evolution." The state legislature must approve
the new standards, and hearings are expected in February. According to
a December 3rd article in the Philadelphia Inquirer, one state senator
who supported the revised standards linked evolution to Marxism and Communism.
New Mexico's Tent Rocks Considered for National
Monument
Geoscientists in New Mexico have been actively supporting a Bureau
of Land Management (BLM) proposal to give national monument status to Tent
Rocks -- a site in north-central New Mexico where million-year-old pumice
and tuff deposits have been intricately sculpted by erosion. The area is
currently designated as a BLM Area of Critical Environmental Concern. Unlike
a number of recent national monument designations, this proposal has strong
support from nearby local governments and Native American tribes, as well
as the New Mexico congressional delegation. Commissioners in the three
surrounding counties have signed resolutions requesting the designation.
More on the site at http://www.nm.blm.gov/www/aufo/tent_rocks/tent_rocks.html.
Although Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt toured the area in mid-December,
no designation has been made.
A unique sandstone formation in Montana known as Pompeys Pillar was one of several new national monuments Babbitt did propose on December 22nd. Also proposed was a 149-mile, free-flowing stretch of the Missouri River in Montana. Both sites are associated with the 1803 Lewis and Clark Expedition. Another proposed monument would include a segment of the San Andreas fault along California's Carrizo Plain.
Senators Work to Increase Funding for DOE Science
Senators Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) and Frank Murkowski (R-AK) have started
a movement to gather support in the Senate to increase funding for the
Office of Science at the Department of Energy. The Office of Science
hosts the Office of Basic Energy Science http://www.sc.doe.gov/production/bes/bes.html,
which received $1 billion this fiscal year, including approximately $25
million for geoscience research. Joined by 22 colleagues, Bingaman
and Murkowski sent a letter to the White House highlighting the importance
of the research at the Office of Science to the physical sciences.
According to the American Institute of Physics, efforts are underway for
scientists to write the Director of the Office of Management and Budget
in order to help bolster the program's funding for FY 2002. More
at http://www.aip.org/enews/fyi/2000/fyi00.142.htm.
USGS and FEMA Join Forces to Reduce Natural Hazard
Losses
The USGS and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced
on December 13th that the two agencies will partner as part of FEMA's Project
Impact, a community-based pre-disaster mitigation program. Project
Impact began as a pilot program in 1997 with seven communities. Today there
are more than 200 Project Impact communities in nearly every state.
According to the press release, the agencies will promote improved disaster
recovery and mitigation in areas around the nation by applying "science
to better understand and prepare for the natural events that cause natural
disasters." More at http://www.agiweb.org/gap/legis106/mitigation.html.
MMS Seeks Comments on Outer Continental Shelf
Leasing
In the December 12th Federal Register, the Minerals Management Service
(MMS) published a request for comments on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS)
Oil and Gas Leasing Program to help develop a new five-year program (2002-2007)
and an environmental impact statement. The comment period ends on February
1, 2001. Public comment periods are the principal mechanism for federal
agencies to receive feedback on draft rules, regulations, and policies
before they are put into final form and officially promulgated. It is important
that the geoscience community plays a part in the development of policies
regarding the nation's outer continental shelf.
Mail comments and information to: 5-Year Program Manager, Minerals Management Service (MS-4400), Room 2324, 381 Elden Street, Herndon, Virginia 20170. Please label your comments and the packaging in which they are submitted as to subject matter: mark those pertaining to program preparation, "Comments on Preparation of the 5-Year Program for 2002-2007;" and mark those pertaining to EIS preparation, "Scoping Comments on the EIS for the 5-Year Program for 2002-2007." Comments on the preparation of the program can be e-mailed to MMS5-year.document@mms.gov and comments concerning the scope of the environmental impact statement to MMS5-year.eis@mms.gov. More information on the comment period and general background information on the program are available at http://www.mms.gov.
Applications Accepted for Congressional Science
Fellowships
AGI and several of its member societies are now accepting applications
for next year's congressional science fellowships, providing opportunities
for qualified geoscientists to spend a year working as professional staff
in congressional committees and the personal offices of representatives
and senators. Application deadline for the AGI fellowship is February 1,
2001. Similar fellowships are available from the American Geophysical Union,
the Geological Society of America, and the Soil Science Society of America.
For further information and application deadlines, visit http://www.agiweb.org/gapac/csf.html,
which includes links to the other societies. Stipends, application procedures,
timetables, and deadlines vary. Geoscientists are encouraged to apply to
all societies for which they qualify.
Schedule of Upcoming GAP Activities
| Jan. 26 | NRC Natural Disasters Roundtable | Washington DC |
| March 23-24 | AGI Associates Conference | Denver CO |
| May 1-2 | SET Congressional Visits Day | Washington DC |
New Material on Web Site
The following updates and reports were added to the Government Affairs
portion of AGI's web site http://www.agiweb.org/gap
since the last monthly update:
Sources: American Institute of Physics Bulletin of Science Policy News, FEMA, MMS, National Center for Science Education, NOAA, Philadelphia Inquirer, Senate Energy and Natural Resource Committee, USBudget.com, USGS, Washington Post, and White House.
Please send any comments or requests for information to AGI Government Affairs Program at govt@agiweb.org.
Posted January 2, 2001
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